burger king

Burger King is a large international chain of fast food restaurants, predominantly selling burgers, french fries, soft drinks, desserts, and various sandwiches. Hungry Jack's is a franchise of Burger King that operates and franchies over 300 restaurants in Australia.

Burger King's first restaurant — originally called Insta Burger King — was opened on December 4, 1954 in 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. Coincidentally, the first restaurant's milkshake machine was sold to them by Ray Kroc, who later bought the McDonald's restaurant chain from its founders and oversaw its worldwide expansion.

In 1967, Burger King was bought by Pillsbury, which was bought by Grand Metropolitan PLC of Britain in 1988.

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 Stanley Foster, lead by the investment firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG). The company planned to go public within the next two years, though in the event this was delayed until 2006.

Magic Johnson's company Magic Johnson Enterprises purchased 30 Burger King stores on June 7, 2004. Although featuring sports memorabilia, they would retain the Burger King name. These locations reopened on December 3, 2004.

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.

Facts and figures

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 underperforming 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.

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. 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. BK Corporation has no company owned restaurants on U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps bases since the Navy Exchange Service contracts with competitor McDonald's, however there are BK restaurants owned by franchisees on Marine Corps bases, including MCAS in Yuma, AZ.

Many Burger King outlets, even inside cities, require customers to operate a motor vehicle to purchase food during late evening hours.

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

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. 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 80s, opening the way for San Antonio Burger King locations.

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

Products

• Burger King's trademark product is a hamburger called the Whopper.
• BK also serve the Angus Burger, which is a larger, "better burger".
• Chicken Tenders, another popular menu item, are small thin pieces of chicken, breaded and lightly peppered. While normally served in long, slender shapes, Burger King occasionally offers the pieces in more kid-friendly shapes resembling stars, lightning bolts, and crowns. They are available in 4- and 8-piece varieties (in some parts of the country they use 5- and 8-piece sizes) . Chicken Tenders officially made their debut, alongside the Croissan'which and the Original Chicken Sandwich, in a menu revision/expansion in 1985.
• In 1989, Burger King offered a set of miniature burgers called Burger Bundles. The Burger Bundles were sold in a set of three or six, much like White Castle or Krystal burgers, but served in a single package. The sandwich was reintroduced in a slightly different format called Burger Buddies. Instead of three or six miniature hamburger patties, it had a single number eight shapped patty that was served on a pair of co-joined buns. The sandwich was torn into two small sandwiches and sold for 99¢. There was a breakfast version of the Burger Buddies called the Breakfast Buddies that had eggs, cheese and a sausage patty, again for 99¢. Breakfast menus at the time also began selling mini-hashbrowns, consisting of six miniature potato patties in one package.
• In 1999, Burger King began offering, in the U.S., a vegetarian meat selection named the BK Veggie. In late 2004, Burger King entered into a partnership with Morningstar Farms to offer a soy-based meatless patty.
• Burger King's Kids Meals are offered to compete with the popular Happy Meal from McDonald's and the Wendy's Kid's Meal from Wendy's. Three varieties form the Kids Meal base: Chicken Tenders, Hamburger, or Cheeseburger. A preteen version of the Kids Meal, called the Big Kids Meal, debuted in 1999. It offers a selection of Chicken Tenders, Double Hamburger, or Double Cheeseburger meal.
  • With Chicken Tender sizing for the Kid's Club meal franchisees have the choice of sizes: either a 4- or 5-piece order for the regular Kid's Club Meal and either a 6- or 8-piece order for the Big Kid's Meal. BK owned restaurants sell the 4- and 6-piece sizes.
  • Kids Meals are available with applesauce or Onion rings as a French fry substitute, and any other drink option instead of a soft drink.
  • Little Tikes brand toddler toys are available on request instead of the regular toy offering.
• Chicken Fries, a french-fry cut piece of breaded chicken with added spices, debuted in 2005 as a LTO (limited Time Offering) and quickly became a permanent "numbered" value meal menu option.
• The Big King was Burger King's response to McDonald's Big Mac and has a similar style and taste. The Big King was replaced in the U.S. by a similar product, the King Supreme, which was also later discontinued. The Big King is, however, still available in Argentina, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK. The King Supreme is still available in Canada.
• In response to McDonald's McDeals, Burger King introduced "King Deals". The schedule is Sunday - Whopper Junior, Monday - Big King, Tuesday - Chicken Sandwich, Wednesday - Whopper, Thursday - Bacon Cheeseburger, Friday - Fish Sandwich, and Saturday - Double Cheeseburger.
• To coincide with the release of the film Small Soldiers, Burger King released the Rodeo Cheeseburger, which was a limited time offer. The Rodeo Cheeseburger is a burger with cheese, onion rings and barbecue sauce. Although discontinued nationally, the Rodeo Cheeseburger can still be found featured as part of Burger King's revamped Value Menu in some parts of the U.S.
• In the United Kingdom, Burger King offers the Chicken Royale. This consistently popular burger consists of an oblong piece of breaded chicken breast, served with lettuce and mayonnaise in a long (approx. 20cm) bread bun. This burger is also available in other European countries, albeit under different names – in Spain, for example, the product is known as the "Long Chicken". In the United States this is marketed as "The Original Chicken Sandwich" and is also very popular.
• In the early summer months of 2006 Burger King unveiled the highly publicized BK Stacker sandwich line. The BK Stacker sandwiches consist of beef patties, bacon and cheese in two, three, or four layers, respectively. The sandwich also includes a special secret sauce prepared exclusively for the Stacker sandwich.
• In late October 2006, Burger King will be rolling out a new design for both their drive-thru and dining room menu boards.

Advertising

In the early to mid-1970s, Burger King ran a series of much-lampooned (but successful and catchy) television commercials in which its employees would sing: "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. Special orders don't upset us. All we ask is that you let us have it your way!" This advertising strategy aimed to contrast Burger King's flexibility with McDonald's famous rigidity.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Burger King used a mascot of the same name to advertise its meals during children's programming. The "Burger King" was a red-bearded king who ruled the Burger King Kingdom and performed magic tricks (mostly sleight-of-hand, but sometimes relying on camera tricks); other characters included "The Duke of Doubt" (his arch nemesis, who constantly tried to prove that the King's magic wasn't real), "Burger Thing" (a large burger puppet), "Sir Shakes-a-Lot" (a knight with a craving for Burger King milkshakes), and the "Wizard of Fries" (a robot powered by french fries). This campaign paralleled McDonald's children's commercials, which featured "Ronald McDonald," "The Hamburglar," and "Mayor McCheese," along with other characters and mascots.

In 1982, Burger King created an advertising stir when it created a set of commercials featuring a then-4-year-old Sarah Michelle Gellar. One could say that they were the first all-out attack ads between food chains. In the commercials, Gellar complained that McDonald's burgers were 20% smaller than Burger King's. What was controversial was that she referenced McDonald's by name. Up until that point, fast food ads talked about their competitors in a vague "you know who"-type fashion. McDonald's was so incensed that it sued Burger King, the advertising agency that came up with the ads, and Gellar. The suit was settled the following year on undisclosed terms.

In November 1985, Burger King spent $40 million on the “Where’s Herb?” advertising campaign. The company stated that Herb was the only man in America who had never eaten a Whopper. If a customer located him in any store, he or she would win $5,000. Burger King purposely chose not to reveal what Herb looked like, resulting in annoyance among its patrons. In a Super Bowl XX commercial, Burger King finally revealed Herb as a bespectacled nerd in an ill-fitting suit. Herb toured stores across the country, appeared on The Today Show, and served as a guest referee during Wrestlemania 2. The campaign had little impact on sales and was quickly dropped. According to Advertising Age magazine, the Herb campaign was the "most elaborate advertising flop of the decade.” [1] [2]

In the early 1990s, Burger King advertised its dinner baskets and table service through the "BK Tee Vee" (or "BKTV") ad campaign. The taglines for the campaign were "BK Tee Vee... I Love this Place!" and "Your Way Right Away!", which featured Dan Cortese as "Dan Dan: The Whopper Man." The dinner baskets included the Whopper Dinner Basket, Steak Sandwich Dinner Basket, Fried Chicken Dinner Basket, and Shrimp Dinner Basket. Sides included a choice of a side salad, cole slaw, french fries, baked potato, or popcorn. The sit-down restaurant concept was abandoned in 1994 in favor of the original quick-service formula.

The official slogan for Hungry Jacks, the Australian version of Burger King, has been for for many years and currently is: "The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks."

The Burger King character was brought back in mid-2003, this time to advertise the chain's breakfast sandwiches. The character also appeared in the chain's promotion of the film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The latest commercials feature the King on the field of various National Football League games (using archive footage from NFL Films), in a cross-promotion with the NFL and DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket sports subscription package. (In the promotion, a code entered from the wrapper from an Angus burger sandwich could net several prizes, including free access to the Sunday Ticket package NFL Your Way promotion.) A further series of advertisements, which premiered during Super Bowl XL, featured the King orchestrating a Broadway-style show of "Whopperettes" – women dressed as burger condiments and toppings. In another ad a man wakes up to find the King lying next to him in bed. (In this incarnation, the King wears a grinning mask of the 1970s/1980s King's face, unlike the original King, whose face and beard were genuine.)

The Subservient Chicken is a viral marketing promotion by advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky for Burger King, featuring a person (presumably) in a chicken costume, who supposedly does, within reason, whatever he is told to. Despite appearances, it is not a live webcam. Dr. Angus is another Crispin Porter and Bogusky creation launched in 2004. He is a smarmy self-help "doctor" with gleaming white teeth and a starched toupee who encourages eaters to "sit down" and enjoy the BK's large Angus burgers. In 2006, his cheesy personality is used to advertise BK's new Cheesy Bacon Angus and Tendercrisp sandwiches.

Later in 2004, Burger King introduced the Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch. The sandwich was promoted by a nationwide advertising campaign featuring recording artist Darius Rucker (of Hootie and the Blowfish) singing a jingle to the tune of "Big Rock Candy Mountain." Prior to this, Burger King's Spicy Tendercrisp Sandwich promotions featured a boxing match between two people in chicken suits, as broadcast at one time on DirecTV.

In the summer of 2005, Burger King introduced Chicken Fries to its menu. The advertising campaign featured a metal band called Coq Roq, who wore chicken masks parodying the style of masks of nu metal band Slipknot. The website included music videos, downloadable cellular ringtones, and a store selling band merchandise.

Following introduction of a Kids Meal to tie in with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in November of 2004, pranksters repeatedly stole inflatable advertisements from several restaurant roof tops [3] and sent the Burger King employees a ransom note demanding Krabby Patties. Similar promotions were devised for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith with an inflatable Darth Vader, and Shrek 2 with an inflatable Shrek.

In December 2005, Burger King teamed with MTV for a "Have It Your Way" rap contest. Burger King and MTV selected Anthony Stokes out of 400 entries to star in a commercial. Part of his winning rap was "You can have it your way, there's nothin' to it / If you can dream it, you can do it!" The commercial ran for a short time, exclusively on MTV.

In March 2006, Burger King introduced the Big Buckin' Chicken commercial, made by CPB Miami to advertise the Tendercrisp Cheesy Bacon Chicken Sandwich. The TV ad shows old-fashioned 8 mm footage of a cowboy riding a chicken in a rodeo while people on the sideline cheer on. The voiceover concludes that "the only way to beat it, is to eat it." The latest commercial, the "Big Huckin' Chicken," features a large chicken riding a dirt bike.

Kids Club

Like other fast-food chains, Burger King offers meals for children: the regular Kids Meal and the Big Kids Meal (introduced June 1999), which is aimed at the tween market and has larger portions. Burger King is also known for its longtime giveaway of free paper crowns, which are sometimes redesigned to match any promotions the restaurant may be running.

In 1990, Burger King launched the Burger King Kids Club across the United States, which continues in operation to this day and is the largest club of its kind in North America. Club members receive an annual mailing in the month of their birthday that contains games, product information, and a birthday gift in the form of a coupon for a free Kids Meal.

The Burger King Kids Club Gang was a group of fictional characters created to promote the Burger King Kids Club meal. Their names were Boomer, I.Q., Jaws, J.D., Kid Vid, Lingo, Snaps, and Wheels. The use of these characters has drawn criticism from parental advocacy groups, who claim that the use of stereotypical static characters instills wrongful notions in children's minds.^{citation needed]} The groups' concerns were with Lingo, so named for the fact that he is Hispanic; Wheels, named for his wheelchair; I.Q., a stereotypically smart male, wearing glasses and a pocket protector; and Kid Vid, a thin, blonde male of average height, who is the obvious leader of the gang (and role model for children). Other concerns include the fact that one of only two girls in the gang, Boomer, is clearly a tomboy. After several years a new female character was added to the group; the girl, named Jazz, appears to be Asian and sports a beret.

In the 1970s, BK had a Kids Club that gave children coupons for selected products each month and an extra surprise if it was the child's birthday. In many areas to this day, children under the age of 12 can sign up to the BK Birthday Club, and receive a coupon for a free hamburger as well as a prize in the mail on their birthday.^{clarification needed}

In 2005, the Kids Club Gang were replaced by the Honbatz, odd creatures consisting of Mixmax, a punk who likes showing off, Thisorthat, a green monster that likes to eat everything, Bonny, a genius and the only girl in the group, Chomp, an intimidating Honbatz, but still a big softie, and the Eeeps, small, red, ketchup-craving creatures. They have appeared in numerous ads.

Hungry Jack's

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. Consequently, the first Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation, established in Perth in 1971, was branded Hungry Jack's, echoing the name and sentiment of the franchisee, Jack Cowin.

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

When the existing Australian trademark for Burger King lapsed, the American parent company wanted Cowin to change the Hungry Jack's outlets back to the Burger King name. Cowin resisted the change, and the disagreement ended in a court case. In 2001, Hungry Jack's won the case, and Burger King was ordered to pay $75 million to Hungry Jack's for breach of its franchise agreement.

Between 1996 and 2003, Burger King opened 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. 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 as opposed to Burger King's seven years, 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". In mid 2005, TPF decided to exit the Australian market and sold it's 51% share of the former Burger King sites to Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd, the company operated by Jack Cowin.

While Burger King's logo has since changed to the "blue swirl" design, the Hungry Jack's logo is still (as of 2005) 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 specialty, 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 to follow Burger King.

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 collectable 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.

Slogans

• Are you hungry for Burger King now?
• Burger King: Where kids are king
• Have it your way (this has been one of the longest running slogans of any company in the United States; Burger King has been using it since 1973)
• When you have it your way, it just tastes better
• If you ask us, it just tastes better
• Your Way Right Away
• We're America's Burger King
• Home of the Whopper (some Burger King locations built in the 1960s and 1970s still have this slogan beneath the Burger King sign on the rooftop)
• The Fire's Ready
• Fuel Your Fire
• Get Your Burgers' Worth
• @ BK You Got It!
• We do it like you'd do it!
• We know how burgers should be
• The BEST Food for FAST Times
• It takes Two Hands to handle a Whopper
• (In an ad featuring Mr. T) Mo Beef, Betta Taste
• Magic makes it Special when you're with Burger King
• BK Tee Vee: I love this place!
• Aren't You Hungry?
• Got the Urge? Come to Burger King
• Burger King, where you're the boss!
• BK4U
• In the land of burgers, Whopper is king
• Got the Urge?
• Wake Up With the King
• (Burger King Kids Club) Great food, cool stuff, kids only
• Taste Rules
• Stack it high, tough guy (promoting BK Stackers)
• Feel the Fire
• Eat like a king. Not a clown. (In reference to Ronald McDonald of McDonalds)

Hungry Jack's Slogans

• The Burgers are Better at Hungry Jack's
• We're all about fresh at Hungry Jack's
• Oh Yeah
• We've just got to have it... Oh Yeah... Time to Hungry Jack's it... Oh Yeah
• Love it at Hungry Jack's
• Home of The Whopper

Logos

The famous Burger King "Bun Halves" logo made its debut in 1969 and endured, with a graphical tightening in 1994, until it was replaced in 1999 (however, most restaurants did not acquire signs with the new logo until 2001). The logo, meant to resemble a hamburger, features the restaurant's name in red lettering on two lines, sandwiched between two yellow bun halves. The Bun Halves logo is Burger King's equivalent of McDonalds' Golden Arches.

The new Burger King logo tilts the bun halves and the font on an axis, wraps the burger with a blue swirl, and has a more circular appearance.

The Hungry Jack's logo is based on the original Burger King "Bun Halves" design, and has been used since Hungry Jack's founding in 1971.

Countries and territories with Burger King restaurants

Countries and territories that once had Burger King restaurants

• Finland (Burger King operated in Helsinki for a short period in the 1980s)
• France (Burger King decided to leave France in 1997 and closed their 39 French outlets in 1998)
• Japan (restaurants closed in 2001; now the only outlets are on U.S. Air Force bases, operated by Burger King headquarters)
• U.S. Virgin Islands (Burger King left both St. Croix and St. Thomas in 1997)

See also

• Burger King Kingdom
• Burger King University
• Whopper (signature sandwich)
• Big King
• BK Tee Vee
• McDonald's (biggest competitior)

External links

Official websites

• Burger King website
• Burger King Canada website
• Burger King UK/Ireland website
• Hungry Jack's website
• Burger King New Zealand website
• Links to Country specific Burger King websites
• Burger King's Coq Roq website
• Official Honbatz website
• [4]

Other sites

• Burger King & Food Safety
• How many calories does Burger King food have?
• Yahoo! - Burger King Corporation Company Profile at Yahoo! Finance
• Mockery of Burger King's Mascot