Burger King 2x1

[Erminia Scharnberg]

The1970s were the "Golden Age" of the company's advertising, but beginning in the mid-1980s, Burger King advertising began losing focus. A series of less successful advertising campaigns created by a procession of advertising agencies continued for the next two decades. In 2003, Burger King hired the Miami-based advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), which completely reorganized its advertising with a series of new campaigns centered on a redesigned Burger King character nicknamed "The King", accompanied by a new online presence. While highly successful, some of CP+B's commercials were derided for perceived sexism or cultural insensitivity. Burger King's new owner, 3G Capital, later terminated the relationship with CP+B in 2011 and moved its advertising to McGarryBowen to begin a new product-oriented campaign with expanded demographic targeting.

As of December 31, 2018, Burger King reported that it had 17,796 outlets in 100 countries.[7][8] Of these, nearly half are located in the United States, and 99.7% are privately owned and operated,[8] with its new owners moving to an almost entirely franchised model in 2013. Burger King has historically used several variations of franchising to expand its operations. The manner in which the company licenses its franchisees varies depending on the region, with some regional franchises, known as master franchises, responsible for selling franchise sub-licenses on the company's behalf. Burger King's relationship with its franchises has not always been harmonious. Occasional spats between the two have caused numerous issues, and in several instances, the relations between the company and its licensees have degenerated into precedent-setting court cases. Burger King's Australian franchise Hungry Jack's is the only franchise to operate under a different name due to a trademark dispute with a similarly named restaurant in Adelaide, South Australia, and a series of legal cases between the two.[9]

Pillsbury's Executive Vice President of Restaurant Operations Norman E. Brinker was tasked with turning the brand around, and strengthening its position against its main rival McDonald's. One of his initiatives was a new advertising campaign featuring a series of attack ads against its major competitors. This campaign started a competitive period between Burger King, McDonald's, and top burger chains known as the Burger wars.[15] Brinker left Burger King in 1984, to take over Dallas-based gourmet burger chain Chili's.[16]

Smith and Brinker's efforts were initially effective,[14] but after their respective departures, Pillsbury relaxed or discarded many of their changes, and scaled back on construction of new locations. These actions stalled corporate growth and sales declined again, eventually resulting in a damaging fiscal slump for Burger King and Pillsbury.[17][18] Poor operation and ineffectual leadership continued to bog down the company for many years.[18][19]

Pillsbury was eventually acquired by the British entertainment conglomerate Grand Metropolitan in 1989.[20][21] Initially, Grand Met attempted to bring the chain to profitability under newly minted CEO Barry Gibbons; the changes he initiated during his two-year tenure had mixed results, as successful new product introductions and tie-ins with The Walt Disney Company were offset by continuing image problems and ineffectual advertising programs.[22] Additionally, Gibbons sold off several of the company's assets in an attempt to profit from their sale and laid off many of its staff members.[23][24][25]

After Gibbon's departure, a series of CEOs each tried to repair the company's brand by changing the menu, bringing in new ad agencies and many other changes.[26][27][28] The parental disregard of the Burger King brand continued with Grand Metropolitan's merger with Guinness in 1997 when the two organizations formed the holding company Diageo.[29] Eventually, the ongoing systematic institutional neglect of the brand through a string of owners damaged the company to the point where major franchises were driven out of business, and its total value was significantly decreased.[30] Diageo eventually decided to divest itself of the money-losing chain and put the company up for sale in 2000.[31][32]

In August 2014, 3G announced that it planned to acquire the Canadian restaurant and coffee shop chain Tim Hortons and merge it with Burger King with backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The two chains will retain separate operations post-merger, with Burger King remaining in its Miami headquarters.[50] A Tim Hortons representative stated that the proposed merger would allow Tim Hortons to leverage Burger King's resources for international growth. The combined company will be the third-largest international chain of fast food restaurants.[51][52] The deal lead to a controversy over the practice of tax inversions, in which a company decreases the amount of taxes it pays by moving its headquarters to a tax haven, a country with lower rates but maintains the majority of their operations in their previous location. As a high-profile instance of tax inversion, news of the merger was criticized by U.S. politicians, who felt that the move would result in a loss of tax revenue to foreign interests, and could result in further government pressure against inversions.[52][53][54][55]

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a number of companies have faced growing pressure to halt operations in Russia, but have not yet done so. This included Burger King.[58][59][60][61][62] On March 10, 2022, Burger King suspended all its operations in Russia.[63][64] However, Burger King's local Russian partner, operating 800 Burger King stores in Russia, refused to close the sites in spite of the Burger King's demand to do so.[65]

In March 2022, Burger King suspended all its corporate support, including operations, marketing, supply chain, investments and expansion in Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It halted its corporate support to the more than 800 fully franchised restaurant chains in Russia managed by a local master franchisee.[63][64] However, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism revealed that Burger King retained its stake in the Russian franchises through an offshore joint venture with the Russian state-owned VTB Bank and a Ukrainian investment firm linked to corrupt deals with Ukraine's former pro-Russian leader.[66]

In October 2023, Tom Curtis, president of Burger King U.S. & Canada, announced a new store design at its annual franchisee convention in Canada, branded "The Sizzle". It would remodel existing Burger King locations with a new look inside and outside, to tackle slowing business after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The overhaul would add more kiosks, dedicated pickup areas for mobile app orders, food-ordering platforms like Doordash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, and would improve drive-thru service. As of October 10, 2023, there are already two Burger King locations in the United States with the "Sizzle" concept in effect, one in New Jersey, and the other in Las Vegas, Nevada.[67]

Burger King Holdings is the parent company of Burger King, also known as Burger King Corporation and abbreviated BKC, and is a Delaware corporation formed on July 23, 2002.[68] A subsidiary, it derives its income from several sources, including property rental and sales through company owned restaurants;[68] however, a substantial portion of its revenue is dependent on franchise fees.[68] During the transitional period after the acquisition of the company by 3G Capital, Burger King's board of directors was co-chaired by John W. Chidsey, formerly CEO and chairman of the company, and Alex Behring, managing partner of 3G Capital.[69] By April 2011, the new ownership completed the restructuring of Burger King's corporate management and Chidsey tendered his resignation, leaving Behring as CEO and chair.[70]

In 2011, the majority of Burger King restaurants, approximately 90%, were privately held franchises.[73] In North America, Burger King Corporation is responsible for licensing operators and administering of stores. Internationally, the company often pairs with other parties to operate locations or it will outright sell the operational and administrative rights to a franchisee which is given the designation of master franchise for the territory. The master franchise will then be expected to sub-license new stores, provide training support, and ensure operational standards are maintained. In exchange for the oversight responsibilities, the master franchise will receive administrative and advertising support from Burger King Corporation to ensure a common marketing scheme.[74][75] The 3G Capital ownership group announced in April 2011 that it would begin divesting itself of many corporate owned locations with the intent to increase the number of privately held restaurants to 95%.[73] As of 2016, the percentage of privately owned Burger King establishments grew to 99.5%.[8]

As the franchisor for the brand, Burger King Holdings has several obligations and responsibilities; the company designs and deploys corporate training systems while overseeing brand standards such as building design and appearance.[40][76][77] The company also develops new products and deploys them after presenting them to its franchises for approval per a 2010 agreement between itself and the franchise ownership groups.[73] Burger King has limited approval over franchise operations such as minimum hours of operation and promotional pricing.[78][79] Additionally, Burger King designates approved vendors and distributors while ensuring safety standards at the productions facilities of its vendors.[68]

Burger King was formerly headquartered in a nine-story office tower by the Miami International Airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.[80] Elaine Walker of the Miami Herald stated that the headquarters has a "Burger King" sign that drivers on State Road 836 "can't miss". In addition, the chain planned to build a neon sign on the roof to advertise the brand to passengers landing at the airport. On Monday July 8, 2002, 130 employees began working at the Burger King headquarters with the remainder moving in phases in August 2002. Prior to the moving to its current headquarters in 2002, Burger King had considered moving away from the Miami area to Texas; Miami-Dade County politicians and leaders lobbied against this, and Burger King stayed.[81] In August 2014, the future of the company's Miami headquarters was again in doubt as reports surfaced that Burger King was in talks about buying the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons, with a view to relocating its headquarters to Canada where the corporate tax rate was lower.[82][83] The merger between Burger King and Tim Hortons created the fast food company now known as Restaurant Brands International Inc.[84]

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