Burger King began its expansion in Europe in 1975 with its first location in
Madrid, Spain. The first German branch of Burger King was opened in 1976 at the
Kurfürstendamm in
West Berlin. In 1990, an East German branch was opened in the town of
Dresden. Burger King operated in
Iceland from 2004-2008, having two locations at its peak. In December 2012, BK returned to the French market, based on an agreement with multinational operator
Autogrill, a move that has met with some excitement in the country. In July 1997, it was announced the chain would be leaving the country, closing its 22 franchised and 17 corporate locations, after a poorly executed entry into the market that left it unable to compete against McDonald's and local chain
Quick. The partnership with Autogrill is a move to consolidate BK's presence in travel plazas along major highways in
France,
Italy,
Poland and other European nations. after three decades of absence. This caused so much interest that people had to stand in queue for half an hour just to get in. In November 2013, Groupe Bertrand, who owns several restaurant franchises, acquired the BK master franchise Autogrill, becoming one of their franchisees. In September 2015, Groupe Bertrand announced being in talks with Quick's owner, investment fund Qualium, to take over all the franchise and convert all Quick restaurants in France into BKs. In December 2013, BK returned to
Finland, after three decades of absence. The first restaurant, located on
Mannerheimintie in central
Helsinki, instantly proved so popular that on every day since its opening, people queued in front of the restaurant to get in, sometimes for over half an hour. The only exception so far has been
Christmas time, when the restaurant was closed. According to Mikko Molberg, the leader of the Finnish Burger King franchise, the restaurant has attracted over 2000 customers on every single day, which has surprised the restaurant employees and the franchise owners. The long queues have been extensively covered and ridiculed in
social media, comparing them to people queuing in front of a
McDonald's restaurant in
Moscow in the early 1990s, and contrasting them with the nearly nonexistent queues at the BK restaurants in
Stockholm. In 2018, BK expanded into
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Greece, and the partially unrecognized state
Kosovo, as well as re-entering the Slovakian market after nearly 7 years of absence under a exclusive license from
AmRest. In June 2019, BK opened its doors in
Albania after 7 months of hype in the QTU Shopping Mall. In 2020, the first 3 BK restaurants opened in
Estonia. This was the period of the
COVID-19 pandemic so the outlets had to be opened via
Tallink by the popular videoconferencing software program
Zoom. In December 2020, BK restaurants were opened in
Latvia and
Lithuania. Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, RBI asked its Russian partner to suspend operations, but says the joint-venture structure prevents it from forcing closures; outlets have remained open. Burger King plans to invest in Serbia and soon to open multiple restaurants throughout the country. File:Dalma Garden Mall - 6 - Yerevan.JPG|Burger King's first outlet in
Armenia, located at
Dalma Garden Mall File:Vegan Burger King at Wien Westbahnhof.jpeg|A vegan Burger King restaurant in
Vienna,
Austria File:Burger King (BK) - Fontaine-l'Évêque (Belgique) - 2023-09-01.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Fontaine-l'Évêque,
Belgium File:Burger King Mikkeli 20190807.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Mikkeli,
Finland File:Restaurant Burger King Avenue Division Leclerc - Châtenay-Malabry (FR92) - 2023-02-05 - 3.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Châtenay-Malabry,
France File:HOF03469 RAW-Export cens.png|A Burger King restaurant in
Bavaria,
Germany File:Burger - vírus idején.jpg|Inside a Burger King restaurant in
Budapest,
Hungary File:Burger King restaurants in Rome.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Rome,
Italy File:Burger King Antrim, August 2009.JPG|Burger King restaurant beside Junction One Retail Park, Antrim,
County Antrim,
Northern Ireland File:Burger King, Oosterflank, Rotterdam (2022) 03.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Rotterdam,
Netherlands File:Burger King Sesimbra (15abr2022) (52009148793).jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Sesimbra,
Portugal File:Moscow, Lyusinovskaya Street 5 May 2022 01.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Moscow,
Russia File:Burger King pri OC Eperia. Prešov 22 Slovakia 1.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Prešov,
Slovakia File:Restaurant Burger King Calle Concepción - Cordoue (ES61) - 2023-04-29 - 2.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Cordoba,
Spain File:Flemingsberg station, burger king, 20230409, bild 5.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Huddinge,
Sweden File:Burger King di Izmit (2025).jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Kartepe,
Turkey File:The storefront of the Burger King restaurant at 247 High Street, Chatham, Kent, England.jpg|A Burger King restaurant in
Chatham,
Kent,
England == North America ==