QSR covers our work with Burger King, and how the Sizzle remodel program has had the strongest positive sales impact among their modern redesign options.

If there’s one way to describe recent months for Burger King, it’s the brand began to speak up again. The past few years were a retrenching of sorts as it rolled one of the most expansive turnaround projects in fast-food history in “Reclaim the Flame.” We’re talking $700 million invested from the company to boost marketing, assets, technology, and more.

Central to the effort was Burger King needed locations to mirror what it was now saying publicly. So, when it hit media to talk about an updated Whopper—the first major upgrades in a decade—or share how it just retired “The King,” it wanted customers who came back, or visited for the first time, to see a brand that felt as refreshed as its creative.

Corporate committed $450 million toward franchisees’ cost of remodeling. And operators responded with contractual commitments to quicken pace. Burger King began with fewer than 40 percent of restaurants updated to a new look. Today, it’s closer to 60 percent.

Additionally, Burger King company-run locations acquired when it bought its largest franchisee, Carrols, for $1 billion in early 2024, have increasingly gone to market. Burger King aims to get these restaurants in the hands of smaller, invested operators and, ultimately, shift the corporate portfolio to a steady state level of about 300 locations from 1,100. Burger King sold the first batch last year ahead of schedule and expects refranchising to gain momentum in the back half of 2026 and speed into 2027. Remodeling slowed a bit last year due to P&L compression and challenges with rising beef costs.

Still, Burger King said at its investor day, the larger organization has begun to see a “halo effect” from more units being remodeled and consumers changing their perceptions of the brand from a tired system to one that reflects growth.

The flagship vision is a “Sizzle” design Burger King refined throughout Reclaim the Flame, complete with kiosks, digital menuboards, and more tech integration.

Read the full article in QSR.