- According to ASX listed Restaurant Brands New Zealand, Australia’s neighbours are preferring to order chicken over pizza when it comes to dinner time
- The company’s franchised KFC stores in New Zealand saw sales increase by 6.1 per cent to achieve $113.5 million — compared to Pizza Hut sales faltering by 4.3 per cent and dropping to $10.6 million
- However, the company saw a significant uptake in sales across its Carl’s Jr. stores in Australia and Zealand, and Taco Bell stores in Hawaii
- Late last year, Restaurant Brands dropped Starbucks New Zealand stores from its roster — now operating 285 fast food stores in total
It turns out New Zealanders prefer chicken to pizza when it comes to dinner time.
ASX listed Restaurant Brands New Zealand announced a major uptake in sales for the second quarter of the financial year, with improved business from KFC, Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr.
Including operations in Australia and Hawaii, the company’s total quarterly sales increased $8.8 million to achieve $259.7 million — a 3.5 per cent increase on the year.
Overall, sales in New Zealand saw a 5.4 per cent uptake, Australia jumped 5.8 per cent and Hawaii rocketed 9.6 per cent.
For New Zealanders, KFC sits ahead of the pack at a 6.1 per cent quarterly sales increase achieving $113.5 million. This represents a yearly increase of 8.8 per cent as well.
According to the stats, Australia’s neighbours are also preferring the poultry menu to Pizza Hut.
Sales from Pizza Hut faltered 4.3 per cent in the quarter, dropping to $10.6 million. This decrease also represents a yearly loss of 5.9 per cent.
Restaurant Brand owned Pizza Hut stores decreased by one during the quarter, previously up by one in a total of 30.
Currently, the company continues to build up the stores and sell them to independent franchisees. Reportedly 70 Pizza Huts across New Zealand and Australia are independently franchised among a total of 100.
Some Australians may not be familiar with the burger brand Carl’s Jr. The restaurant chain first opened in New Zealand in 2011 and in Australia in 2016.
Today in Australia, the burgers are being flipped in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland with nine stores.
During the quarter, Carl’s Jr. burgers flipped by employees under the Restaurant Brands roof sold more by 8.3 per cent to achieve $10.7 million.
This time last year, Carl’s Jr. menu items started flying out of the store through the UberEats platform — a major player in the restaurant industry for better or worse.
In October last year, Restaurant Brands sold off its Starbucks Coffee operations in New Zealand. The increase in sales across the board, despite knocking another brand off the roster, is significant for the company’s operations.
In total, Restaurant Brands now owns 285 fast food stores with the Starbucks sell off representing 22.
Share prices in the company are stagnant on the ASX, sitting at $8.80 each in a $1.097 billion market cap.
The New Zealand exchange has seen slight uptake for the company’s shares however, by 13 cents to reach NZ$11.15.