Restaurant Brands International has posted positive 2021 results as drive-thru, take-away and delivery enabled stores to keep trading during the pandemic, with digital sales now accounting for almost 30% of global revenues
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Photo credit: Eric McClean
A pivot towards digital sales, drive-thru, takeaway and delivery softened the blow of Covid-19 trading restrictions for Restaurant Brand International’s (RBI) Tim Hortons, Burger King and Popeyes businesses during 2021.
Reporting its full-year results to 31 December 2021, RBI posted total revenues of $35.5bn, up from $30.7bn in 2020.
RBI said digital sales had increased 65% over the year to reach $10bn, up from $6bn in 2020, and now represented nearly 30% of the business’ global sales. The results indicate that a
$64m investment in digital marketing and mobile payment by Tim Hortons in Canada, where the majority of the coffee chain’s stores operate, is paying off.
Tim Hortons achieved system-wide sales of $6.5bn, up from the $5.4bn posted in 2020. The Canadian coffee chain posted net income of $261m for the year and operated a total of 5,291 stores globally at the end of 2021, a net increase of 342 stores.
“I’m proud of the strong performance our brands delivered as we closed out 2021. During the quarter, we saw sequential improvements in each brand and around the world, including notable growth at Tim Hortons Canada and Burger King US” said José Cil, Chief Executive Officer of RBI.
“Two areas of particular strength across our business have been in digital sales and restaurant growth... Our strong global network of franchisees and our development team opened over 1,200 net new restaurants, representing the highest levels of restaurant growth at Tim Hortons and Popeyes in recent history,” Cil added.
The global increase in digital revenues echoes that of Tim Horton’s business in China, which last year reported that digital ordering, including in-store and delivery, accounted for more than
70% of total revenues.
RBI is one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant companies, operating more than 28,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. The is comprised of fast food chains Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs along with coffee chain, Tim Hortons.