The first reports that Restaurant Brands International, the Canadian company formed by the merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons, was planning to pursue fried chicken chain Popeyes surfaced, appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day. Now the company has officially announced that Popeyes has reached an agreement to join the family for $1.8 billion.
It’s possible that what RBI is looking for is a portfolio of quick-serve brands in slightly different sectors, something like Yum Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC.
Burger King has been growing significantly in international markets in recent years, and that may be the reason why both sides think that teaming up with Popeyes holds promise. Popeyes now has around 2,000 restaurants, 20% of which are outside of the United States.
In their announcement of the merger, the companies said that Popeyes headquarters would remain in Atlanta, while the chain would also “[benefit] from the global scale and resources of RBI,” which is based in the suburbs of Toronto.
“As Popeyes becomes part of the RBI family we believe we can deliver growth and opportunities for all of our stakeholders including our valued employees and franchisees,” Daniel Schwartz, CEO of RBI, said in a statement. “We look forward to taking an already very strong brand and accelerating its pace of growth and opening new restaurants in the U.S. and around the world.”
For the grammar fans in the audience, it’s notable that the merger would bring together two fast food chains with names that end in “S” and appear to be possessives, but do not have apostrophes: Tim Hortons and Popeyes.
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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