A big franchisee operating restaurants from the Burger King chain, the main brand in Restaurant Brands International's (QSR 0.71%) lineup, recently sealed a deal with an electric vehicle (EV) charging station provider to install EV charging stations at 10 New England region Burger Kings, with more to follow. JSC Management Group, a significant franchisee running 59 Burger King outlets, made the pact with Blink Charging (BLNK 0.38%) to place 26 charging stations at the first 10 restaurants immediately.
These EV charging station installations are just the beginning of a larger rollout which will see Blink stations available at most of JSC's franchised restaurants by early 2021. The Level 2 fast chargers continue to be owned by Blink, which cuts the installation cost for the Burger King franchisee to nearly zero. JSC locations in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York will be the first to feature the new conveniences.
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Blink cites "Burger King's expansive presence across the U.S." in its press release and clearly views the current deal as a way to get its foot in the door for EV charging station deployments at other RBI restaurants, too. "We believe our installations at JSC's Northeast properties will be the first of many more to come," said in a company statement.
While Burger King is one of Restaurant Brands International's most widely distributed chains, the brand has been underperforming lately compared to Popeyes, whose success has been driven by chicken sandwich sales. Popeyes' comps have risen, helping support RBI's finances while Burger King's comps flounder. However, RBI's efforts to boost Burger King's drive-thru services might tie in with the deployment of Blink's EV charging stations, since vehicle traffic, as opposed to foot traffic, may increase at the brand as a result.
