Burger King - tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Burger King
Owner -- Burger King Corporation
Primary Operating Region -- Worldwide
Number of Locations -- 7,600 in the continental US, 11,220 total worldwide (2005)

I'm at a Burger King in rural Nebraska, and they have a new crispy chicken sandwich up on the board.

"Oh, that's the new crispy chicken sandwich. We also have the...crispy...chicken sandwich..." She pauses for a second and says, very matter-of-factly, "We have far too many chicken sandwiches."

Then she can't figure out how to make it "no tomato" on the cash register and grabs the person next to her and says "Why don't they list the ingredients?" "I don't know" said the other person. So she stormed back towards the kitchen and shouted with a passion that made me think of Lucy from "Peanuts"..."NO TOMATO ON THE CHICKEN!"

It's been a life of ups and downs for the perpetual number two to McDonald's (after the demise of Burger Chef). As of late, it looks like downs. On a 2003 trip out west, I saw closed-up Burger Kings in alarming numbers. They were all boarded up in Oklahoma City in 2004 as far as I could see. Stories of franchisees going bankrupt, including Burger King's largest, became commonplace. Over 1,300 locations closed between 2003 and 2005.

Burger King was started in 1952 as "Insta-Burger King" by Keith Cramer using a broiler invented by George Read (the "Insta-Broiler"), which Cramer purchased the rights to. The revolutionary machine claimed to be able to produce over 400 burgers an hour. Cramer's Insta-Burger King, with its 18 cent hamburgers, was a hit. "Insta" was eventually dropped from the name after franchisees James McLamore and David Edgerton redesigned the broiler to resolve problems. The new flame broiler set the course for history. In 1972, McLamore and Edgerton's franchise company "Burger King of Miami" became "Burger King, Incorporated". It's hard to tell exactly what the deal was between Cramer's startup and McLamore/Edgerton's ultimate control. BK doesn't even acknowledge any company history other than McLamore/Edgerton. To their credit, they are responsible for literally everything you know about the company today...from the Whopper to the flame broiler.

Ownership changes then went as follows: Burger King was sold to Pillsbury in 1967. Grand Metropolitan purchased Pillsbury in 1987. and Grand Met merged with Guinness in 1997 to form Diageo PLC. In 2002, Diageo sold BK to an equity sponsor group comprised of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, so Diageo could concentrate on their booze business (Diageo owns: Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Seagram's, Bailey's, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, J&B, Smirnoff, and a buttload of other brands for the alcoholics amongst you.)

The Whopper came along in 1957 when Burger King decided to try a higher priced, higher quality product. It was an instant success and is the signature sandwich of the company to this day, selling 1.7 billion annually. There have been several "limited time" variations on the basic Whopper, my favorite of which is the Western Whopper.

I think the problem with Burger King is that their food often comes off as stale. Burger King has a history of "assembling" pre-cooked food to order. It's enough so that the burgers are hardly ever juicy. It's a serious disadvantage over chains who cook to order, such as Hardee's/Carl's Jr, Jack in the Box, Culver's, Steak n Shake...need I go on?

Competition is certainly a factor. Sonic has come on strong in recent years with heavy expansion into new markets and a lot more unique products on their menu. Hardee's and Carl's Jr are making inroads with premium burgers. Regional "premium burger" competitors like Culver's are growing. I'd go to a Steak n Shake any day before Burger King or McDonald's. And more and more people are simply walking away from burgers in favor of the various sandwich chains, Fresh-Mex, and other unique concepts. There's really nothing that makes them stand out from the crowd, from menu to decor. My favorite Burger King interior design of all-time was one used in the eighties that featured open beam ceilings, wood, and green tones in the seat padding. That's actually still one of my favorite interior designs of any fast food restaurant chain. Everything else since has been pretty basic and uninspired.

Not all Burger Kings that close are staying that way. Burger King's largest franchisee liquidated and sold desirable locations in groups to various franchisees who reopened several (not all) of them. Similar situations have been happening with smaller franchisees elsewhere.

Burger King has always been the "Have it your way" chain, specializing in accommodating special orders like "No tomato on that Whopper please." But that's become less important over the years with computerized terminals that can easily send those requests with the food orders to the kitchen, and very few chains actually assemble food before it's ordered anymore.

Maybe Burger King could jump on the retro wagon, and I'm not just talking about reviving the creepy King in advertising. How cool would it be for Burger King to come up with a retro restaurant design, right down to the old multicolored uniforms of the 70's? Even run classic Burger King advertising, old jingles and all. That might spark a little fun back into the brand.

So I show up at Burger King basically when the Western Whopper is around (and that's really nothing more than a Whopper with bacon and barbecue sauce in place of ketchup...they could make that any time if they wanted) and if I'm near one that sells their Jack-in-the-Box clone tacos. Those are awesome.

I highly doubt Burger King will ever actually disappear, but it sure seems like we'll be seeing fewer locations down the road. Maybe that's healthy in the long-term. Just a sign of changing times.

(Historical info compiled from "Hamburger Heaven" by Jeffrey Tennyson, and Burger King's website)