India’s burger QSR chains grow 36 per cent as Tier II and III cities rise

MUMBAI: The burger is getting a bigger map, and India’s smaller cities are hungry for a bite. India’s organised burger QSR market is moving beyond its traditional metropolitan strongholds, with the country’s top 10 chains expanding their combined store network to 2,018 outlets by March 2026, up from 1,481 in 2023, according to QSR Watch – Edition II by Kennis Ventures Private Limited.

The expansion represents a 10.9 per cent CAGR over the period, as organised burger brands increasingly look beyond the usual metro playbook. Industry estimates cited in the report peg India’s overall QSR market at around US$30 billion in 2026, while the organised burger segment is estimated at more than US$5 billion.

Global brands continue to command the largest share of the footprint. McDonald’s and Burger King, the only two international chains among the top 10, together operate 1,246 outlets, accounting for 61.7 per cent of the network.

McDonald’s remains the largest by store count, with 676 outlets across 136 cities, while Burger King has the broadest geographical footprint, with 570 stores across 159 cities.

But the home-grown burger brigade is steadily closing the gap. The eight Indian-founded brands in the top 10 collectively operate 772 outlets, or 38.3 per cent of the total network. Jumboking ranks third with 172 outlets, followed by Burger Singh with 161, Biggies Burger with 113 and The Burger Company with 100.

The geographical numbers show where the next growth could come from. North India remains the largest regional market with 837 stores, followed by West India with 624, South India with 438 and East India with 119.

However, growth is moving fastest in regions that started with smaller footprints. South India expanded 80.2 per cent, from 243 stores in 2023 to 438 in 2026, while East India more than doubled from 59 to 119 stores. North India grew 48.4 per cent, while West India expanded 39.6 per cent.

East India remains the least penetrated region, suggesting considerable room for further expansion.

The same shift is visible beyond the biggest urban centres. Delhi NCR leads with 364 stores, followed by Mumbai Metropolitan Region with 288, Bengaluru with 181, Pune with 100 and Hyderabad with 74.

Yet Bengaluru and Pune are growing faster than the two biggest hubs, recording expansion of 53.4 per cent and 56.3 per cent, respectively, since 2023. Hyderabad grew 32.1 per cent over the same period.

The expansion is increasingly reaching markets that were previously outside the standard QSR map. Burger King has entered cities including Itanagar, Dimapur and Shillong, while Burger Singh has expanded into Ayodhya and Jhansi. The Burger Company has also moved into markets such as Azamgarh, Hathras, Mau and Banda.

Saurabh Agarwal, Managing Director, Kennis Ventures, said the market was shifting from a predominantly metro-led category towards a more geographically distributed opportunity, with Indian brands building meaningful regional and national scale.

He added that the next phase of growth would depend not only on adding outlets in established cities but also on identifying markets with rising purchasing power, younger consumers and growing acceptance of organised QSR formats.

With 2,018 stores already spread across the country, India’s burger battle is therefore no longer confined to the familiar metro menu. The next big bite could come from cities that were barely on the QSR map a few years ago.