Burger King’s sales in Morocco have increased by 5.7% to MAD110m ($11.4m), with franchisee General First Food Services (GFFS) reporting that the chain is now profitable in Morocco for the first time since it launched in the country in 2011.
GFFS is a subsidiary of The Olayan Group, the Saudi Arabia-based master franchise holder for Burger King in the middle East and North Africa. With sales at MAD110m ($11.4m), turnover per store is MAD7.3m ($0.76m). This is very close to what rival McDonald’s turns over per store in Egypt ($0.79m). McDonald’s has operated in Morocco for more than twenty years, is the clear leader in the burger segment of the fast food market, and has 41 outlets.
GFFS has opened fifteen outlets Burger King since launching the brand in Morocco in 2011. It has opened 11 outlets since 2015. Its outlets are located in seven cities: Casablanca – where there are six outlets -, Rabat, Marrakesh, Fes, El Jadida, Beni Mellal and Tangiers. Most of the outlets are in premium shopping malls such as Casablanca’s Morocco Mall or Marrakesh’s Menara Mall. GFFS has also partnered with Carrefour franchisee Label’Vie to put Burger King outlets alongside Carrefour hypermarkets and with Vivo Energy to put outlets on Shell Service station forecourts.
The Vivo Energy partnership was launched with considerable fanfare in 2015, with the aspiration to put a Burger King outlet on Shell forecourts on all major autoroutes in Morocco. There is one: at Beni Mellal on the main autoroute heading to Marrakesh. The first Burger King on a Shell forecourt on the Rabat-Casablanca autoroute at Bouznika has closed.
