Tallink to open its first Burger King joints in Rocca al Mare, Ulemiste malls

TALLINN – Listed Estonian shipper Tallink Grupp is to open the first restaurants of the global fast food chain Burger King at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020 in Tallinn, with the first restaurant to be opened in the Rocca al Mare shopping center and the second one in the Ulemiste shopping center.

Thereafter, the company plans to open restaurants also in large shopping centers in Latvia and Lithuania in 2020, Tallink said in a press release.

Tallink acquired the Burger King franchise rights for the Baltic countries in September of this year and has announced that it plans to open more than 50 Burger King restaurants in total in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This fall, the group established subsidiaries in Latvia and Lithuania for operating the restaurants in these countries and this fall the company has been looking for locations for the restaurants, recruiting employees and establishing processes and operations for running the restaurants. The project to launch Burger King in the Baltic states is being led by Tallink Grupp's head of shore trade Katre Kovask.

"When looking for the locations for the first restaurants in the Baltic states, we set ourselves the goal to identify locations with strong existing infrastructure and where the potential visitor numbers would be high on a daily basis, to ensure we were immediately as close to people as possible. Shopping centers are thus an ideal and logical choice and in Tallinn, Rocca al Mare and Ulemiste are by far the most popular shopping centers," Kovask said.

"Competition in the shopping centers and on the fast food scene in general in Estonia is tight, but we are sure that there is still room here for such a globally loved and esteemed brand as Burger King at the heart of whose offering are quality ingredients that meet the globally set high standards and unique flame-grilled flavors," Kovask added.

With the launch and operation of restaurants in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the company is to create approximately 800 new jobs in the Baltics. Tallink Grupp holds 20-year franchises for Burger King restaurants in each of the three countries.