• Home
  • Burger News
    • Events
    • McDonald’s Hamburgers in News
    • Burger King Hamburgers in News
    • Wendy’s Hamburgers in News
    • Tim Hortons News
  • Who Is Hamburger Harry?
    • Meet Hamburger Harry
    • Hamburger Harry’s Fame
    • Hamburger Harry on YouTube
    • Hamburger Karl
  • Museum
    • Who Is Hamburger Harry?
      • My Hamburger Patty
    • Hamburger Harley
      • HamburgerHarley & Other Promotional Products
      • Burger Bike Specifications and Credits
    • Burgerbilia Donations
    • The Hamburger Beds
      • Kayla Kromer’s Hamburger Bed
      • The Cheeseburger Water Bed
    • Good Burger Car
    • Design by Eugene Tsui
    • Hamburger Art
    • Custom Harley Shovester
    • Interactive Burgers
  • Burger Shop
  • Contact
  • Join Our Team
  • Login

Burger Web

Hamburger Museum and Burger Magazine

  • Cheesy Media
    • Other Burger Blogs
    • Music
      • Rock & Roll
    • Celebrity Ham(burger)s
    • Cheesy Movies
    • Ketchup on Your TV Shows
  • Lettuce Laugh
    • Photos
    • Jokes
    • Cartoons
    • Riddles
    • Stories
  • Food For Thought
    • Hamburger History
    • Recipes
    • How To
  • For YOUR Marketing
    • Promotional Products – Rent a Burger
    • Advertise On BurgerWeb
  • Directory of Burger Joints
You are here: Home / Food For Thought / Hamburger History / The Original Burger King

The Original Burger King

December 1, 2015 by Danny O'Leary Leave a Comment

It’s more than clear to everyone that one of the most successful burger chains in today’s history is the one and only Burger King, or as many refer to it, “BK”. But how did this world wide famous chain become the mega corporation that it is today? Founded in 1953 in Jacksonville, Florida, Burger King was originally named “Insta Burger King”. The chain’s founder and original owner, Keith J. Kramer, was visiting the original McDonald’s when the idea struck him that he should open up his own restaurant. Alongside one of his relatives named Matthrew Burns, the pair purchased the rights to two pieces of equipment called “insta” machines and opened their first restaurant. Although they had a successful start, in 1959 the company began to lose its momentum. To save it, it was purchased by two franchisees named James McLamore and David R. Edgerton in Miami, Florida. After now being held under new management, “Insta Burger King” was later changed to “Burger King”. For eight years the pair ran the company before finally selling it to Pillsbury Company in 1967. Pillsbury management tried several times to restructure Burger King in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In 1978, they hired a McDonald’s executive named Donald N. Smith to help give the company a much needed helping hand. After constructing a plan, Donald restructured corporate business practices for every level of the company. Among these changes were updated agreements, more standardized restaurant designs, and a more lively menu.

When Burger King Corporation began franchising in 1959, it used a regional model where franchisees purchased the right to open stores within a geographic region. These franchise agreements granted them a very small amount of oversight control of its franchisees and resulted in issues of product quality control, store image and design, and operational procedures. Sometime around 1980 there was a large system-wide decline in sales. Donald N. Smith had just left the company for Pepsi Co., and Pillsbury executive VP Norman E. Brinker was hired to take his place and turn the company around. To strengthen themselves to become more popular than McDonald’s, one of Norman’s initiatives was to start a new advertising campaign featuring a series of attack advertisements against its major competitors. Thus a “Burger War” was created between all competing franchises.

The Logo

Burger logos

The original logo for Burger King used in 1954.

The logo used from 1994 to 1999 that helped inspire the logo Burger King uses today.

The most popular Burger King logo that made its appearance in 1999 and is still being used today.

The Whopper Sandiwich

One of the more popular burgers that have come out of Burger King is known as The Whopper. This beefy burger was created in 1957 by Burger King co-founder James McLamore, after having noticed that a rival restaurant was having much success in selling a larger burger. The name was chosen because he felt that it conveyed “imagery of something big“.  Major fast food chains did not release a similar product until the McDonald’s Big Mac was introduced in 1967.

Filed Under: Hamburger History, Restaurants, Stories

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill In The Blank: * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hamburger History Posts

  • History of Hamburgers
  • Cheeseburger History
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • White Castle
  • New Haven, Connecticut
  • Hamburg, New York
  • Athens, Texas
  • Seymour, Wisconsin

Search the Menu!

Our H-D Key Sponsor

Trickkey custom motorcycle keys for H-D

Advertisers


ADVERTISE HERE
Reach people searching for Hamburger related terms, and our members.

Request AD BLOCK #1.

Help Build The International Hamburger Hall of Fame & Rebuild the GoodBurgerMobile



Mixed Platter!




Press

Members of the Press should email Hamburger Harry.

cruising Daytona

Advertise whatever you want as long as Hamburger Harry approves!

Request AD BLOCK #2.

Your Other Ad Here

Reach people searching for Hamburger related terms, and our members.

Request AD BLOCK #3.

Ad Block #4

Reach people searching for Hamburger related terms, and our members.

Request AD BLOCK #4.

Ad Block #5

Reach people searching for Hamburger related terms, and our members.

Request AD BLOCK #5.

Let’s Socialize!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

Copyright 1996 - 2021 ©World of Hamburgers, Inc. · PRIVACY · TERMS of USE · HEY! Need A Website?