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Burger King

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Burger King
Company typePublic (NYSE: BKC)
IndustryFast food
Founded1954 in suburban Miami, Florida, USA
Headquarters5505 Blue Lagoon Drive,
Miami, Florida (precisely in unincoporated Miami-Dade County)
Key people
John Chidsey, CEO; James McLamore and David Edgerton, Founders
ProductsFast food (including hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes)
RevenueIncrease$2.48 billion USD (2006)
Increase$170.00 million USD (2006)
Increase$27.00 million USD (2006)
Number of employees
340,000 (2006)
ParentBurger King Holdings Inc.
Websiteburgerking.com

Burger King (often abbreviated to BK) is a large international chain of fast food restaurants, predominantly selling burgers, french fries, soft drinks, desserts, and various sandwiches. It is headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the city of Miami. Hungry Jack's is a franchisee of Burger King that owns, operates and franchises over 300 restaurants in Australia.

Corporate profile

History

A Burger King restaurant in Redwood City, California

Burger King's first restaurant, originally called Insta Burger King, was opened on December 4, 1954 in a suburb of Miami, Florida, USA by James McLamore and David Edgerton, who were both alumni of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. McLamore had visited the hamburger stand belonging to Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California; being able to sense potential in their innovative assembly line-based production system, he decided to create a version of his own.

In 1989, the Burger King brand acquired many locations of its major UK rival Wimpy when its parent company bought the brand from its previous owner United Biscuits and re-branded them as "Burger King", giving it an even greater presence in that country. While other "Wimpy" locations are still trading today (now independent from BK) they no longer have the presence they once did (the market is now dominated by Burger King and the larger McDonald's).

In 1997, Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form a company called Diageo.

On Friday, December 13, 2002, Burger King was purchased from Diageo for $1.5 (US) billion by a private equity group headed by Stanley Foster and the investment firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG).[1] The company planned to go public within the next two years, though this was delayed until 2006. The new owners, through several new CEOs, revitalized the company; they realized about $367 million of the dividends.

On February 1, 2006, CEO Greg Brenneman announced TPG's plans to turn Burger King into a publicly traded company by issuing an Initial Public Offering. On February 16, the company announced it had filed its registration for the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On May 18, 2006, Burger King began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BKC.

Key dates

  • 1954: James McLamore and David Edgerton establish Burger King Corporation.[2]
  • 1957: The Whopper is launched.[2]
  • 1958: First BK TV advertisement[3]
  • 1959: The company begins to expand through franchising.[2]
  • 1967: Burger King is sold to Pillsbury.[2]
  • 1977: Donald Smith is hired to restructure the firm's franchise system.[2]
  • 1982: Burger King claims its grilled burgers are better than its competitors' (McDonald's and Wendy's) fried burgers.[2]
  • 1989: Grand Metropolitan plc acquires Pillsbury.[2]
  • 1997: The firm launches a $70 million french fry advertising campaign; Grand Metropolitan merges with Guinness to form Diageo plc.[2]
  • 2002: A group of investors led by Texas Pacific Group acquire Burger King.[2]

Trademark disputes

As it expanded in the United States, Burger King found that smaller operations had previously been using the name. One such restaurant in Mattoon, Illinois negotiated a settlement that forbids the chain from opening locations within 20 miles (32 km). See Burger King (Mattoon, Illinois).

In a trademark settlement with San Antonio local chain Whopper Burger, Burger King was not allowed to open locations within two counties of the city. The chain was ultimately bought out in the mid 1980s, opening the way for San Antonio Burger King locations.

A trademark conflict also arose in Australia; see Hungry Jack's, below.

Facts and figures

File:Burger King Seoul South Korea.jpg
Burger King, Seoul, South Korea
Burger King, Camp Liberty, Iraq

Burger King Holdings is the parent company of Burger King, in the US it operates under the Burger King Brands title while internationally it operates under the Burger King Corporation banner. It is a publicly traded company with investment firms of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs each owning about 25% of the company.[4]

Historically, Burger King has been the second largest burger chain in North America, behind McDonald's. However, Burger King's revenues and market share have been declining. In the early 2000s, Burger King fell to a near tie for second place with Wendy's. Burger King has been closing under-performing stores and changing its marketing strategy in an attempt to turn its fortunes around. In fiscal year 2002, the firm had US $11.3 billion in total sales.[4]

As of 2006, there are more than 11,220 Burger King outlets in 61 countries. 66% of the restaurants are in the United States. The company has more than 340,000 employees who serve approximately 11.4 million customers daily.[4]

Almost 90% of Burger King restaurants are privately owned and operated, or franchised. While Burger King Corporation sets standards for exterior store appearance, food quality and menu, individual owners have control over hours of operations, interior decor, pricing and staff uniforms and wages. For example, Magic Johnson's company Magic Johnson Enterprises purchased 30 Burger King stores on June 7, 2004. The stores were redecorated with a sports memorabilia theme. These locations officially reopened on December 3, 2004.[4]

Burger King has a longstanding presence at U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force installations worldwide, dating back to the 1980s under a contract with Army and Air Force Exchange Service. Today, while other chains such as Taco Bell, Popeye's and Subway have a presence on military bases, virtually every major Army and Air Force installation hosts a BK restaurant. Many Burger King outlets, even inside cities, require customers to operate a motor vehicle to purchase food during late evening hours.[4]

Burger King is one of the few companies that does not accept communication via email.

Hungry Jack's profile

When Burger King decided to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a man running a small takeaway food shop. In consequence, the Australian franchisee, Jack Cowin, was provided by Burger King with a list of possible alternative names that Australian Burger King restaurants could be branded as. These names were derived from pre-existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and Pillsbury (which was, at that time, the parent company of Burger King). Cowin selected the branding Hungry Jack's, echoing his name and sentiment. 'Hungry Jacks' - without the apostrophe - was actually a Pillsbury brand, being used in the US to market pancake (flapjack) mixture. Accordingly, the first Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation, established in Perth in 1971, was branded as Hungry Jack's.

In 1986, Hungry Jack's purchased 11 failing Australian Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers locations and rebranded them under the Hungry Jack's name.

1996 to 2001

When the existing Australian registered trademark for Burger King lapsed in 1996, the American parent company wanted Cowin to change the Hungry Jack's outlets over to the Burger King name. Cowin resisted the change, but despite this Burger King proceeded between 1996 and 2003 to open more than seventy outlets in Australia under the Burger King name. These built on their existing stores in international airports – the international territory apparently outside the Cowin licensing deal. In some cases the new Burger King outlets were located very close to existing Hungry Jack's outlets.

As a result of Burger King's actions, Hungry Jacks Pty. Ltd. began legal proceedings in Australia against the Burger King Corporation citing violation of the master franchising agreement.

In 2001, the case was finally resolved in favour of Hungry Jack's in a case that eventually included the Australian operating arm of Royal Dutch Shell, and as a result Burger King Corporation was ordered to pay $AUD 75 million to Hungry Jack's for breach of its franchise agreement.[5] One final attempt was made by Burger King to appeal the decision to the High Court of Australia[6] however this appeal was dismissed.

2002 to the present day

In 2002, Burger King Australia exited the country and sold a 51% share of its Australian restaurants to TPF, the company that operates Burger King in New Zealand. In an attempt to improve rapidly falling sales, TPF re-branded its Burger King restaurants as Hungry Jack's in late 2003 believing that the Hungry Jack's name with its 30 year history was the stronger brand. A market research survey conducted six months after the re-branding showed that Burger King had been the preferred brand, and that the words most often chosen by respondents in the survey to describe Hungry Jack's were "slow" and "dated"[citation needed]. In mid 2005, TPF decided to exit the Australian market and sold its 51% share of the former Burger King sites to Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd, the company operated by Jack Cowin.[7]

Operational nuances

File:Hungry Jack's slogan.png
The slogan "The burgers are better at Hungry Jack's" is well known in Australia.

While Burger King's logo has since changed to the "blue crescent" design, the Hungry Jack's logo is still (as of 2007) based on the previous Burger King logo, employing the simpler bun-and-filling motif.

Hungry Jack's sells the usual range of burgers but also offers an Australian speciality: the Aussie Burger. This burger is based on the traditional Australian fish and chips shop favorite, including fried egg, bacon, onion, and beetroot, with the traditional meat, lettuce, and tomato. Hungry Jack's locations are required to follow any menu changes made by Burger King.

Hungry Jack's introduced a breakfast menu in late 2005 in three states (Queensland, New South Wales, and Northern Territory). It was subsequently introduced into the other states on October 31 2006.

Hungry Jack's retains strong links with Perth, with the city's first team in the Australian Football League, the West Coast Eagles, having been sponsored by Hungry Jack's since their entry into the league in 1987.

Hungry Jack's has seen success with its Kids Club mascots, allowing children to have themed birthday parties at its restaurants, and also with its Kids Club Meals (similar to McDonald's Happy Meal) often using well known collectible toys; see Burger King Kingdom.

Hungry Jack's in Australia has trademarked the new slogan 'Oh Yeah' which has featured in late 2005/early 2006 commercials. Other changes at Hungry Jack's include new fresh salads and deli-style baguettes.

Many larger Hungry Jack's stores in Australia especially in Perth, Western Australia, where the first Hungry Jack's store opened, have a 1950s/1960s styled theme. Background music from this era is played (sometimes through a 50s style Jukebox), and contemporary pictures and memorabilia are often hung around the stores. In larger sit-down style restaurants the seats and tables are laid out in a 1950s "Diner" style manner.

Products

Main article: Burger King products

Burger King predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken sandwiches, french fries, soft drinks, and desserts. In many markets BK offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and other localized fare.

Advertising

Main article: Burger King advertising

Logos

<gallery> |Original logo used for Burger King with the King on top of the burger Image:Original Burger King logo.png|Original bun halves logo used until 1995 and still used Image:Burger_king_logo2_.png‎|Revised "bun halves" logo used until 2001 and also used sometimes Image:Burger King LogoCurrent blue swirl logo Image:Hungry Jack's logo Hungry Jack's "bun halves" logo


The famous Burger King "bun halves" logo made its debut in 1969 and endured well into the 1990s. It was meant to resemble a burger. The logo had two semi-circular buns surrounding the name which was the meat of the logo. In 1993 BK updated the logo with a graphical tightening, replacing the aging bulging font with a smoother font with rounded edges. In addition, all secondary signing, such as roof and directional signs, was also updated with new rounded font.

In 2000, BK somewhat revised its logo. The new Burger King logo is a stylized version of that darned bun halves logo. BK changed the color of the restaurant's name from orange to red lettering, although the old logo also looks red, while leaving them sandwiched between two yellow or orange bun halves. The new logo also tilts the bun halves and the font on an coordinate axis, has a smaller bun motif and wraps the burger with a blue crescent whipping around the buns giving it a more circular appearance, although some restaurants did not acquire newer signs with the logo until 2001. Again all secondary signage was updated with the new logo and type face, and all sign posts were repainted to match the blue coloring of the new crescent from their original black.

The Hungry Jack's logo is based on the original Burger King bun halves design, and has . HJ currently uses an updated version of the bun halves logo, featuring the smoother font used in revised Burger King logo from 1993.

Countries and territories with Burger King restaurants

Countries with Burger King restaurants

Countries and territories that once had Burger King restaurants

  • Finland Finland - Burger King operated in Helsinki for a short period in the 1980s
  • France France - Burger King decided to leave France in 1997 and closed their 39 French outlets in 1998
  • Japan Japan - First store opened in 1996, but Burger King withdrew from Japan in 2001 leaving only outlets on U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps bases, operated by Burger King headquarters. Restaurants in Japan reopened in June 2007, cooperating with Lotte, which already operates the local Lotteria hamburger chain.
  • Poland Poland - Burger King operated in Poland from 1994 to 2001. In 2001, Burger King decided to withdraw from the Polish market, and all 23 restaurants were sold to AmRest, the operator of both Pizza Hut and KFC franchises for Poland. 6 of the restaurants were closed and 17 rebranded to KFC. However, a new Burger King opened in February in the Złote Tarasy shopping mall in Warsaw.
  • United States Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands - Burger King left both St. Croix and St. Thomas in 1997
  • Colombia Colombia - Burger King operated in Bogotá for a short period in the 1980s
  • Ukraine Ukraine - Burger King operated in Kiev for a short period in 2006.

See also

Other QSR vendors:

References

  1. ^ "Are private buyouts good for the economy?", By Mark Trumbull ; 13 November 2006, The Christian Science Monitor
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i History of Burger King Corporation Answers.com
  3. ^ History of Branding
  4. ^ a b c d e BKC 2006 Annual Report
  5. ^ [2001] NSWCA 187
  6. ^ [2001] HCATrans S157/2001
  7. ^ In Australia, Burger King to become 'Hungry Jack's' South Florida Business Journal, 30 May 2003

Official websites

Other sites



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