People waiting in line outside a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant in New York last year.
Photo: shannon stapleton/ReutersRestaurant Brands International Inc. QSR 2.74% has taken an early lead in the race to build a better chicken sandwich.
The fast-food company said Monday its sales at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen far exceeded expectations for the quarter ended in December. Its spicy chicken sandwich was rolled out nationally in November after it sparked a social-media sensation during tests last summer.
McDonald’s Corp. MCD 0.76% is now testing two new versions of a chicken sandwich at lunch, along with new breakfast sandwiches topped with chicken. Wendy’s Co. WEN 1.00% is featuring a chicken sandwich in its national breakfast launch next month.
Popeyes’ sales at U.S. restaurants open at least 17 months grew 38% for the fourth quarter, the Toronto-based company said. Revenue at the chain rose to $145 million from $106 million, helping Restaurant Brands beat profit expectations overall.
The company’s shares rose 2.7% on Monday.
Toronto-based Restaurant Brands’ shares rose 3% in morning trading.
Meanwhile, the company’s Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons is still bringing down performance. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 4.3% for the quarter, worse than analysts’ projections. Nearly 60 limited-time offers at the chain last year made its operations too complex, the company said. Tim Hortons introduced Beyond Meat Inc. BYND 2.83% plant-based sandwiches last year but recently pulled them after they failed to gin up sales.
Chief Executive José Cil said in an interview that he still sees a future for plant-based options in Canada, but the company needs to focus now on coffee and other core offerings. “It distracted us from getting back to those basics that we need to improve on,” Mr. Cil said.
Burger King’s same-store sales also came in weaker than projected. Sales grew just 0.6% in the U.S. for the quarter despite the national rollout of the plant-based Impossible Whopper. A lack of deals during the quarter contributed to the weakness, the company said.
Mr. Cil said the company added the Impossible Whopper as an option to its two items for $6 menu this year, as it seeks to persuade value-oriented consumers to try it.
Mr. Cil said Burger King had temporary closed around half of its roughly 1,300 stores in China in response to the coronavirus, along with some Tim Hortons locations. China accounts for about 2% of Burger King’s sales.
Burger King’s total sales increased 8.4% globally, driven by more store openings than in any quarter for two decades, Mr. Cil said.
Overall, Restaurant Brands’s revenue for the quarter rose to $1.48 billion from $1.39 billion in the year-ago period, ahead of the $1.45 billion analysts polled by FactSet had expected.
Net income was $165 million, or 54 cents a share, compared with $163 million, or 64 cents a share, in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings were 75 cents a share. Analysts were expecting earnings of 72 cents a share on an adjusted basis.
—Dave Sebastian contributed to this article.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
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