The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz, is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures food products in plants on six continents, and markets these products in more than 200 countries and territories. The company claims to have 150 number-one or number-two brands worldwide. Heinz ranked first in ketchup in the US with a market share in excess of 50%; the Ore-Ida label held 46% of the frozen potato sector in 2003.
Burger King Corporation is an American multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in 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, its two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton (1927–2018) and James McLamore (1926–1996) purchased the company in 1959. Over the next half-century, the company changed hands four times and its third set of owners, a partnership between TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, took 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 its 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.
Tim Hortons Inc., known colloquially as Tim's, Timmies, or Timmy's, is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain with headquarters in Toronto; it serves coffee, donuts, sandwiches, breakfast egg muffins and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 5,701 restaurants in 13 countries, as of September 2023.
Horizontal integration is the process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same level of the value chain, in the same industry. A company may do this via internal expansion or through mergers and acquisitions.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger (1978–2023). Greg Abel now oversees most of the company's investments and has been named as the successor to Buffett. Buffett personally owns 38.4% of the Class A voting shares of Berkshire Hathaway, representing a 15.1% overall economic interest in the company.
Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July 2, 2015.
Firehouse Restaurant Group, Inc., doing business as Firehouse Subs, is an American fast casual restaurant chain based in Jacksonville, Florida that specializes in submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1994 by former firefighter brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen. It is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International, which also owns the chains Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons.
Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. is an American franchisee company and is the largest Burger King franchisee in the world; Carrols owns and operates over 1,000+ Burger Kings, and 55 Popeyes restaurants. The company has operated Burger Kings since 1976 in locations across 23 U.S. states.
Jorge Paulo Lemann is a Brazilian billionaire investment banker, businessman, and former tennis player with dual Brazilian and Swiss citizenship. Lemann co-founded global investment firm 3G Capital, which owns brands such as Burger King, Anheuser-Busch and Heinz. He became the richest person in Brazil in March 2023, with a net worth of US$17 billion.
The predecessor to what is now the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King was founded on July 23, 1954, in Jacksonville, Florida, as Instant Burger King. Inspired by the McDonald brothers' original store location in San Bernardino, California, the founders and owners, Keith G. Cramer and his stepfather Matthew Burns, began searching for a concept. After purchasing the rights to two pieces of equipment called "Insta" machines, the two opened their first stores around a cooking device known as the Insta-Broiler. The Insta-Broiler oven proved so successful at cooking burgers, they required all of their franchises to carry the device. After the original company began to falter in 1959, it was purchased by its Miami, Florida, franchisees James McLamore and David R. Edgerton. The two initiated a corporate restructuring of the chain; the first step being to rename the company, Burger King. The duo ran the company as an independent entity for eight years, eventually expanding to over 250 locations in the United States, when they sold it to the Pillsbury Company in 1967.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is a US-Belgian-Brazilian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium and is the largest brewer in the world. In 2023, the company was ranked 72nd in the Forbes Global 2000. Additionally, AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters in São Paulo, London, St. Louis, Mexico City, Bremen, Johannesburg, and others. It has approximately 630 beer brands in 150 countries.
Bernardo Vieira Hees is a Brazilian businessman. He held the position of chief executive officer (CEO) of The Kraft Heinz Company until stepping down on June 30, 2019. He previously was CEO of The H.J. Heinz Company, Burger King Corporation, and America Latina Logistica, Latin America's largest railroad and logistics company. Hees is also a partner in the global investment firm 3G Capital.
Restaurant Brands International Inc. (RBI) is a Canadian-American multinational fast food holding company. It was formed in 2014 by the $12.5 billion merger between American fast food restaurant chain Burger King and Canadian coffee shop and restaurant chain Tim Hortons, and expanded by the 2017 purchase of American fast-food chain Popeyes. The company is the fifth-largest operator of fast food restaurants in the world after Subway, McDonald's Corporation, Starbucks and Yum! Brands. They are based alongside Tim Hortons in Toronto. For multiple purposes, Burger King and Popeyes retain their existing operations and headquarters, both in Miami. The 2014 merger focused primarily on expanding the international reach of the Tim Hortons brand and providing financial efficiencies for both companies.
Carlos Alberto Sicupira is a Brazilian billionaire businessman, a partner in 3G Capital, which owns or has major stakes in Burger King, H.J. Heinz Company, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Lojas Americanas. He lives in Switzerland.
Alex Behring is a Brazilian billionaire businessman. He is a co-founder and managing partner of 3G Capital, a global investment firm known for its investments in Anheuser-Busch InBev, Restaurant Brands International, Kraft Heinz, and Hunter Douglas. As of March 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$6.2 billion.
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest in the world with over $26.0 billion in annual sales as of 2021.
Daniel Schwartz is an American businessman, executive, and investor. He is currently the Co-Managing Partner of 3G Capital, a global investment firm and private partnership known for its long-term investments in prominent companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Restaurant Brands International, Kraft Heinz, and Hunter Douglas. Schwartz played a pivotal role in 3G Capital's 2010 acquisition of Burger King, where he served as CFO, COO, CEO, and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2010 to 2022 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors today. In 2017, Daniel was recognized by Forbes as Top 40 under 40 for his role in turning around Burger King.
GPS Hospitality is a privately held company that is primarily a franchisee for quick service restaurants (QSR), including Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Burger King and Pizza Hut. GPS Hospitality was founded by Thomas A. Garrett in 2012 and has over 10,000 employees.
In the 2010s Private equity massively grew. As of 2019, there were nearly 7,000 private equity firms within the United States, nearly $2.5T globally in unspent cash, and dealmaking in private equity accounted for 13% of global acquisitions.
