Burger King, America’s Top Fast Food Chain, Eyes Nigerian Market

Burger King, America’s global fast food chain, has revealed its plans of entering the Nigerian market as it looks outside the United States growth.

Daniel Schwartz, Chief Executive, Restaurant Brands International, parent company of Burger King, said the Nigerian market is the next target of the company leveraging on the huge population of about 190 million with an average age of 18 years, a burger-loving age.

Burger King accounted for about two-thirds of Restaurant Brands International’s $8 billion in sales in the last quarter.

It has also embarked on an aggressive increase in the number of its outlets across the globe.

As at the end of September, it has more than 17,000 restaurants with just 7,300 of this in the United States.

The global fast food market is driven by modern lifestyle, changing food habits and increasing disposable income in the hand of middle-class people.

The rapid growth of population and increasing urbanization is one of the major growth drivers.

According to Euromonitor, the global fast food market grew 4.9 per cent to $708 billion in 2017.

In Nigeria, there is a growing battle between traditional food outlets such as Mr Biggs, Tantalizer and new entrants into the fast food market.

The new entrants such as The Place, KFC, and Sweet Sensation have adopted strategies that have seen them commanding a larger market share.

José Cil, president of Burger King, told Financial Times in October that the fast-food chain “aren’t really well penetrated yet” in sub-Saharan Africa.

He said: “We think Nigeria is an amazing opportunity, we think east Africa as well.”

Burger King has been moving into the region over the past 18 months, striking a deal with Servair to expand in markets including Kenya and Ivory Coast.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, was “one of the places I try to go to as often as possible to meet investors and potential partners,” said Cil, adding that Burger King had “a lot of work to do” in Nigeria “in terms of infrastructure and supply chain”.

“We want to do it right — and we want to do it in a big way,” he said. “We want to scale quickly. So, we’re excited about the potential.”

Burger King is an American global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants.

Headquartered in Florida, the company, founded in 1953, focuses on ready-to-eat foods such as Burgers, chickens, salad and veggies.