Fast food giants: McDonald’s and Burger King’s revenue continues to grow, but hamburgers are becoming more expensive

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 06. 03. 12:27

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The two largest fast food chains in Hungary had a successful financial year in 2024: McDonald’s and Burger King both recorded double-digit revenue growth, while the number of employees increased and wages also increased. Despite the favorable business indicators, many consumers now consider fast food a “luxury product” due to price increases.

Revenue: strong growth, but at a slowing pace

McDonald’s achieved revenue of HUF 104.8 billion in 2024, which is a 15.25% increase compared to HUF 91 billion in 2023. However, this expansion is slower than the 23.7% growth between 2022 and 2023. Burger King is also showing a similar trend: after 56.2 billion in 2023, they booked 64.3 billion in 2024, an increase of 14.5% – but this is behind the 39% jump of the previous year.

Profit: McDonald’s in particular improved a lot

Based on the after-tax result, McDonald’s made a significant jump: profit increased from 6.2 billion to 8.7 billion, an increase of 40.4%, significantly exceeding the increase of 10.8% last year. In the case of Burger King, profit increased from 4.56 billion to 6 billion, which means an increase of 31.4% – this is also remarkable, but it lags behind the 57.4% profit improvement in 2023.

Expanding workforce and rising wage costs

Companies grew not only in sales but also in human resources: McDonald’s employed an average of 3,149 people in 2024, a 7.6% increase compared to 2,927 the previous year. At Burger King, the average number of employees increased from 1,539 to 1,620 (+5.3%).

At the same time, wage costs also jumped significantly. McDonald’s spent 18.7 billion forints on wages instead of 15.7 billion, an increase of 19.1%. At Burger King, wages increased by 21.8%, from 8.7 billion to 10.6 billion.

The average gross salary thus increased to HUF 496,900 at McDonald’s and HUF 547,400 at Burger King – the former represents an increase of 10.9% and the latter of 15.3%.