uses see bk disambiguation . this article is about the restaurant chain . for other uses see burger king disambiguation . burger king the burger king logo type subsidiary industry restaurants genre fast food restaurant predecessor insta burger king founded insta burger king 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 jacksonville florida burger king 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 miami florida founder insta burger king keith j. kramer and matthew burns burger king david edgerton and james mclamore headquarters 5505 blue lagoon drive miami dade county florida united states number of locations 15 000 2015 area served global key people alexandre behring chairman rbi 1 123 daniel s. schwartz ceo 1 123 jos e. cil president 1 123 joshua kobza cfo 1 123 products hamburgers chicken french fries soft drinks milkshakes salads desserts breakfast hotdogs revenue us 4.05 billion fy 2015 1 30 operating income us 363.0 million fy 2015 rbi 1 30 net income us 1.912 billion fy 2015 rbi 1 30 total assets us 18.41 billion fy 2015 rbi 1 31 total equity us 2.912 billion fy 2015 rbi 1 31 number of employees 34 248 fy 2015 rbi parent restaurant brands international website www.bk.com this box view talk edit burger king often abbreviated as bk is an american global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in the unincorporated area of miami dade county florida . the company was founded in 1953 as insta burger king a jacksonville florida based restaurant chain . after insta burger king ran into financial difficulties in 1954 its two miami based franchisees david edgerton and james mclamore purchased the company and renamed it as burger king . over the next half century the company would change hands four times with its third set of owners a partnership of tpg capital bain capital and goldman sachs capital partners taking it public in 2002 . in late 2010 3g capital of brazil acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal valued at us 3.26 billion . the new owners promptly initiated a restructuring of the company to reverse its fortunes . 3g along with partner berkshire hathaway eventually merged the company with the canadian based doughnut chain tim hortons under the auspices of a new canadian based parent company named restaurant brands international . the 1970s were the golden age of burger king advertising but beginning in the early 1980s the company s advertising began to lose focus . a series of less successful advertising campaigns created by a procession of advertising agencies continued for the next two decades . in 2003 burger king hired the miami based advertising agency crispin porter bogusky cp b who completely reorganized burger king s advertising with a series of new campaigns centered on a redesigned burger king character nicknamed the king accompanied by a new online presence . while highly successful some of cp b s commercials were derided for perceived sexism or cultural insensitivity . burger king s new owner 3g capital later terminated the relationship with cp b in 2011 and moved its advertising to mcgarrybowen to begin a new product oriented campaign with expanded demographic targeting . the burger king menu has expanded from a basic offering of burgers french fries sodas and milkshakes to a larger and more diverse set of products . in 1957 the whopper was the first major addition to the menu ; it has since become burger king s signature product . conversely bk has introduced many products which failed to catch hold in the marketplace . some of these failures in the united states have seen success in foreign markets where bk has also tailored its menu for regional tastes . from 2002 to 2010 burger king aggressively targeted the 18 34 male demographic with larger products that often carried correspondingly large amounts of unhealthy fats and trans fats . this tactic would eventually damage the company s financial underpinnings and cast a negative pall on its earnings . beginning in 2011 the company began to move away from its previous male oriented menu and introduce new menu items product reformulations and packaging as part of its current owner 3g capital s restructuring plans of the company . at the end of fiscal year 2015 burger king reported it had over 15 000 outlets in 100 countries . of these 47.5 % are in the united states and 99.5 % are privately owned and operated with its new owners moving to an almost entirely franchised model in 2013 . bk has historically used several variations of franchising to expand its operations . the manner in which the company licenses its franchisees varies depending on the region with some regional franchises known as master franchises responsible for selling franchise sub licenses on the company s behalf . burger king s relationship with its franchises has not always been harmonious . occasional spats between the two have caused numerous issues and in several instances the company s and its licensees relations have degenerated into precedent setting court cases . burger king s australian franchise hungry jack s is the only franchise to operate under a different name due to a trademark dispute and a series of legal cases between the two . contents 1 history 2 structure and operations 3 franchises 4 international operations 5 controversies and legal cases 6 charitable contributions and services 7 products 7.1 equipment 8 advertising 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history main article history of burger king 1955 1968 burger king logo the predecessor to burger king was founded in 1953 in jacksonville florida as insta burger king . after visiting the mcdonald brothers original store location in san bernardino california the founders and owners keith j. kramer and his wife s uncle matthew burns who had purchased the rights to two pieces of equipment called insta machines opened their first restaurants . their production model was based on one of the machines they had acquired an oven called the insta broiler . this strategy proved to be so successful that they later required all of their franchises to use the device . 2 3 after the company faltered in 1959 it was purchased by its miami florida franchisees james mclamore and david r. edgerton . they initiated a corporate restructuring of the chain first renaming the company burger king . they ran the company as an independent entity for eight years eventually expanding to over 250 locations in the united states before selling it to the pillsbury company in 1967 . 2 28 pillsbury s management tried several times to restructure burger king during the late 1970s and the early 1980s . the most prominent change came in 1978 when burger king hired mcdonald s executive donald n. smith to help revamp the company . in a plan called operation phoenix 3 118 smith restructured corporate business practices at all levels of the company . changes included updated franchise agreements 4 a broader menu 3 119 4 66 and new standardized restaurant designs . smith left burger king for pepsico in 1980 5 shortly before a system wide decline in sales . pillsbury s executive vice president of restaurant operations norman e. brinker was tasked with turning the brand around and strengthening its position against its main rival mcdonald s. one of his initiatives was a new advertising campaign featuring a series of attack ads against its major competitors . this campaign started a competitive period between burger king mcdonald s and top burger chains known as the burger wars . 6 brinker left burger king in 1984 to take over dallas based gourmet burger chain chili s. 7 smith and brinker s efforts were initially effective 8 but after their respective departures pillsbury relaxed or discarded many of their changes and scaled back on construction of new locations . these actions stalled corporate growth and sales declined again eventually resulting in a damaging fiscal slump for burger king and pillsbury . 9 10 poor operation and ineffectual leadership continued to bog down the company for many years . 10 11 pillsbury was eventually acquired by the british entertainment conglomerate grand metropolitan in 1989 . 12 13 initially grand met attempted to bring the chain top profitability under newly minted ceo barry gibbons ; the changes he initiated during his two year tenure were hit or miss . successful new product introductions and tie ins with the walt disney company were offset by continuing image problems and ineffectual advertising programs . 14 additionally gibbons sold off several of the company s assets in attempt to profit from their sale and laid off many of its staff members . 15 16 17 after gibbon s departure a series of ceos each tried to repair the company s brand by changing the menu bringing in new ad agencies and many other changes . 18 19 20 the parental disregard of the burger king brand continued with grand metropolitan s merger with guinness in 1997 when the two organizations formed the holding company diageo . 21 eventually the ongoing systematic institutional neglect of the brand through a string of owners damaged the company to the point where major franchises were driven out of business and its total value was significantly decreased . 22 diageo eventually decided to divest itself of the money losing chain and put the company up for sale in 2000 . 23 24 an example of the 20 20 concept interior at a burger king in cork ireland the twenty first century saw the company return to independence when it was purchased from diageo by a group of investment firms led by tpg capital for us 1.5 billion in 2002 . 14 25 the new owners rapidly moved to revitalize and reorganize the company culminating with the company being taken public in 2006 with a highly successful initial public offering . 26 27 the firms strategy for turning the chain around included a new advertising agency and new ad campaigns 28 29 30 a revamped menu strategy 31 a series of programs designed to revamp individual stores 32 a new restaurant concept called the bk whopper bar 33 and a new design format called 20 20 . 33 these changes successfully re energized the company leading to a score of profitable quarters . 34 yet despite the successes of the new owners the effects of the financial crisis of 2007 2010 weakened the company s financial outlooks while those of its immediate competitor mcdonald s grew . 34 35 the falling value of burger king eventually led to tpg and its partners divesting their interest in the chain in a us 3.26 billion sale to 3g capital of brazil . 36 37 analysts from financial firms ubs and stifel nicolaus agreed that 3g would have to invest heavily in the company to help reverse its fortunes . 37 38 after the deal was completed the company s stock was removed from the new york stock exchange ending a four year period as a public company . 39 40 the delisting of its stock was designed to help the company repair its fundamental business structures and continue working to close the gap with mcdonald s without having to worry about pleasing shareholders . 38 in the united states domestic market the chain has fallen to third place in terms of same store sales behind ohio based wendy s. the decline is the result of 11 consecutive quarters of same store sales decline . 41 in august 2014 3g announced that it planned to acquire the canadian restaurant and coffee shop chain tim hortons and merge it with burger king with backing from warren buffett s berkshire hathaway . the two chains will retain separate operations post merger with burger king remaining in its miami headquarters . 42 a tim hortons representative stated that the proposed merger would allow tim hortons to leverage burger king s resources for international growth