From the king who arrived late to the Whopper that wasn't, let's take a look at some of
the juiciest royal secrets about Burger King's flame-broiled ascendance to the fast food throne.
The fan-fueled rivalry between McDonald's and Burger King is as classic as the ones
between the Red Sox and the Yankees, or the Hatfields and the McCoys. Comparisons between
the two date back to the earliest days in Burger King's almost 70-year history.
The restaurant's co-founders were deliberately seeking to replicate
the success of its golden-arched older sibling.
"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"
It all started when Keith Kramer and his wife's uncle, Matthew Burns,
visited a McDonald's location in California. That sparked them to create a burger shop
that was almost identical to McDonald's – and that may be why the two chains
are still so closely compared today. In fact, Burger King added grease to
the rivalry fire in the seventies by publicly challenging the size of McDonald's hamburgers.
"When I order a regular burger at McDonald's,
they make it with 20 percent less meat than Burger King."
This skirmish was dubbed "the Burger Wars." Ultimately,
McDonald's remains top dog in fast food to this day. Still, the fight's not over yet.
There's no shortage of customers with opinions about which place offers the best hamburgers,
french fries, or milkshakes. But let's face it, the menus are quite similar.
And though it has a technically smaller footprint, Burger King has claimed that
it offers higher quality ingredients. By all accounts, the rivalry is still growing strong.
Of course, there was no Siri in 1953. But if there were,
you would have had trouble finding the first Burger King no matter how clearly
you tried to speak. That's because the name was slightly different.
When Kramer and Burns set out to open their McDonald's-inspired burger restaurant,
they looked for ways to set it apart.
One answer was found in an innovative machine called an "Insta-Burger" that could produce
multiple hamburgers in an instant. This speedy machine inspired the name "Insta-Burger King."
However, Insta-Burger King didn't see the success as Kramer and Burns
expected. After the company was bought out, the "Insta" part of the name was
dropped. The restaurant became the "Burger King" we know so well today.
It may seem such a simple matter, yet there is some confusion about the first official Burger
King location. Some sources claim that the Insta-Burger King opened by Kramer and Burns
appeared in Jacksonville, Florida. Others believe that Burger King's first location was in Miami.
If we're literal about the name, the first official Burger King opened its doors in Miami.
James McLamore and Dave Edgerton founded the Burger King Corporation in 1954 along
with a business partner. They were running the newly-opened Miami location. However,
the "Insta-Burger King" location opened a year earlier in Jacksonville,
operated by Kramer and Burns. It would expand with additional locations built within the first year.
Now, if you check the Burger King website, it says the company was founded in 1954. Technically,
that's not the whole story. This launch would only have happened if the Jacksonville location had
made its debut in 1953. The true origins of the restaurant chain might come down to who you ask.
Just when you thought the fight was over, a third contestant just entered the game to claim the
throne as the first Burger King! If the confusion between Jacksonville and Miami wasn't enough,
wait until we add the seemingly humble Burger King of Mattoon, Illinois as a topping.
Years before the first Insta-Burger King in 1953, Betty and Gene Hoots ran an ice cream
shop in Mattoon called Frigid Queen. When they decided to offer additional food items,
they opened a burger shop. They thought the queen needed a king, so they called it Burger King.
They then moved forward to copyright the name in the state.
Meanwhile, a burger empire was brewing down south. The other Burger King's
success in Florida meant that it was now looking to expand across the country.
The Florida-based chain opened its first Illinois location in the town of Skokie in 1961. The
Mattoon Burger King sued the corporate giant in what would be known as Burger King of Florida,
Inc. v. Hoots. In a true David and Goliath turn of events, the Mattoon location won
its battle. To this day, no corporate Burger King can open within a 20-mile radius of the
family-owned business. The closest Burger King to Mattoon is currently 23 miles away.
The original co-founders of Insta-Burger King, Kramer and Burns, quickly found out that their
burger business needed additional support to grow and compete. Within its first year,
they hit a financial rough patch. So when McLamore and Edgerton offered twenty
thousand dollars for the Miami location, it was a pivotal moment. That 1954 purchase officially
transformed the struggling business into the Burger King we know today.
In 1967 they sold Burger King to Pillsbury for eighteen million dollars. Burger King
has changed hands several times since. As of 2021, the fast food chain is owned by Restaurant Brands.
"Insta-Burger King" came along during a time of changing consumer habits in fast-casual dining. On
the west coast, the newly opened In-N-Out Burger burger shop introduced an innovative two-way
speaker box system that revolutionized drive-thru dining. Convenience was king. Customers wanted to
streamline the dining experience. Businesses were looking for ways to cut back on costs.
When Insta-Burger King first opened, it branded itself as a "self-service"
restaurant. You would pay using a ticket system, similar to how you might have
gone to a movie theater in that era. You simply walked up to one window to order,
then moved to another to pick up your freshly-prepared meal.
A key component of Insta-Burger King's promise of streamlined food ordering was
the flagship machine mentioned earlier - the "Insta-Broiler."
Kramer and Burns bought the rights to the device when they launched their business venture.
About four hundred hamburgers rolled off its endless chain system per hour with
twelve "Burger Baskets" that brought burger patties into the oven. Once in the oven,
it took a minute and forty-five seconds to cook the patty and toast the buns. The Insta-Broiler
was the only machine Insta-Burger King needed in its locations because of the volume it produced.
The machine was also praised for keeping its environment grease- and smoke-free.
Burger King eventually improved on the Insta-Broiler and replaced
it with a gas grill called the "flame broiler."
Burger King also made milkshakes as convenient to order and receive as
hamburgers. If you wanted a cold, refreshing frozen beverage to go with your meal,
the milkshake-making process was as streamlined thanks to a device called the Insta-Shake.
In one minute, the Insta-Shake machine could mix, freeze, and whip all the liquid ingredients for
approximately three milkshakes. However, while the Insta-Broiler used an endless chain system,
the Insta-Shake machine required an operator to switch out the cups for each shake.
"What you are witnessing, dear friends,
is the most enormous miracle of the machine age. The creation of a confectionery giant."
The Insta-Shake was indeed a marvel at the time for its ability to run continuously
during operating hours. The machine could produce up to four different milkshake flavors.
Burger King, like its competitors, offers menu items at low prices even today,
if you're looking for a bite to eat that won't break your wallet. Low prices have
been a constant for customers, going all the way back to its original "Insta-Burger King"
location, when most items sold for less than one quarter each.
A regular cheeseburger was twenty-three cents. If you wanted to double up on the meat patties,
it would cost an extra nickel. French fries were fifteen cents. A fruit pie – somewhat
unique for its day – was also fifteen cents. Burger King's two "insta" items,
the hamburger and milkshake, each cost eighteen cents. If you ordered everything on the menus,
you would pay one dollar and seventeen cents. In 2022 dollars, that's twelve ninety-eight.
Burger King's original menu was relatively simple,
with only a few key items on it. Notably missing from the original menu was the
sandwich that gave the food chain its most enduring tagline: "Home of the Whopper."
The Whopper was not introduced until 1957, still relatively early in the company's
history. The hearty, two-fisted blend of a large all-beef patty, two tomatoes, mayonnaise,
lettuce, onions, cheese, ketchup, four pickles and onions was cooked up for those too hungry for
Burger King's basic hamburger. Since 1958, some familiar faces have been served up in Whopper
advertising campaigns. "Take 75!"
"Oww!"
"Cut!"
In 2021, Burger King introduced its first visual redesigns since 2019. Their campaign included a
logo with a more minimalist look, new packaging, modified employee uniforms and a new endorsement
campaign featuring special meals. Celebrities have often been a component of Burger King advertising.
The logo wasn't always so on-the-nose. At first, there were no burgers or kings on the logo at
all. The very first logo looked like a sunrise. In a short time it changed to simply the words,
"Burger King." Finally in 1955, the company introduced a royal mascot that sat on a bun. He
then became a cartoon king. In the seventies, he came to life in the seventies to do magic,
and after that, well, then he became something completely unexplainable.
After Insta-Burger-King was rescued from financial
problems and became Burger King in 1954, there was a period of healthy growth.
By 1965, there were over 250 Burger Kings nationwide. But when McDonald's went public
on the stock exchange that year, it was clear that Burger King still had a lot of
catching up to do. And the rivalry continues with epic conflicts and petty jealousies.
The nineties brought lower sales, flagging customer demand, and roller coaster finances.
After then-CEO Jim Adamson initiated a "Back to Basics" campaign, Burger King
enjoyed a six-year growth period, even swiping some market shares from "Mac-You-Know-Who…"
"This isn't my day."
Even as recently as 2022, Burger King has sought ways to improve its brand performance
overall. Business analysts are devising ways to increase sales, revitalize the company,
and remain competitive. With a new emphasis on the signature Whopper and fresh ideas
from a new ad agency, Burger King hopes to strengthen their hold on its fast food crown.