Description of Business and Organization

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of Business and Organization

Description of Business and Organization

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (the “Company”, “RBI”, “we”, “us” or “our”) was formed on August 25, 2014 and continued under the laws of Canada. The Company serves as the sole general partner of Restaurant Brands International Limited Partnership (“Partnership”). We franchise and operate quick service restaurants serving premium coffee and other beverage and food products under the Tim Hortons® brand (“Tim Hortons” or “TH”), fast food hamburgers principally under the Burger King® brand (“Burger King” or “BK”), and chicken under the Popeyes® brand (“Popeyes” or “PLK”). We are one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant, or QSR, companies as measured by total number of restaurants. As of September 30, 2020, we franchised or owned 4,934 Tim Hortons restaurants, 18,675 Burger King restaurants, and 3,418 Popeyes restaurants, for a total of 27,027 restaurants, and operate in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories. Approximately 100% of current system-wide restaurants are franchised.

All references to “$” or “dollars” are to the currency of the United States unless otherwise indicated. All references to “Canadian dollars” or “C$” are to the currency of Canada unless otherwise indicated.

COVID-19

The global crisis resulting from the spread of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has had a substantial impact on our global restaurant operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, which is expected to continue with the timing of recovery uncertain. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, some TH, BK and PLK restaurants were temporarily closed in certain countries and many of the restaurants that remained open had limited operations, such as Drive-thru, Takeout and Delivery (where applicable). This has continued into the fourth quarter of 2020.

Our operating results substantially depend upon our franchisees’ sales volumes, restaurant profitability, and financial stability. The financial impact of COVID-19 has had, and is expected to continue for an uncertain period to have, an adverse effect on many of our franchisees’ liquidity and we have worked closely with our franchisees to monitor and assist them with access to appropriate sources of liquidity in order to sustain their businesses throughout this crisis, such as offering rent relief programs for eligible franchisees who lease property from us. See Note 4, Leases, for further information about the rent relief programs. Additionally, we provided cash flow support by extending loans to eligible BK franchisees in the U.S. during the second and third quarters of 2020, and by advancing certain cash payments to eligible TH franchisees in Canada during the second quarter of 2020.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded bad debt expense of $27 million compared to $3 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2019. While these receivables remain contractually due and payable to us, the certainty of the amount and timing of payments has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, our bad debt expense during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 reflects an adjustment to our historical collections experience to incorporate an estimate of the impact of current economic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Actual collections may be materially higher or lower than this estimate reflects since it is reasonably possible the duration and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business or our franchisees may differ from our assumptions. Ongoing material adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our franchisees for an extended period could negatively affect our operating results, including reductions in revenue and cash flow and could impact our impairment assessments of accounts receivable, intangible assets, long-lived assets or goodwill.