Burger King's India operator posts narrower Q2 loss on menu and store expansion

BENGALURU, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Restaurant Brands Asia , the franchisee of Burger King India, reported a narrower quarterly loss on Wednesday as it added more outlets in the country and expanded its menu.

Consolidated net loss narrowed to 460.3 million rupees ($5.5 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, from a loss of 499.5 million rupees a year earlier.

Burger King India expanded its menu during the quarter to include more chicken items and also offered promotions on certain meals, helping increase footfall at its restaurants and accrue higher average bill values, analysts said.

Restaurant Brands, which added 10 Burger King outlets during the period, also benefitted from more people visiting malls, where it has a bigger presence than other fast food chains, they added.

Its revenue from operations rose 16% to 6.25 billion rupees.

Even so, same-store sales growth, a barometer of customer retention, at Indian Burger King restaurants slowed to 3.5% from 27% a year earlier.

The company's expenses rose 15%, led by an over 20% spike in the cost of ingredients.

Several fast food chains, including Burger King, removed ingredients such as tomatoes and cheese from their menus to cut back spending during the quarter.

Rival fast food chain operators such as KFC operator Devyani International, Pizza Hut operator Sapphire Foods India , McDonald's operator Westlife Foodworld, and Domino's India franchisee Jubilant FoodWorks all reported a decline in quarterly profit.

Shares of Restaurant Brands fell as much as 2.1% after the results, before reversing course to rise as much as 3.3%.

They have risen 6.5% so far this year. Devyani and Westlife have each risen 2% and 3% this year, while Sapphire and Jubilant have fallen 4% and 0.5%, respectively. ($1 = 83.2560 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)