Burger King
Webpages concerning "Burger King"
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Wikipedia-Article "Burger King"
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1954 in Miami, Florida |
| Location | Miami, Florida |
| Key people | Greg Brenneman, Chairman/CEO; James McLamore and David Edgerton, Founders |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Slogan | Have It Your Way |
| Products | Burgers and other fast food |
| Revenue |  $11 billion USD (2004) |
| Operating income | {{{operating_income}}} |
| Net income | {{{net_income}}} |
| Employees | 340,000 (17 May 2005) |
| Website | www.bk.com |
| {{{footnotes}}} | |
Burger King Corporation (BK for short) is a large international chain of fast food restaurants, predominantly selling hamburgers, french fries and soft drinks.
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Company history
Burger King's first restaurant—originally called Insta Burger King—was opened in 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.
Ironically, 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 August, 1992 their corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida was severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew.
On Friday, December 13, 2002, Burger King was purchased from British drinks firm Diageo for $1.5 (US) billion by a group of investors led by the investment firm Texas Pacific. The company plans to go public within the next two years.
Magic Johnson's company Magic Johnson Enterprises purchased 30 Burger King stores on June 7, 2004. Although they will feature sports memorabilia, they will retain the Burger King name.
The current CEO of Burger King is Greg Brenneman, who took over from Brad Blum on August 1, 2004.
Slogans
- Aren't you hungry?
- Have it your way.
- When you have it your way, it just tastes better.
- If you ask us, it just tastes better.
- Your Way/Right Away
- Home of the Whopper
- The Fire's Ready
- Fuel Your Fire
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 declined in the early 2000s, and projections now have it falling to third-place behind Wendy's in US hamburger market share in the near future. Burger King has been closing underperforming stores and changing its marketing strategy in order to turn its fortunes around.
- Burger King has more than 11,350 outlets in 57 countries and territories worldwide.
- 75% of Burger King's outlets are located in the United States.
- In fiscal year 2002, the firm had US $11.3 billion in total sales.
- Around 58% of its business is drive-through, and 20% is take-out.
- It has more than 340,000 employees and sells about 2.4 billion hamburgers a year.
- Burger King restaurants serve approximately 1,040 customers per restaurant, per day, or approximately 11.4 million customers daily.
- In 2003, Burger King was the 62nd largest advertiser in the United States spending $525 million.
See also Burger King's Global Fact Sheet
Products
- Burger King's trademark product is a hamburger called the Whopper.
- They 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 and lightning bolts. They are available in 4-, 5-, and 8-piece varieties.
- Around 2000, Burger King began offering in the U.S. a vegetarian meat selection on their menu named the BK Veggie. More recently the BK Veggie has been altered to use a Morningstar Farms soy-based meatless patty.
- Kids Meal
- Big Kids Meal, a preteen version of the Kids Meal. Started in late 1999, the Big Kids Meal has a selection from Chicken Fries to regular fries, hamburgers to cheeseburgers.
Advertising
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Burger King used a mascot of the same name to advertise their meals. The "Burger King" was a bearded king, who ruled the Burger King Kingdom, along with other characters such as The Duke of Doubt (his arch nemesis), 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).
The 1990s saw Burger King advertising to their younger customers with the cartoon mascot Kid Vid, who embodied the cyberspace-obsessed decade.
The Burger King was brought back in late 2004, this time to advertise the chain's breakfast sandwiches. The commercials use a fiberglass head worn by an actor. The head is an original head used in individual stores in the 1970's. He then had a commercial as part of 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 several 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 a Angus burger sandwich could net several prizes, including free access to the Sunday Ticket package). (NFL Your Way promotion)
The Subservient Chicken is a viral marketing promotion by advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky for Burger King, featuring a man (presumably) in a chicken costume, who does nearly whatever action he is told to. Despite appearances, it is not a live webcam.
In late 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."
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.
Upon introduction of a kids meal to tie in with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in September 2004, pranksters repeatedly stole inflatable advertisements off several restaurant's roof tops [1] and sent the Burger King employees a ransom note demanding Krabby Patties.
Kids Club
Like other fast-food chains, Burger King has meals for children: the regular Kids Meal and the Big Kids Meal (introduced June 1999), which is aimed at "tweens" and teenagers and has more food. Burger King is also known for its longtime giveaway of free paper crowns to kids. In 1990, Burger King launched the Burger King Kids Club across the United States, which has since been discontinued.
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, stating that the use of stereotypical static characters instill wrongful notions in children's minds. 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, thin, blonde male of average height, who is the apparently obvious leader of the gang (and role model for children). Other concerns include the fact that one of the only two girls in the gang, Boomer, is clearly a tomboy. Some claim a ninth member of the BKKCG was added named "Jazz" but there is little evidence to back this up and may be an urban legend or non-sanctioned BKKCG member.
In the 70's BK had a Kids Club that gave children coupons on selected products each month and an extra surprise if it was the child's birthday.
Hungry Jack's
When Burger King decided to expand their operations into Australia, they found that their 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 aptly titled Hungry Jack's, echoing the name and sentiment of the franchisee, Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's sells the usual range of burgers, but also an Australian specialty, the Aussie Burger. This burger is based on the traditional Australian fish and chips shop favourite, including fried egg, bacon, onion, and beetroot with the traditional meat, lettuce, and tomato.
When the existing Australian trademark for Burger King lapsed, the American parent company wanted Cowin to change the Hungry Jack's outlets to the Burger King name. Cowin resisted the change, preferring to keep the Hungry Jack's name. The disagreement ended in a court case. In 2001, Hungry Jack's won the court case, and Burger King was ordered to pay $75 million to Hungry Jack's for breach of its franchise agreement.
From 1999-2001, Burger King opened several outlets in Australia under the Burger King name. These built on their existing stores in international airports - the international territory apparently outside the Cowin licencing deal. The Burger King outlets, unlike Hungry Jacks, offered breakfast and a range of small burgers.
In some cases the new Burger King outlets were located very close to existing Hungry Jack's outlets. Cowin negotiated with Burger King to buy these outlets, renaming them in the process.
In 1986, Hungry Jack's purchased the ailing Australian Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers locations and rebranded them to the Hungry Jack's name.
Even in the United States, Burger King found 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.
Hungry Jack's has seen success with their Kids Club mascots, allowing children to have birthday parties at their restaurants based on different themes, and also with their Kids Club Meals (similar to McDonald's Happy Meal), see Burger King Kingdom.
It should also be noted that while Burger King's logo has since changed to the current "blue swirl" design, the Hungry Jack's logo is still (as of 2005) based off the previous Burger King logo, that of the simpler bun-and-contents motif.
The logos of Burger King
The famous bun-halves logo made its debut in 1969. This would have a long run through 1998. Most restaurants did not get the new signs with the new logo until 2001. The logo is of the BURGER KING name in red on two lines, sandwiched by two yellow bun halves, and thus this was nicknamed the 'Bun Halves' logo. The Burger King bun halves logo itself is the equivalent of McDonald's' Golden Arches. The new Burger King logo has the bun halves and name tilted on an axis with a blue swirl wrapped around it, and is more circular. The Hungry Jack's (Australian Burger King) version of the logo has been based off the previous logo which has been used since its founding in 1971.
Countries (and territories) with Burger King restaurants
Source: BK official site, Global Facts. URL accessed on July 3, 2005.
External links
- Burger King Franchise Information
- Burger King website
- Burger King Canada website
- Burger King UK/Ireland website
- Hungry Jack's website
- Burger King New Zealand website
- Burger King's Coq Roq website
- axioentertainment.com's "Burger King: Pure Evil", a look at the recent Burger King commercials featuring the plastic king
- Burger King & Food Safety
- Subservient Chicken
- Progressive Boink - "The Burger King Kids Club Gang"