Burger King back in France

BURGER King is coming back to France after 15 years away.

The fast-food firm has announced plans for outlets at Marseille airport and one on the southbound A4 motorway at Reims. The sites will be run in partnership with Italian company Autogrill, which already manages 140 Burger King restaurants.

The chain, which has 12,600 restaurants worldwide, left in 1997 after failing to keep pace with the rapid expansion of rival McDonald’s which now has 1,200 branches in France.

Head of Autogrill in France Vincent Monnot said they have been looking at France – “a very important market” – for a long time and want to develop as fast as possible.

Burger King’s manager for the Mediterranean area, Leo Leon, said: “We are confident Autogrill will help introduce the Burger King brand to French travellers looking for high quality, tasty and good value food.”

The chain will offer standards like the Whopper as well as some new menu items aimed at meeting French tastes.

It has not yet commented as to whether it also hopes to open town centre restaurants, an area in which Autogrill does not specialise.