International systemwide sales, including from UK restaurants, were up 19.2% in the first quarter to 3 April 2022, with like-for-like sales up 14.1%.
Speaking on an investor call following its Q1 results statement, Penegor said the dark kitchens it had opened in the UK through its partnership with Reef Kitchens were some of its best performing units.
The global fast-food chain currently has 60 units open with Reef, in the UK, Canada and the US, and is looking to grow these further in all markets.
Wendy’s CFO Gunther Plosch said Europe continued to be one of its main focus areas for growth, and was 'one of the few markets where we are doing white space expansion as part of our global growth goal to reach 8,500-9,000 restaurants'.
“There is huge interest by franchisees in our European expansion plans. We have signed up now several franchisees already for the UK market; they are very excited to join our company restaurant footprint,” Plosch said.
Plosch confirmed plans to reach 50 and 60 restaurants in the UK by the end of this year, with the growth coming from a combination of company restaurants and delivery kitchens through Reef.
“Overall, for international for this year we are expecting about a 20% unit growth rate,” he added.
Penegor said: “We had one of our best quarters in our history for unit growth, with over 90 new restaurant openings, and are on track to reach our planned net unit growth goal of five to six percent for the year.
“We also competed well with global same-restaurant sales up double digits once again on a two-year basis and increased our global digital sales mix to over 10%.”
The business opened a total of 48 net international restaurants during the quarter.
