Burger King (BK) is an American global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in the unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1954, its two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton and James McLamore purchased the company and renamed it "Burger King". Over the next half-century, the company would change hands four times, with its third set of owners, a partnership of TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, taking it public in 2002. In late 2010, 3G Capital of Brazil acquired a majority stake in the company, in a deal valued at US$3.26 billion. The new owners promptly initiated a restructuring of the company to reverse its fortunes. 3G, along with partner Berkshire Hathaway, eventually merged the company with the Canadian-based doughnut chain Tim Hortons, under the auspices of a new Canadian-based parent company named Restaurant Brands International.
How does the model work?
Burger King follows the Franchise Business Model. Burger King Corporation (BKC), the franchisor, offers franchises in the United States. Burger King franchisees operate quick-service hamburger restaurants using certain trademarks, service marks and trade names, and a recognized design, equipment system, color scheme and styles of buildings and facilities, signs, certain standards, specifications and procedures of operation, quality and consistency standards for products and services offered, and procedures for inventory control and management. BKC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Burger King Worldwide, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International.
What makes it so special?
The reason was Burger King is special is because it provides family friendly dining experiences to the customers. The USP is it’s premium ingredients and signature recipes. Also Burger King is cost efficient as there is no extra delivery charge and there is a minimum service charge. They have competitive pricing.
Action Oriented insights
How did Burger King restructure it’s strategy?
Here's the basic gist of the four-pillar strategy they came up with:
Menu —It redid the menu, adding smoothies, salads, wraps and much more to broaden its consumer base.
Operations — Burger King changed the way it dealt with franchisees, adding liaisons and committees so that they could work much more closely together.
Renovations — Thousands of Burger King restaurants are getting enhancements like digital menu boards, new uniforms and new packaging.
Marketing — The Burger King mascot is gone. He has been replaced with a bunch of celebrities like Sofia Vergara and Salma Hayek to appeal to a wider range of people.