Burger King may tie up with Pantaloon

11 Jan 2007

Mumbai: Retail major Pantaloon may sign a JV with Miami-based Burger King to enable it to enter India.

The proposed arrangement might follow a strong franchisee model in the country as Burger King has been doing franchisee-based ventures across many countries.

According to the NYSE website, as on June 30, 2006, Burger King owned or franchised a total of 11,129 restaurants in 65 countries and US territories, of which 1,240 restaurants were company-owned and 9,889 were owned by franchisees.

Approximately 90 per cent of its franchises are owned by independent franchisees — many of them family-owned operations. It operates in three regions: United States and Canada; Europe; West Asia and Africa and Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

In December 2006, Burger King had announced that it would start its Japanese operations in mid-2007.