Fast food chain Burger King has announced plans to open 200 more restaurants in the UK by 2026.
The burger giant said it has “good visibility” in regards to where it wants to open new branches, but hasn't revealed where any new locations will be.
It comes as Burger King recorded a jump in sales, with total revenues climbing by 68% in 2021 to £211.7million. Like-for-like sales were up by 46%.
The restaurant chain swung to a £33.4million operating profit for the year, compared with a £7.5million loss in 2020 when restaurants were forced to shut for months at a time due to the Covid pandemic.
Burger King said it benefited from the addition of 48 new owned restaurants last year.
This included 19 new restaurant openings as well as the acquisition of 29 sites from franchisees, including its flagship Leicester Square location.
Chief executive Alasdair Murdoch said: "Burger King UK delivered a strong performance in 2021, proactively managing Covid-19 headwinds through investment in digital sales, including home delivery, and continued restaurant expansion with a focus on Drive Thru.
"Both delivery and Drive Thru sales were strong throughout 2021 and will remain key areas of focus as we execute on our growth strategy.
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"We have a strong development pipeline to further grow our UK footprint, and we are very well positioned to take advantage of the clear market opportunities ahead of us.
"I would like to thank all of our employees for their ongoing dedication and hard work, without which our ongoing growth would not be possible."
Fast food rival KFC has also revealed plans to open new restaurants, or relocate existing branches, across 500 locations in the UK.
The fried chicken chain has listed hundreds of locations on its website where it want to open new sites - with plans for more full-size restaurants and drive-thrus.
KFC also wants to open more travel hubs at airports and roadside stations, as well as “smallbox” sites that fit into 1,000 sqft in high pedestrian areas.
As this is just a wish list of locations where KFC wants to expand, there is no guarantee that restaurants will definitely pop up in each new site.
On the KFC website, the fast food giant says: “We’re on the lookout for over 500 sites.”
It then invites developers to get in touch if they have a space that could be of interest, and says the company will pay £20,000 “for all recognised introductions”.
