Burger King says its expansion will create 3,500 full-time and part-time jobs in the UK in 1999, building on the success of the 70 new outlets opened this year.

Some of the new restaurants will be opened by Burger King's franchisees which include Welcome Break, which plans to open 11 and Granada Group, which will open 75 under the joint name Burger King/Little Chef over the next two years.

Trading on the success of the Whopper, Burger King will create 3,500 new jobs

Paul Symonds, managing director of Burger King UK, said: "1998 has been a very successful year for Burger King. We opened 70 new restaurants, established the Whopper as Britain's best-tasting burger and launched the Big King burger. We plan to surpass our openings record in 1999."

In a separate development, shares in Diageo fell 21p to 684p after Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy, resigned.

The departure came amid speculation that LVMH is looking to sell some of its 10.89% stake in Diageo, and while the French group is looking for acquisitions.

UK fast food expansion

The expansion by the fast food chains reflects the relatively low presence of such outlets in Britain compared with near saturation in most US cities.

McDonald's currently operates 922 restaurants in Britain among over 23,300 worldwide. Burger King outlets number 523 in Britain out of more than 10,000 globally.

"Certainly there is a long way to go before we have the number of restaurants per capita in Britain that we have in the US," said a spokeswoman for Burger King.