NEW YORK — Burger King posted an 8.5 percent increase in U.S. same-store sales last quarter, outpacing McDonald's by the largest margin in more than a decade and surpassing Wendy's in total U.S. sales to claim the title of the country's second-biggest burger chain. The numbers came from Restaurant Brands International's most recent earnings call, where executives called Burger King U.S. a "standout performer" in a portfolio that also includes Popeyes and Tim Hortons.
The turnaround centers on a deliberate makeover of the Whop launched roughly six months ago. Burger King replaced its original soft bun with a sturdier version, changed the recipe for its mayonnaise and overhauled the flagship sandwich that has anchored its menu for seven decades. Head Chef Amy Alarcon oversaw the reformulation. Alarcon joined Burger King after nearly two decades at Popeyes, where she built a record of improving food quality at scale.
RBI executive chairman Patrick Doyle credited the chain's ability to hold consumers who now have more options than ever. "Today, guests have more choices than ever before for where to eat and where to spend their dining dollars and every day more and more of them are choosing Burger King," Doyle said on the earnings call. The chain paired the product upgrade with a focus on value meals and a multi-year marketing and renovation campaign across its franchise locations.
Burger King president Tom Curtis became an unexpected driver of the brand's recovery. Curtis starred in the Whopper's relaunch advertisement and filmed himself eating a Whopper in response to social media criticism of McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski, whose own attempt at eating a Big Arch drew widespread mockery online. Curtis also took customer phone calls directly, a move that drew attention for its informality.
Robert Byrne, senior director of consumer research at Technomic, said Curtis "seems to have resonated with people." Byrne added that the social media exchange with McDonald's paid off beyond the immediate news cycle. "Say what you will about the 'burger bite social media flap,' but that stuff pays dividends in the longer run," Byrne said, describing a "new tone and new tenor" to competition among the major burger chains. Technomic's consumer research shows Burger King scoring better on relatability in advertising, brand image and food quality than at any point since 2019.
The competitive gap is sharpest when measured against McDonald's. McDonald's U.S. same-store sales rose just 0.8 percent last quarter, a number CEO Chris Kempczinski described on the earnings call as "below our expectations." McDonald's attributed sluggish performance to complex operations, a dense array of deals and an overlapping set of new product launches. The company named a new U.S. president and indicated it wants to make changes quickly.
Wendy's numbers were worse. The chain posted a 7 percent sales decline, and CEO Bob Wright did not soften the assessment. "Our quality has eroded, our value proposition has weakened, and we have not consistently delivered the experience customers expect from Wendy's," Wright said on Friday's earnings call.
Burger King's renovation effort runs deeper than product quality. The chain invested hundreds of millions of dollars overhauling the look and operations of its franchise locations after its own market research identified aging restaurants and slow, inconsistent service as key reasons customers abandoned the brand. That investment, alongside the Whopper reformulation and the shift in marketing tone under Curtis, represents a multi-year effort that the latest quarter's numbers suggest is working.
The clearest way to own this story is through RBI, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker QSR. The Burger King U.S. segment is now the sharpest earnings growth catalyst in RBI's portfolio: the Whopper relaunch is still relatively new, the renovation program continues to roll out across locations, and Alarcon's track record at Popeyes positions Burger King to extend food quality gains into future quarters rather than treat the overhaul as a one-time event.
For McDonald's, the 0.8 percent same-store sales figure and the decision to install a new U.S. president signal that the gap with Burger King is large enough to force structural changes, not just marketing adjustments. McDonald's remains the largest burger chain in the United States by a substantial margin, but the last time Burger King outpaced it by this wide a margin was more than a decade ago—and Burger King's leadership is now making that comparison explicitly in its marketing.
