Burger King

Burger King (BK) is an international network of fast food hamburger restaurants headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a restaurant chain located in Jacksonville, Florida, the firm now has its headquarters in Miami-Dade County, Florida. After Insta-Burger King had financial problems, two franchisees from Miami, David Edgerton (1927–2018) and James McLamore (1926–1996), acquired the firm in 1959 and renamed it Burger King. Over the following fifty years, the firm changed ownership four times, with the third group of owners, TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, taking it public in 2002. In a transaction estimated at $3.26 billion, 3G Capital of Brazil purchased a controlling ownership in the firm towards the end of 2010. The new owners swiftly launched a reorganisation of the corporation to turn its fortunes around. Eventually, 3G and its investor Berkshire Hathaway combined the firm with the Canadian doughnut giant Tim Hortons, becoming Restaurant Brands International.

The 1970s were the "Golden Age" of Burger King's advertising, but starting in the early 1980s, the company's advertising started to lose its emphasis. During the following two decades, a succession of advertising companies continued to produce unsuccessful advertising campaigns. In 2003, Burger King engaged the Miami-based advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), which revamped its advertising with a series of new campaigns focused on a reimagined Burger King mascot dubbed "The King," as well as a new internet presence. Some of CP+B's ads were criticised for alleged sexism or cultural insensitivity, despite their tremendous popularity. In 2011, Burger King's new owner, 3G Capital, severed ties with CP+B and shifted its advertising to McGarryBowen to launch a new product-oriented campaign with increased demographic targeting.

In 1953, Insta-Burger King was founded in Jacksonville, Florida, as the predecessor to Burger King. Keith J. Kramer and his wife's uncle Matthew Burns, who had obtained the rights to two pieces of equipment named "Insta-machines," launched their first restaurants after visiting the McDonald brothers' initial shop site in San Bernardino, California. Their manufacturing concept was based on one of the devices they had obtained, an Instant Broiler oven. This method was so effective that they eventually mandated that all of their franchisees use it. James McLamore and David R. Edgerton, franchisees based in Miami, Florida, acquired the firm in 1959, after its failure. They launched a business reorganisation of the chain by rebranding it as Burger King. They managed the business as an own organisation for eight years (eventually growing to more than 250 sites in the United States) before to selling it to the Pillsbury Company in 1967.