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Burger King comes back to France, might purchase Quick (McDonald's main competitor)

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INTERVIEW - The return of the fast food chain to France seems assured, and Burger King might very well purchase Quick (a French food chain and McDonald's biggest competitor in France) says Bernard Boutboul, director of the Gira Conseil consulting cabinet.

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Is Burger King about to return to France?

Yes, at a 99% probability. The group has been preparing its return to France for one year. Burger King left the French market in 1997, certain that there was no place for a third company besides McDonald's and Quick. However, the French market has changed since. Fast food is booming. And one should not forget that the brand has a very strong notoriety among urban consumers of ages 35 and older. Some of them are very nostalgic for the whopper, so they enter a Burger King restaurant as fast as they can when they go to Germany or Switzerland. By the way, France is the only European country where the American group is absent.

What will Burger King's strategy be?

The most likely scenario is them purchasing Quick, which owns 370 restaurants in France. They're largely outnumbered by McDonald's, which owns 1,200. McDo never ceases to innovate, to frenchify itself and to make higher-end products. Quick is not reacting to that. Even worse, its image has been severely stained by the death of one customer in Avignon (in the south of France), who ate one of their hamburgers. Even more, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, which owns Quick, never hid the fact that they wanted to get rid of it.

How much would such an acquisition cost?

On average in this market, you'd have to pay about 90% of the structure's yearly revenue. Which, for Quick, would be close to €700 million ($996 million). By counting all the building work and renovation to do, Burger King would have to pay about one billion Euros ($1.42 billion) if they decided to go back to France by purchasing Quick.

What are the other possibilities for Burger King?

If they don't buy Quick, the group might take over the Pomme de Pain food chain (130 retail stores) which is also for sale, or purchase the Croissanterie chain (120 retail stores). Last possibility: buying stores one by one, but I don't see Burger King do things that way and wait for ten years to have a substantial network.

Who could be head of the French subsidiary?

In all likelihood, it should be Thierry Rousset. The man left as director of Subway France in July. He did formidable work for the development of the franchise. Today he's in charge of Burger King for Southern Europe.
Translated from http://www.20minutes.fr/article/779978/burger-king-revient-france-pourrait-racheter-quick
 
Stealth Editor said:
Why does a french junk food place have an english name?
For the same reason we translate American movie titles with different English titles (or just don't translate them at all). Everything sounds cooler in English.
 

daviyoung

Banned
Smellycat said:
I wonder if Quick is any good.

The ones I've eaten in have been fairly middling and basic. Like Wimpy in the UK. And I guess In-and-Out Burger/White Castle in the States.
 
Smellycat said:
there is no BK in France?? I had no idea. I wonder if Quick is any good.
Not since 1997. Quick is decent (I've only eaten there twice in about 10 years I think), but I find it harder to find their restaurants, even in Paris, so I usually just go to McDonald's if I want fast food. There's always one nearby.
 
daviyoung said:
The ones I've eaten in have been fairly middling and basic. Like Wimpy in the UK. And I guess In-and-Out Burger/White Castle in the States.

Still haven't eaten there, but by all account In and Out is the premierel fast food joint around.
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider

7aged

Member
I for one welcome the return of le whopper. Quick really is awful. You feel like you're stepping back in time before burgers were popular (a bit like Wimpy in the UK)
 

Smellycat

Member
mamacint said:
Sounds like a shithole from the article

Yeah, I just read that on Wikipedia. Apparently a 14 year old died from food poisoning. And five of eight employees in the same restaurant got sick too. The manager refused to accept responsibility for the death of the kid. :|
 

Alrus

Member
Quick is wholly owned by the french government right? (or the pension fund or smth, I forgot). They're decently popular, I don't see why they would sell the chain if it makes money.

Anyway, Quick was founded in Belgium, that's why it uses an english name. Also it's more "marketable" when it comes to expanding to non french speaking countries.

And Quick is decent I'd say, I like it better than McDonalds anyway, but I tend to go to both because McDonalds make much much better chicken sandwiches. (But the equivalent of McNuggets is way better in Quick). It's not like I have much choice anyway, they're the only two fast food chains in Belgium as far as I know.
 
Computer said:
Not since 1997. Quick is decent (I've only eaten there twice in about 10 years I think), but I find it harder to find their restaurants, even in Paris, so I usually just go to McDonald's if I want fast food. There's always one nearby.

Harder to find than McDonald's? Sure, but they're pretty much everywhere in Paris. I pasted a lot of them walking distances from most major attractions and clumpings of hostels/hotels.
 
Never been to Quick but Burger King is only slightly less shitty than McDonalds. So eh, not much to look forward to for the Frenchmen.
 
Alrus said:
Quick is wholly owned by the french government right? (or the pension fund or smth, I forgot). They're decently popular, I don't see why they would sell the chain if it makes money.

Anyway, Quick was founded in Belgium, that's why it uses an english name. Also it's more "marketable" when it comes to expanding to non french speaking countries.

And Quick is decent I'd say, I like it better than McDonalds anyway, but I tend to go to both because McDonalds make much much better chicken sandwiches. (But the equivalent of McNuggets is way better in Quick). It's not like I have much choice anyway, they're the only two fast food chains in Belgium as far as I know.
The CDC's aim is to support companies with a 'general interest'. I'm not sure owning fast foods qualifies as 'general interest', but who knows - plus, I bet the whole controversy about some Quick restaurants serving halal-only food is problematic for a government-owned financial institution.
 
BatmanBatmanBatman said:
Never been to Quick but Burger King is only slightly less shitty than McDonalds. So eh, not much to look forward to for the Frenchmen.

Burger king seems crappier in Germany. It's only crappy little "to go" burger kings which are still rare to see. (At least where I am)
 

7aged

Member
Burger King is a lot better than McDonalds IMO. The burgers are more meaty. But difference in taste etc..

The French fast food market is strange. McDonalds pitches itself differently there. They don't have a saver menu and their general a la carte / meal prices are more expensive than say the UK.
 
7aged said:
Burger King is a lot better than McDonalds IMO. The burgers are more meaty. But difference in taste etc..

The French fast food market is strange. McDonalds pitches itself differently there. They don't have a saver menu and their general a la carte / meal prices are more expensive than say the UK.
Ya, why don't they have a value menu? I was pretty shocked by that since they have a "euro menu" in germany, I assumed france would have had the same.
 

warthog

Member
We need BK in Belgium. Many of them. And I have no problem with them replacing Quick, who aren't in the same league.
 

Alrus

Member
warthog said:
We need BK in Belgium. Many of them. And I have no problem with them replacing Quick, who aren't in the same league.

I would be happy with this, I really like BK. :) Every time I go to Maastricht I have to get one.
 
No one is going to win McDonalds at least in France and Spain and most parts of europe. In this places they have more fast food restaurants than any other competitor and now are trying to go for a better quality product, something that people seem to like.

Its funny watching here when you visit Malls and entertainment areas to see a McDonalds and a Burger King competing near each other, and the McDonalds being full of people and Burguer King nearly empty.
It doesnt help that the BK here has a horrible and slow people behind the counter, its dirty, the floor sticky always and its smells really bad.

The only good things they have are bigger burgers, that you can refill the drinks (very rare here) and their funny ads.

McDonalds turned their banners from red to green, use better quality products and have gained even win the Q of quality, that is something Spain gives only for very clean and good quality restaurants and hotels. You can also if you want visit the kitchens inside and where they do that hamburquers here. They have even open side coffe shops near some of their bigger restaurants. Seems that the spansih mcdonalds marketing department wants to show a new face to their fast food and it seems to be working wonders.
 

Kurtofan

Member
Stealth Editor said:
Why does a french junk food place have an english name?
We use a lot of English words in our daily language and English sounds "cool".

Ballsy of Burger King to go back after they failed hard more than ten years ago, I hope they buy Quick, it's so gross.
 

rezuth

Member
Alrus said:
Quick is wholly owned by the french government right? (or the pension fund or smth, I forgot). They're decently popular, I don't see why they would sell the chain if it makes money.

Anyway, Quick was founded in Belgium, that's why it uses an english name. Also it's more "marketable" when it comes to expanding to non french speaking countries.

And Quick is decent I'd say, I like it better than McDonalds anyway, but I tend to go to both because McDonalds make much much better chicken sandwiches. (But the equivalent of McNuggets is way better in Quick). It's not like I have much choice anyway, they're the only two fast food chains in Belgium as far as I know.
Same reason Sweden sold Clock, the government should not deal with fast food.
 
we just got the first burger king in western japan here in osaka last month, and another's opening next week. you can get beer as part of a set! i like it.
 
Stealth Editor said:
Why does a french junk food place have an english name?
Quick is from Belgium, not France.


Also, this is the third time I read rumours about BK's comeback, I'm still not believing it. I'll keep going to Spain and to the UK when I wanna eat there.
 

faridmon

Member
No Burger King in France? There are ones in Scandenavia and I could have sworn that I have seen them in Germany.
 

Kurtofan

Member
faridmon said:
No Burger King in France? There are ones in Scandenavia and I could have sworn that I have seen them in Germany.
We threw them out of France.
I wish they renamed it Burger Republic for here, I don't like this King bullshit.
 

ektoll

Member
IMO, BK > McDo > Quick, but it's still junk food. If you really want a big, good hamburger, find an nice irish pub.


Quick suffered from the contagion episode, but also, as Computer said, from the "only-hallal" backfire. Whatever, it won't be a great loss.
 

faridmon

Member
Moundir&Tony>you said:
Yeah. It's nice but fucking expensive: 6€40 for a footlong, 8€ if you want a drink with that.
Yeah, its bloody expensive here in UK as well. But Its so damn good. I can't help buy it every two weeks or so.
Computer said:
We do. We even have KFC and Starbucks.
So you guys have most of the chains beside Burger King, what did they do wrong?
 

jts

...hate me...
faridmon said:
So you guys have most of the chains beside Burger King, what did they do wrong?
They pulled out of some european countries circa end-90's. Probably just a matter of international strategy.

They pulled out of my country (Le Portugal) as well by that time, fortunately they came back 5/6 years ago. It's a small country, so it was easy for them to come back and get a nice chain of stores going on.

On larger countries like France, a comeback has to be planned more thoroughly and well timed - this whole buying the Quick chain seems like a nice opportunity to re-enter that market and get good visibility fast.

Some companies only wish to operate in a certain country if they can get a top position on that market (top 3, top 2 or even leadership).
 

Backflip

Junior Member
I still remember going to Burger King as a kid to get the Power Rangers The Movie kids meal. There was a Burger King restaurant not too far away from where I live. Ironically, that spot was taken over by Quick after BK left France.
 
Burger King say they have no such plans: http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/article-208961-non-burger-king-ne-reviendra-pas-en-france.html

:(
 
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