Burger King

Burger King, also known as BK, is an American fast food chain with headquarters in Miami, Florida, founded by James McLamore and David Edgerton, which is present internationally and mainly specializes in the production of hamburgers.

History

Background

Burger King's predecessor was founded in 1953 in Jacksonville, Florida, as 'Insta-Burger King'. After visiting the McDonald's brothers at the original store location in San Bernardino, California, the founders and owners (Keith J. Kramer, and his wife's uncle, Matthew Burns), who had acquired the rights for two pieces of equipment called Insta machines, they opened their first restaurant. Their production model was based on one of the machines they had acquired, an oven called the Insta-roaster. This oven was so successful that soon all of its franchises requested one. After the company went bankrupt in 1959, it was purchased by its franchisees in Miami, Florida, but also by James McLamore and David R. Edgerton. These began a restructuring of the chain's companies, such as changing the name to Burger King. They ran the company as an independent entity for eight years, before selling it to the Pillsbury company in 1967.

Burger King

It was founded on December 4, 1954 in Miami, when two young entrepreneurs named James McLamore and David R. Edgerton opened this restaurant based on a different concept from the one that existed and that has remained until today: «The Home of The Whopper.

In 1955, "the king product" It was incorporated as the image of the brand and has endured as a reference: the Whopper, Burger King's main product. In 1958, the first television advertisement was launched in Miami, which gave rise to a television campaign that lasted more than 50 years. In 1959 the brand began its expansion through franchising, extending its operations throughout the United States and later worldwide. Thus, in 1963, he opened the first restaurant outside the United States, in Puerto Rico. In 1974, the “HAVE IT YOUR WAY” marketing campaign began allowing customers to customize the ingredients in their burgers. In 1975, a new service was started that allowed customers to receive their products without getting out of their car. That same year the franchise opened its first location in Europe: in Madrid, where the image of the opening was the international singer Rosa Morena. Due to the demand of customers during the first hours of the day, in 1979, the franchise was incorporated breakfast menu.

In 1989, the company Grand Metropolitan PLC acquired the rights to Burger King, purchasing the shares of Pillsbury, who had previously acquired the rights in 1967. In 1997, Grand Metropolitan PLC merged with Guinness becoming Diageo PLC, a world leader in food and owners of the rights to Burger King Corporation. A new purchase was planned for 2002, Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital bought the brand rights from Diageo PLC, returning ownership to the United States. In 2004, 'the king' It was resurrected as the main marketing vehicle, since in 1998 during the update of the logo and restaurants, this legendary image had been left aside. For the 50th anniversary of the Whopper, in 2007, a campaign was designed to simulate its disappearance from the menu.

In 2010, the Rio de Janeiro-based firm 3G Capital bought the rights to the brand. The same year, Burger King caused great controversy for humiliating the French soccer player André-Pierre Gignac and his excess weight in its advertising, where it said "A Whopper pour Gignac."

It has been an official sponsor of Getafe C.F., a Spanish First Division (La Liga Santander) soccer team, as well as Mérida FC, Ascenso MX of Mexico, US Palermo of Italy and Perth Glory of Australia.

On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, Burger King proposed putting aside, at least for a day, its rivalry with McDonald's. The formula devised consisted of creating a hamburger that was a mix of their two flagship hamburgers—the Big Mac and the Whopper—and selling it in a restaurant that would open one day in Atlanta, a city halfway between the headquarters of both companies. Profits would go to Peace One Day, a non-profit organization.

In 2020, it redesigned its logo based on those already used between 1969 and 1999, appealing to nostalgia.

International operations

Burger King itself began as a franchise of its parent company, Insta-Burger King. It grew in the United States using a combination of corporate locations and franchises, before divesting its ownership interests in 2013. It began international expansion in 1969 with a location in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, followed by Australia in 1971, and Europe. in 1975 with a restaurant in Madrid, Spain. Latin America became part of their market at the end of that decade, where they started in Mexico. In the late 1970s and early 1980s it operated in Caracas, Venezuela, Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Asia would follow in the 1980s, then North Africa and the Middle East soon after. Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Iron Curtain nations would come much later, starting in the late 1990s and continuing until 2010. Other Latin countries also welcomed the brand such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The company divides its international operations into three segments: Middle East, Europe and Africa division (EMEA), Asia and the Pacific (APAC), and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In each of these regions, Burger King has established several subsidiaries to develop strategic partnerships and alliances to expand into new territories.

Abandoned markets

In Australia it operated from 1997 to 2003, the year in which all stores were renamed Hungry Jack's, but they remain a representative of the company.

In Costa Rica it operated from 1992 to 2015, 29 restaurants were present in the country since 1992, but all of them were closed in October 2015, due to great competition from other fast food brands and loss of participation and problems of license from the parent company. On June 15, 2016, it restarted its operations in the country, starting with the location located in Parque La Paz, continuing with the Goicoechea location and the Tibás location. Currently, 32 restaurants are already operating. again in the country.

Operated in Helsinki and Tampere for a short period in the 1980s, Burger King returned and opened a new restaurant in Finland in 2013. In France it operated from the 1980s to 1998, but returned, opening a location at the Airport of Marseille on December 22, 2012. It is not known when Burger King left Greece, the truth is that it operated in 2004 and possibly until 2009, and in December 2014 it announced its return. In Israel it was present from 1994 until May 2010, which was renamed Burgeranch, but in June 2015, the chain announced that it would be relaunched in that country and opened a restaurant in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Other countries where it is not present are Iceland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and the United States Virgin Islands. Since 2018 and due to the protests in Nicaragua in 2018-2019, Burger King ended operations in Nicaragua, without any official statement.

Logos

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  Logo used from 1954 to 1969.

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  Logo used from 1969 to 1994.

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  Logo used from 1994 to 1999.

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  Logo used from 1999 to 2020 (Even in use in France).

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  Burger King's current logo since 2020.

Products

When Burger King's predecessor first opened in Jacksonville in 1953, its menu consisted predominantly of basic burgers, fries, soft drinks, shakes and desserts.

Since its inception in 1957, the Whopper became synonymous with the chain and the focus of much of its advertising. The company even named its new kiosk-style restaurants "Whopper Bar."

Donald Smith's so-called "Operation Phoenix", which began in 1978, led to the addition of a line of specialty sandwiches, in 1979, which represented a significant expansion of the BK menu with many non-hamburger sandwiches, including chicken and fish offers. It was one of the first attempts to reach a specific demographic, in this case adults between eighteen and thirty-four years old, willing to pay more for a higher quality product.

To generate additional sales, from time to time introduce offers on versions of your basic products, or new seasonal products, to your menu. Products such as the Texas Double Whopper and various sandwiches made with mushrooms or Swiss cheese, among others, have been in rotation for several years, while products such as the special meatloaf sandwich failed to generate interest and were discontinued. However, despite the experience in the United States, many have had success in foreign markets, where dishes adapted to regional tastes are also offered. Additionally, starting in 2011, the company began to move away from the menu aimed at the male population, and decided to introduce new items, and reformulate products and packaging, as part of the company's 3G capital restructuring plan.

Team

The company's team is in charge of preparing the menu and prepares the burgers, always made on a mechanical grill; The original unit, called the Insta-Broiler, was one of the pieces used by the founding team of Insta-Burger King, purchased before opening their new restaurant. When McLamore and Edgerton took over the company it was changed to a unit improved, which they called the Flame Broiler, which lasted with the company for the next 40 years.

Already at the end of the XX century, Burger King began the development of a variable speed grill that could handle multiple items with different cooking rates and times. These new units began to be used on a trial basis in 1999 and eventually became the company's two models in the years 2008-2009.

It also has a monitoring system that allows for more concise tracking of product quality, while the company and its franchisees use a method to rationalize costs and more accurately project sales and product use.