BURGER KING® Brand in Austria on an Expansion Course With a New Structure

BURGER KING® Brand in Austria on an expansion course with a new structure

Strong master franchisee seeks to accelerate the growth of BURGER KING® restaurants and create 1,000 new jobs by 2020.

Vienna,  25.02.2015. Burger King Europe GmbH (BKE) makes its franchisee in Austria a master franchisee. Beginning April 1, 2015 TQSR Holding und Development GmbH (TQSR) will become a master franchisee and will lead the entire Austrian market in an effort to increase the successful positioning of the BURGER KING® brand and drive rapid growth in the country.

"We see  potential for growth in Austria and in order to take advantage of this opportunity we need a strong master franchisee and developer," explains Andreas Bork, Vice President & General Manager of BKE's Central Europe division.  "Hartmut Graf and his team from TQSR have a proven track record of  operational competence as well as a solid ownership structure that led us to choose TQSR as our master franchisee."

In the year 2000, the BURGER KING® brand opened its first restaurant in Vienna. Today, TQSR owns 20 percent of all   BURGER KING® restaurants in Austria (close to 40 restaurants), being the largest franchisee in the country.

"The BURGER KING® brand has grown sharply in Austria over the last three years. For the next five years our goal is to increase the pace of new restaurant openings in Austria, with the potential to create 1,000 new jobs," said Hartmut Graf, CEO of TQSR, , the master-franchisee for the BURGER KING® brand in Austria.

Starting April 1, the Vienna-based  TQSR  team will   manage and provide services to the entire Austrian market for the BURGER KING® brand.  TQSR also has the right to find new franchisees and enter into sub-franchising contracts with them.

Regarding content, TQSR will focus on its core competency.  "For all Austrian BURGER KING® restaurants quality and taste are the most important priority," added Graf. "As master-franchisee of the BURGER KING® brand in Austria we want to offer a truly outstanding guest experience. We are here to offer our guests tasty, fresh products at an attractive price in all of our BURGER KING® restaurants.   

About Burger King
Founded in 1954, BURGER KING® is the second largest fast food hamburger chain in the world.  The original HOME OF THE WHOPPER®, the BURGER KING® system operates in approximately 14,000 locations serving more than 11 million guests daily in nearly 100 countries and territories. Almost 100 percent of BURGER KING® Restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. BKE is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc. (RBI, which trades as "QSR" on TSX and NYSE) one of the world's largest quick service restaurant companies with approximately $23 billion in system sales and over 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries. To learn more about Burger King  please visit Burger King's website at www.bk.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release  includes forward-looking statements, which are often identified by the words "may," "might," "believes," "thinks," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends" or similar expressions and include statements regarding RBI's expectations regarding the ability of the master franchisee to develop the BURGER KING® brand's presence in Austria. These forward-looking statements may be affected by risks and uncertainties in RBI's business and market conditions.  This information is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in filings made by RBI with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including RBI's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. RBI wishes to caution readers that certain important factors may have affected and could in the future affect RBI's actual results and could cause RBI's actual results for subsequent periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of RBI, including the risk that the master franchisee will not be successful in opening BURGER KING® restaurants in Austria or that the opportunities to open restaurants in RBI will decline. RBI undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. 

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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Burger King Worldwide Group:
Bryson W. Thornton
Communication & Public Affairs
EMEACommunications@whopper.com