7 Mar 2013

Rebound in sales by Restaurant Brands

6:41 pm on 7 March 2013

Sales at Restaurant Brands rose 1.2% last year, led by Pizza Hut and KFC, and also due to the opening of a new franchise, Carl's Junior.

The company, which also owns Starbucks, says total sales for the year ending 25 February rose to $311.9 million, despite the loss of 14 Pizza Hut stores and six Starbucks stores.

On a same store basis, KFC sales fell 1% to $237 million and Starbucks fell 1.7% to $25 million, but Pizza Hut sales jumped 21% to $10.9 million compared to the previous year.

Chief executive Russell Creedy said low cost pizza deals attracted new repeat customers to Pizza Hut, helping to turn around the business which was previously declining.

And he said the decline in KFC sales was due to a huge increase in sales the previous year in the Double Downer burger promotion.

Two new Carl's Junior stores which opened in the last quarter, contributed $1.9 million in sales.

Mr Creedy said the newest restaurant on Queen Street in Auckland, which opened last Thursday, is on track to turnover more than $100,000 in its first week.

The company will announce its full year results on 4 April.