Burger King to Close Up To 400 Stores – Any in Louisiana?
Louisiana fast food lovers who enjoy having it "their way" at their neighborhood location of Burger King might have to make adjustments in the way they get their Whoppers in the near future. The fast food giant's parent company has confirmed that Burger King has plans to shutter some 400 locations across the nation by the end of the year.
A spokesperson for Restaurant Brands International Inc confirmed the news to NBC's Today Show saying the company expects to close between 300 and 400 locations by year's end. The fast food giant currently operates almost 7,000 locations of Burger King nationwide but admits there have already been more than 100 locations shuttered already this year.
The company noted that several large Burger King franchisees have filed for bankruptcy protection over the past few months. Those chains are located in Illinois, Michigan, and Utah. They are part of the 120-plus Burger King franchises that have either been shuttered or reorganized. While this has been seen as a significant blow to the Burger King footprint the chain's parent company RBI doesn't see this as an alarming situation.
In speaking on NBC's Today Show RBI inc CEO Joshua Kobza said the company plans to focus on smaller franchisees to improve the overall health of the brand. These smaller franchisees who run high-quality stores will be the only operators allowed to build, acquire, or expand existing restaurants.
Texas has the most Burger King locations in the country with some 580 stores. Florida has the second most with 570 outlets. In Louisiana Burger King restaurants can be found in 83 cities around the state. Lake Charles has five, Lafayette has seven, Shreveport has nine, and Baton Rouge has sixteen restaurants.
Which of those restaurants or restaurants in other cities across Louisiana could be affected by the company's plans? Well, that remains unresolved as of now. RBI inc says that the company shutters "a couple of hundred" locations every year anyway. And no official timetable or list of stores to be shuttered has been published. So as of now we can't confirm nor deny that any Louisiana locations will be included in the closures or when that might actually take place.
Despite the not-so-good economic news the company has reported its sales have increased some 8.7% over the previous year.
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