Restaurant Brands International is looking to fuel its growth by opening 1,800 restaurants a year by 2028, driven by its Popeyes, Firehouse Subs and Tim Hortons chains rather than its banner brand, Burger King.
Miami-based RBI, parent of the lagging quick-service hamburger chain, detailed its expansion strategy during an Investor Day event at its headquarters Thursday. The plan calls for accelerated restaurant openings.
“As we look toward 2028 and beyond, we see a highly franchised, asset-light business delivering consistent 5%-plus net restaurant growth, predictable earnings growth, and strong double-digit total shareholder returns,” RBI CEO Josh Kobza said in a statement.
That rate of growth represents about 1,800 net new restaurants annually by 2028. Outside of Burger King China, franchisor RBI’s restaurant growth has averaged 4% over the past five years, “underscoring the strength and diversity of the core development engine,” according to RBI, and it wants to accelerate that.
There are reasons why RBI is turning to its other chains — Popeyes, Firehouse Subs and Tim Hortons — rather than Burger King to expand its footprint. The burger chain has been on a bumpy path the past few years, even as RBI tries to address its issues with its “Reclaim the Flame” campaign, by refranchising and updating locations and dealing with the brand’s struggles in China before and after the pandemic.
A number of Burger King franchisees have filed for Chapter 11 protection over the past few years. In January 2024, RBI bought its largest U.S. Burger King franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group, for $1 billion with plans to revamp many of its restaurants. But when RBI reported its fourth-quarter earnings earlier this month, it said it was slowing down its plans to remodel 85% of its 19,000 Burger King restaurants by 2028, citing rising operating costs.
Kobza told investors that Burger King’s growth “should gradually return to a neutral position” in the United States and Canada.
“The Burger King U.S. portfolio cleanup is largely behind us,” he said.
By contrast, RBI is projected to be opening 300 to 400 net new restaurants a year by 2028 in North America, driven by Firehouse Subs, Tim Hortons and Popeyes.
Firehouse Subs is expected to contribute about half of the new locations in the United States and Canada, with 150 to 200 locations a year, “driven by improving brand awareness and strong unit economics, with paybacks under four years, on average,” RBI said in a statement. The remaining 150 to 200 restaurants will be roughly split between Tim Hortons and Popeyes, according to RBI.
Tim Hortons Canadian growth “is supported by opportunities in underpenetrated regions including Western Canada and Quebec, as well as attractive paybacks, which are less than three years on average,” RBI said. In the U.S., the team is “on track to continue accelerating development in both existing and new markets, like Virginia, Florida, Delaware, Tennessee, New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas,” according to the company.
And “while Popeyes tempered development in 2025, the team is laying the operational groundwork to position the brand to reaccelerate in the years ahead,” RBI said.
More growth will come from China, where Burger King has partnered with CPE. That Chinese investment firm has committed $350 million to double Burger King’s footprint in China to 2,500 restaurants within five years, according to RBI. Popeyes China and Tim Hortons China are expected to contribute the remaining 100 to 200 combined net new restaurants in 2028 as both businesses scale, RBI said.
Internationally, excluding China, RBI said it expects about 1,100 net new restaurants a year by 2028. Roughly 700 of them will be in India, the United Kingdom, Mexico, France and Japan.
“The remaining international portfolio of around 175 brand-market combinations are expected to contribute approximately 400 new units per year,” RBI said.