(Reuters) -Indian Burger King operator Restaurant Brands Asia reported a narrower first-quarter loss on Thursday, as its discounted menu items continued to draw in budget-conscious diners.
The company reported a net loss of 419.4 million rupees ($4.79 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared to a 493.6 million rupee loss a year earlier.
Fast food chains in India have been grappling with the double whammy of stiff competition from local rivals and muted demand from urban consumers due to high living costs.
To lure in the price-conscious diner, Burger King extended its value deals in the quarter, offering two vegetarian burgers for 79 rupees and two chicken burgers for 99 rupees.
It has also been offering a range of ‘Korean’ flavored items to cash in on a growing fanbase for Korean dramas and music.
As a result, revenue from its India restaurants grew 12.6%.
Same-store sales, which refer to sales from stores open for at least 12 months, grew 2.6% in India, led by a growth in dine-in traffic.
Rival Westlife Foodworld, which operates the McDonald’s restaurants in India, reported same store sales growth of 0.5% in the first quarter.
Overall revenue from operations for Restaurant Brands Asia grew 7.9% to 6.98 billion rupees, as a decline in sales in Indonesia – where it operates 139 restaurants – partly offset the growth in India.
Its India store count grew to 519 stores sequentially, with the company adding six stores in the quarter.
Westlife missed quarterly profit estimates and KFC operator Sapphire Food swung to a loss in the first quarter due to higher costs.
($1 = 87.5800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Janane Venkatraman)
