50 Fun Facts About Burger King

The chain was founded on July 23, 1953, under what name?

The original chain was based in Jacksonville, Florida, and built around a cooker called the Insta-Broiler.

Which two Miami franchisees bought the struggling company in 1959?

They ran it independently for eight years, growing to over 250 US locations before selling to Pillsbury.

Insta-Burger King's founders were inspired by whose original San Bernardino restaurant?

Keith Cramer and Matthew Burns bought the rights to two "Insta-machines" and built their stores around them.

What was wrong with the original Insta-Broiler that led the new owners to replace it?

The replacement flame broiler became a Burger King hallmark and the basis of decades of "flame-grilled" advertising.

In what year did the Whopper join the menu as its first major addition?

It quickly became the chain's signature product and the basis of the "Home of the Whopper" tagline.

How much did the Whopper originally sell for?

Co-founder James McLamore created it after seeing a rival restaurant succeed with a bigger burger.

The Whopper was invented in response to a large-burger rival in which Florida city?

One account jokes that the town, not Miami, is the real "home of the Whopper".

The Whopper Jr. was introduced in what year — reportedly by accident?

A Puerto Rico franchisee improvised it when the proper Whopper buns failed to arrive.

Around 1970 the Whopper switched from a plain bun to what?

In 1985 the patty grew to 4.2 oz and the bun briefly became a Kaiser roll.

In what year did the founders sell the chain to Pillsbury?

The doughboy company tried repeatedly to restructure the chain through the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Which British conglomerate acquired Pillsbury — and Burger King with it — in 1989?

Its 1997 merger with Guinness created Diageo, which put the money-losing chain up for sale in 2000.

Which Brazilian investment firm bought a majority stake in Burger King in 2010 for about $3.26 billion?

The new owners quickly restructured the chain and later merged it with Tim Hortons.

Burger King's 2014 merger with which Canadian chain created Restaurant Brands International?

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway helped finance the $12.5 billion deal.

Which chicken chain did Restaurant Brands International add to its portfolio in 2017?

Firehouse Subs followed in 2021, giving the parent company five main segments.

Where is Burger King's corporate headquarters?

The parent company sits in Toronto with a coffee chain, but BK stayed put in Florida.

Burger King trades under a different name in Australia due to a trademark clash with a restaurant in which city?

A local takeaway owner already held the Burger King trademark, so a name from Pillsbury's pancake-mix range was borrowed instead.

The Hungry Jack's name was borrowed from a Pillsbury brand of what?

Franchisee Jack Cowin picked it from a list of Pillsbury trademarks and added an apostrophe and "s".

Burger King's first Australian restaurant opened in 1971 in a suburb of which city?

The Innaloo store came two years after the chain's first Canadian outlet in Windsor, Ontario.

Burger King's first European restaurant opened in 1975 in which city?

By the end of 2018 the chain reported nearly 18,000 outlets in 100 countries.

Which advertising agency, hired in 2003, revived the King as a silent, masked mascot?

The Miami agency was known for a hip, subversive style; the King was retired as primary mascot in 2011 after 3G took over.

The Subservient Chicken site, where a man in a chicken suit obeyed commands, promoted which sandwich?

It was built by The Barbarian Group for CP+B and tied into the "Have it Your Way" campaign.

Burger King's failed $40 million 1985 campaign asked customers to find whom?

The mystery man who had supposedly never eaten a Whopper failed to boost sales.

The 2009 "Whopper Sacrifice" promotion offered a free burger for doing what?

Facebook shut down the app after a week for violating its privacy policy.

The 2020 "Moldy Whopper" ad showed a burger rotting over how many days?

It was meant to prove the chain had dropped artificial preservatives, and drew 50 percent more awareness than its 2019 Super Bowl ad.

The Impossible Whopper's plant-based patty is made by a company based in which city?

Test marketing began around St. Louis in April 2019 before the national rollout.

Which country's Burger King dropped the beef Whopper for mutton, veggie and chicken versions?

The change accommodated cultural taboos around beef when the chain entered the market.

The Windows 7 Whopper, a seven-patty promotional burger, was sold in which country?

It promoted Microsoft's operating system launch; the Angry Whopper, by contrast, adds jalapeños and "Angry Sauce".

Burger King's Original Chicken Sandwich arrived in 1979 as part of an overhaul with what name?

CEO Donald Smith's programme also gave the chain its first breakfast menu.

Which breakfast item did Burger King add in 1983?

Until a 1985–86 revamp the rest of the breakfast menu was almost identical to McDonald's.

BK Chicken Tenders debuted in 1985 to answer which McDonald's product?

Fish Tenders followed in 1989 to complement them.

Which chain attempted to buy Burger King from Pillsbury for $100 million in 1973?

The Trotter brothers' company was a major franchisee; Pillsbury declined both their offers.

Which Burger King franchisee did Restaurant Brands International agree to buy for about $1 billion in 2024?

The deal brought the chain's biggest operator in-house.

What children's marketing programme replaced the Burger King Kingdom characters by 1989?

More than a million children signed up within two months of its launch.

Which private-equity partnership took Burger King public in 2006?

The stock left the New York Stock Exchange again just four years later when 3G bought the company.

Burger King's first restaurant outside the US opened in 1969 in which Canadian city?

It arrived shortly after Pillsbury bought the chain.

As of the end of 2018, roughly how many Burger King outlets were there worldwide?

They spanned 100 countries.

What was Burger King's loyalty programme, tested in 2021, called?

Testing began in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, New Jersey and Long Island.

Which plant-based sandwich did Burger King launch in the UK in 2021?

It arrived alongside the chain's plant-based Whopper in the UK as part of its plant-based push.

Roughly how many Australian Hungry Jack's locations were there in 2024?

It is owned by Jack Cowin's Competitive Foods Australia under licence from Restaurant Brands International.

Don Dervan, whose Adelaide business blocked the Burger King name in Australia, sold how many burgers a year by 1970?

He had opened his first drive-in takeaway in Keswick in 1962, when there was no legal obstacle to the name.

In 2005 Burger King briefly sold which snack, served with ranch dressing, on its BK Cravers value menu?

A six-piece Chicken Fries was later added to the same value line.

Which drinks giant, born of a 1997 Guinness merger, put the chain up for sale in 2000?

The sale ended a decade of what one history calls parental disregard for the brand.

How many burger patties could the original Insta-Broiler cook at once in its wire basket?

McLamore and Edgerton replaced it with their own 'Flame Broiler', which ran on a moving chain for the next 40 years.

In which Illinois town does an unrelated 'Burger King' restaurant keep the chain 20 miles away by court order?

A Texas trademark similarly forced the chain to drop the Whopper name in counties around San Antonio.

In which year was Burger King finally able to enter northern Alberta after paying off a namesake chain?

Its first restaurant outside the US had opened in Windsor, Ontario, back in 1969.

A Burger King in which Israeli settlement sparked a dispute that drew threats of sanctions from the Arab League?

The Islamic member states jointly threatened to revoke the company's business licences.

A 2022 lawsuit alleged Burger King's ads made the Whopper look roughly how much bigger than reality?

In May 2025 a federal judge allowed the case to proceed under Florida misrepresentation law.

Burger King's Boston scratch-card drive with the Red Sox's Jimmy Fund supports which cancer centre?

The Jimmy Fund partnership sells $1 cards, each with a food or occasionally bigger prize.

Under Donald N. Smith's 1978 franchise rules, how far could new owners live from their restaurants?

The rules were designed to stop big multi-state operators like Chart House from challenging the corporation.

Roughly how many Burger King locations existed worldwide as of August 2024?

The company moved into a new five-storey headquarters at 5707 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami, in 2018.