France’s Quick Counters U.S. Competitors With New Small Concept

In the face of McDonald’s continued dominance in France and Burger King’s recent return with the splashy opening of a unit in Paris’s Gare Saint-Lazare, the country’s No. 2 burger chain Quick has unveiled a new small-space concept. The first Burger Bar by Quick is expected to open this summer in Paris.

The new brand has a footprint of only 150 square meters (492 sq. ft.), making it ideal for city-center sites, malls, railway stations and airports. The self-service menu will be reduced to core menu items: burgers, fries and ice cream.

Founded in 1970, Quick operates 498 restaurants in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2013, it opened 13 new restaurants and renovated 62 units.

France’s No. 1 burger chain, McDonald’s, operates 1,300 restaurants in France, 67 in Belgium and nine in Luxembourg. Burger King formed a new joint venture earlier this year with Bertrand Holding Co. and Naxicap Partners to accelerate its expansion in France. Quick-service sales in France are projected to rise 4% to $12.8 billion (9.43 billion euros) in 2014, according to data from researcher Euromonitor International.