Burger King

Burger King Corporation is a large international chain of fast food restaurants, predominantly selling hamburgers, french fries, milkshakes and soft drinks. It also operates over 200 restaurants in Australia under the name Hungry Jack's. more...

Company history

Burger King's first restaurant — originally called Insta Burger King — was opened in 1954 in Miami, Florida, USA by James McLamore and David Edgerton, who were both alumni of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. McLamore had visited the hamburger stand belonging to Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California; being able to sense potential in their innovative assembly line-based production system, he decided to create a version of his own. Coincidentally, the first restaurant's milkshake machine was sold to them by Ray Kroc, who later bought the McDonald's restaurant chain from its founders and oversaw its worldwide expansion. In the late-1960s, Steven Seagal worked at a Burger King restaurant in Buena Park. In August of 1992, their corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida was severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew. On Friday, December 13, 2002, Burger King was purchased from British drinks firm Diageo for $1.5 (US) billion by a group of investors led by the investment firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG). The company planned to go public within the next two years. Magic Johnson's company Magic Johnson Enterprises purchased 30 Burger King stores on June 7, 2004. Although they will feature sports memorabilia, they will retain the Burger King name. These locations reopened on December 3, 2004. On August 1, 2004, Greg Brenneman took over from Brad Blum as Chairman and CEO to direct the company's turnaround efforts under TPG ownership. On February 1, 2006, Brenneman announced TPG's plans to turn Burger King into a publicly traded company by issuing an Initial Public Offering. On February 16, the company announced it had filed its registration for the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On April 7, 2006, Burger King named John Chidsey as CEO to succeed Brenneman. Former top Pepsi marketer and eBay CMO and COO, Brian Swette was named non-executive Chairman. On May 18, 2006, Burger King began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BKC.

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