Australian restaurant chain Betty’s Burgers is emerging as a new growth engine for holding company Retail Zoo. The brand is now expanding its footprint, taking its burger brand into the Western Australian market by launching a CBD high street store in Perth, followed by additional stores within the next two years, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData forecasts quick service restaurants (QSR) & fast foods segment to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% to reach US$23bn and account for a 45% of the market share in Australia*.

Namrata Sain, Consumer Insights Analyst at GlobalData, says: “The versatility of the Betty’s brand has been successful across multiple locations which is a huge asset cultivating into a truly national offering. Also, possessing an attractive pipeline of new identified store locations and an extensive runway for further store format evolution, the company is taking utmost care towards its store expansion to gain a competitive edge among its rivals.”

According to Retail Zoo’s annual accounts, take-away and delivery account for about 35% of sales, up from 20-25% during pre-COVID-19, and average store racking up annual sales of at least US$3m, compared with forecasts of about US$2.7m before the pandemic.

Ms. Namrata adds: “Betty’s Burgers’ strong sales growth is fuelled, in part, by a shift away from dine-in sales towards take-away and delivery during the pandemic. Additionally, the launch of mobile ordering app with menu innovation, guided by consumer preferences aided in premium customer experience, brand loyalty and repeat consumers.”

This bodes well with 48% Australians who have food daily/ a few times a week/ once a week in quick service restaurants, and with 58% Australians who started/ continued/ increased frequency of ordering takeaway/delivery from restaurants in the last three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GlobalData Consumer Survey Q2 2021**.

Ms. Namrata concludes: “The calculative move to open a store in Perth comes right after Betty’s surpassing US$80m in annual revenue in 2021 recently and opening its 35th store in Brisbane. Retail Zoo eventually expects a scope for at least 150 Betty’s Burgers restaurants in Australia – up from original forecasts for about 100 stores and believes that there is a potential to expand offshore once the borders reopen.”

*Data taken as on 7^th July 2021 from GMD Segment Insights cube. However, data forecasts change every month

**Carried out in June 2021 across 42 countries globally, with a sample size of 500 respondents per country.