The burger chain has since grown to over 1,000 restaurants in over 50 countries. The company is now a subsidiary of McDonald’s Corporation.
Burger King
The Insta-Burger King franchisees have been in business for over 60 years, and they have always been a part of the Miami metropolitan area. When the business faltered in 1959, they were the ones to purchase the whole company in order to restructure it from the ground up. They changed the initial success mantra of the previous business, which was ‘Insta-Broiler’ with a special gas grill called the ‘Flame-Broiler’ that eliminated problems that they faced while using the prior machine. This, paired with their growth and development of Miami metropolitan area provided an opportunity for their expansion.
In 1961, the new Burger King was grabbing people’s attention with their offerings and their signature burgers called the ‘Whoppers’. With its local success at its peak, the burger chain started to spread across the USA. ..
In the late 1970s, the Pillsbury Company bought the Burger King Corporation for $18 million. This purchase helped to propel both companies forward and helped to create a fast-food industry that we see today. ..
The Pillsbury Restructure
Donald N. Smith was brought in to help Pillsbury restructure the fast-food chain in 1978. He had previous experience with McDonald’s, and his work at the company had been unsatisfactory.
Burger King’s new CEO, Smith, changed the company by implementing new franchise agreements, a broader menu, and standardized designs for their outlets. However, after only 2 years in the role, Smith left Burger King to join PepsiCo. This change in leadership may have had an impact on the company’s performance. ..
Norman Brinker, who took over as CEO of Burger King after Smith’s departure, started to deliberately go after McDonald’s, claiming their burgers were better than their rivals in a first-ever ‘Attack Ads’ campaign in the food industry. This led to the rivalry between the Clown and the King both the companies have to this day.
But soon after, Brinker too left the company for the Chili’s restaurant chain. And yet again, Burger King declined, giving Grand Metropolitan PLC, a British company, a takeover bid on Pillsbury. ..
The Grand Met Bet
After Grand Metropolitan’s acquisition of the fast-food chain, Burger King was made a part of the global food industry. This brought about major changes to the company like a change in their distribution channels and switching contracts from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola for their soft drink supplies. Likewise, they partnered up with The Walt Disney Company for the tie-ups in their Disney Films. They expanded Burger King to Britain after acquiring the British burger chain Wimpy. ..
After Grand Met merged with Guinness, leading to the formation of Diageo PLC, Burger King felt ignored. Diageo PLC was more focused on their alcoholic beverages Johnnie Walker and Moet & Chandon. ..
3G Capital And Restaurant Brands International
Burger King was taken over again by TPG Capital with the financial assistance of Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital for $1.5 Billion. Here, TPG introduced The Whopper Bar, a Starbucks concept that gave customers a look at how their burger was being made. The company grew exponentially to $3.2 Billion, which is the price that 3G Capital paid for Burger King in 2010 to TGP Capital.
The merger was seen as a good move by Burger King because it would give them more control over their menu and marketing. The merged company would be able to produce better results in the market.
The merger of Restaurant Brands and Burger King created a new company that had the main goal of acquiring multiple fast-food chains. This company, Burger King, rose to the No. 2 spot in the Burger Wars with an estimated sale value of $9.3 billion in 2018.
