﻿The Story of Burger King If you’re a fan of burgers, then you’re
most likely familiar with this name: Burger King. Being one of the most popular and recognizable
fast-food restaurants all over the world, Burger King has locations in almost a hundred countries
and billions of dollars in annual sales. Despite being considered as an international sensation
in the fast-food world, its beginnings were not as smooth as you might think.
Two struggling college friends saved a business that would have most likely collapsed and faded
into oblivion. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they turned it into a phenomenally
successful restaurant franchise that has left a permanent mark in the fast-food industry.
This is the story of Burger King… Welcome to Planet Biz.
Growing Up in Tough Times James Whitman McLamore was born in
New York City on the 30th of May 1926. His father was a wealthy man and James was privileged to be
born rich. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t last too long. Just about three years after his birth,
the stock market crashed. This event, popularly known as Black Tuesday, caused his family to lose
their wealth in the so called “Great Depression”. Because the family fortune was lost in the crash,
James’ father became a turkey farmer and moved the family to the country
to stay at James’ grandmother’s place. Not too long after, his mother fell sick.
She was put in a mental hospital. James never saw his mother again because children were
not allowed to visit the mental hospital and unfortunately, she soon passed away.
During that time, their family struggled. They had gone from being very wealthy to not having enough.
And to make matters even worse for the family, their mother had died. These early years were
hard for James, but he pressed through. He attended high school at Northfield Mount
Hermon School in Massachusetts and went on to Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management.
During his time at Cornell, James also served in the United States Navy.
By the time James was off to college, things still weren’t much better for his family.
When he arrived at Cornell University, he had only $11 in his pocket.
However, he graduated and went on to begin his journey in the restaurant world.
The first restaurant James ever worked in was a YMCA cafeteria in Wilmington, Delaware.
From there, he went on to start his own restaurant; a 24/7 fast service restaurant known
as the Colonial Inn. However, he soon left there and began another restaurant in Miami which he
called the Brickell Bridge Restaurant. Eventually, James met David Edgerton, who had attended Cornell
University with him. This meeting led to a partnership that produced legendary results.
A Life Changing Decision David Russell Edgerton was born in the
city of Pennsylvania to a father who was a hotel operator and a mother who was a concert violinist.
He served for a time in the army and also had interests in becoming a stage manager.
However, he gave up that dream and replaced it with aspirations of becoming a restaurateur.
After graduating from Cornell University, he went on to Northwestern University which he
eventually dropped out of, to run a pie-making business that catered mostly to students on
the university campus. Later on, he worked for a hotel chain based in Chicago after which he became
the manager of Howard Johnson’s Restaurants. In 1954, David had plans to open a Dairy Queen.
He began to make inquiries into obtaining a franchise but eventually changed his mind.
Instead, David decided to buy a franchise for another restaurant with an auspicious name...
Insta-Burger King Insta-Burger King was founded by two people;
Keith J. Cramer and his wife’s uncle Matthew Burns. They were inspired by the first McDonald’s
restaurant located in San Bernardino, California. Upon seeing the success of the McDonald’s brothers
and their innovative fast-food restaurant practices, they decided to start up their own
restaurant that would run with a similar system. The two men purchased the rights to a special
piece of cooking equipment known as the insta-broiler. Their restaurants were opened with
this cooking device at the center of operations and the restaurant was named Insta-Burger King.
The broiler was so efficient at cooking burgers that, as the restaurant chain began to expand,
Keith and Matthew made it compulsory for all their franchises to have the device.
The Insta-Burger King restaurant chain grew quickly. In just about two years after the
first location opened up, the chain already had forty locations spread throughout Florida.
The soon-to-be owner of one of these locations was David Edgerton. David opened up his Insta-Burger
King restaurant in 1954. He then partnered up with his former fellow student James McLamore.
The duo looked for ways to give their business an edge over the competitors. So they set up
tables and chairs in their restaurant and became the first fast-food restaurant to offer dining
areas for their customers. The Creation of The Whopper
In 1957, James McLamore brought in the idea for a new burger, “The Whopper”. It was a burger that
was stuffed with a lot of condiments and was considerably bigger in size than the regular
burgers. James got the idea when he noticed that one of their rivals had success selling a larger
burger. According to him, he chose its name because it conveyed “imagery of something big.”
The Whopper would soon become the restaurant’s signature sandwich.
In addition to creating the Whopper, the pair developed a few more new features
which also played a big part in the growth of the restaurant and are still a part of the restaurant
chain today. David and James had grown frustrated with the insta-broilers that they had to use in
the restaurant. The heating elements were easily destroyed by the drippings of the beef patties.
They had to find a way to solve the problem and eventually, they did. They created a gas grill
that cooked the patties in a different way such that the drippings won’t destroy the machinery.
The device created grill lines on the patties as a charcoal grill would. The pair called this
device the flame broiler and it is still being used in Burger King restaurants till this day.
David and James were also the masterminds behind the company’s mascot, The Burger King. They
created this character in 1955 and used it in advertisements for their restaurant. Over the
next 60 years, this mascot would continue to be used in various forms of advertisements for
the fast-food restaurant. The Rebirth of Burger King
The Insta-Burger King restaurant chain continued to do great for a while. Unfortunately,
the two owners of the chain, Keith and Matthew, ran into some financial difficulties in 1959.
James and David saved the chain by buying it from the owners.
They dropped the ‘insta’ from the company’s name and a restaurant called “Burger King”
rose from the ashes. They began selling franchises to private individuals across the United States.
James and David took their business a step further.
In 1962, they created two supporting businesses for the restaurant franchise.
One was Distron Industries and was the food distribution center for all the stores; and the
other was Davmor Industries which manufactured all the kitchen equipment for each new store.
The pair of business associates took up a failing franchise and restored it to life.
The pair used innovative ideas and advertising to boost their business’s growth.
However, in 1974, they eventually decided to sell the company to Pillsbury, a company
which manufactures a wide range of consumer food products. At the time of the sale, the
company had 274 stores as part of the restaurant chain and was the third largest fast-food chain
in the entire USA. Their company was worth $18 million dollars. After the sale, James McLamore
stayed on as the CEO of the restaurant chain. Today, Burger King has almost
17,800 locations in 69 countries. The restaurant chain is the second largest in the United States,
after McDonald’s and gains over a billion dollars in revenue each year. Not bad
for a restaurant chain started by someone who started college with only $11 to his name.
For more inspiring business stories, don’t forget to subscribe
to our channel. This is Planet Biz.