Industry | Food service |
---|---|
Founder | Al Cabrera |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Midwestern United States, Canada |
Key people | Christopher J. Ondrula President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Aaseby Chief Financial Officer Pam Smith, Vice President of Operations John Schank, Vice President of Operations |
Footnotes /references [1] |
Heartland Foods is one of the largest franchises of Burger King. The Downers Grove, Illinois-based company owns and operates over 225 restaurants in six US States. [2]
By 2001 and nearly eighteen years of stagnant growth, many of Burger King's franchises were in some sort of financial distress. The lack of growth severely impacted BKC's largest franchise, the nearly 400 store AmeriKing; by 2001 the company, which until this point had been struggling under a nearly $300 million debt load and been shedding store across the US, was forced to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [3]
While several individual BK franchisees also took advantage of the AmeriKing failure and the resulting sale of its assets, Miami-based franchisee Al Cabrera and cofounder Joseph DaGrosa [4] [5] purchased the largest chunk of stores, 130 locations primarily in Chicago and the Upper Midwest, from the failed company for a bargain basement price of $16 million, or approximately 88% of their original value. Taking these stores, he and his partners created a new company called Core Value Partners to renovate and update the locations which had deteriorated during Ameriking's decline. During this time, the company was renamed Heartland Foods and it purchased 120 additional stores from other financially distressed owners and completely revamped them as well. The resulting purchases made Mr. Cabrerra Burger King's largest minority franchisee and Heartland one of BKC's top franchisee groups. [6] By 2006, the company was valued at over $150 million, and was sold to New York-based GSO Capital Partners. [7]
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.
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 and renamed it "Burger King". 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.
Quiz Holdings, LLC, doing business as Quiznos, is an American franchised fast-food restaurant based in Denver that specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lambatos and sold to Rick and Richard Schaden ten years later. It then grew to nearly 5,000 restaurants; by 2013, Quiznos was the second-largest submarine sandwich shop chain in North America, behind Subway. It filed for bankruptcy in 2014; by 2016, it had dropped to ninth place, and the number of Quiznos locations in the United States fell from a 2007 high of 4,700 to just 400 a decade later.
The Whopper is the signature hamburger and an associated product line sold by the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, the hamburger has undergone several reformulations, including changes to portion size and bread used. The hamburger is well known in the fast food industry, with Burger King advertising itself as "the Home of the Whopper" and naming its kiosk stores the BK Whopper Bar. In response to the Whopper, Burger King's competitors have developed similar products designed to compete against it.
Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia.
Pollo Tropical is a South Florida-based restaurant chain and franchise specializing in food inspired by Latin-Caribbean and Floribbean cuisine. Founded in 1988, the chain has its headquarters in Doral, Florida, It is best known for marinated and grilled chicken and various sides including black beans and rice, mojo roast pork and more.
Fuddruckers is an American fast casual, franchised restaurant chain that specializes in hamburgers. The Fuddruckers concept is to offer large hamburgers in which the meat is ground on-site and buns are baked on the premises. As of 2019, Fuddruckers had 49 company-operated restaurants and 107 franchises across the United States and around the world. The company headquarters is in Houston, Texas. On September 8, 2020, Fuddruckers owner Luby's, Inc. announced that they planned to liquidate existing assets, including Fuddruckers' assets, distributing the proceeds to investors after the proposed sale of the chains. On June 21, 2021, Black Titan Franchise Systems announced a deal to acquire Fuddruckers for $18.5 million.
Rax Roast Beef is a regional U.S. fast food restaurant chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches. The company has been through many iterations, declaring bankruptcy more than once, rising to as many as 504 locations in 38 U.S. states in the 1980s and falling to fewer than 20 locations on more than one occasion. As of 2024, Rax is based in Ironton, Ohio, and has eight restaurants in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
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.
As far back as the 1970s, international fast food restaurant chain Burger King has attempted to introduce a premium line of burgers. These sandwiches are part of a system which eventually became known as the barbell strategy; a plan designed to expand Burger King's menu with both more sophisticated, adult-oriented fare along with products that are more value-oriented. This program is intended to bring in a larger, more affluent adult audience who will be willing to spend more on the better quality products on one side while maintaining a lower cost value menu dedicated to a more cost-conscious audience on the other. The hope is that the customers would be drawn in initially for the lower prices of the value-menu and upgrade to the more expensive products, upping overall sales.
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.
When the predecessor of international fast food restaurant chain Burger King (BK) first opened in 1953, its menu predominantly consisted of hamburgers, French fries, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. After being acquired by its Miami, Florida franchisees and renamed in 1954, BK began expanding its menu by adding the Whopper sandwich in 1957, and has since added non-beef items such as chicken, fish, and vegetarian offerings, including salads and meatless sandwiches. Other additions include a breakfast menu and beverages such as Icees, juices, and bottled waters. As the company expanded both inside and outside the United States, it introduced localized versions of its products that conform to regional tastes and cultural or religious beliefs. To generate additional sales, BK occasionally introduces limited-time offers of special versions of its products, or brings out completely new products intended for either long- or short-term sales. Not all of these products and services have been successful; in 1992, Burger King introduced limited table service featuring special dinner platters, but this concept failed to generate interest and was discontinued.
The majority of the locations of international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King are privately owned franchises. While the majority of franchisees are smaller operations, several have grown into major corporations in their own right. At the end of the company's fiscal year in 2015, Burger King reported it had more than 15,000 outlets in 84 countries; of these, approximately 50% are in the United States and 99.9% are privately owned and operated. The company locations employ more than 37,000 people who serve approximately 11.4 million customers daily.
The legal issues of Burger King include several legal disputes and lawsuits involving the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King (BK) as both plaintiff and defendant in the years since its founding in 1954. These have involved almost every aspect of the company's operations. Depending on the ownership and executive staff at the time of these incidents, the company's responses to these challenges have ranged from a conciliatory dialog with its critics and litigants to a more aggressive opposition with questionable tactics and negative consequences. The company's response to these various issues has drawn praise, scorn, and accusations of political appeasement from different parties over the years.
Competitive Foods Australia (CFA) is the largest franchiser of restaurants in Australia. It is owned and operated by Jack Cowin. Its units are Hungry Jack's and, previously, some KFC stores.
Jollibee Foods Corporation is a Philippine multinational company headquartered in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. JFC is the owner of the fast food brand Jollibee.
Burger King Israel is the Israeli franchise of international fast food chain Burger King. Burger King first entered the Israeli market in 1993. It eventually closed in 2010, after the franchise owner Orgad Holdings purchased local chain Burgeranch and converted all Burger King locations in the country into Burgeranch locations. In July 2013, it was announced that Burger King was attempting to re-enter Israel. Initial discussions with its original Israeli franchise owner Yair Hasson were unsuccessful, and it finally secured re-entrance to the country by entering into a deal with a French company. The first restaurant, under the new franchise group opened in February 2016, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. As of 2020, there are 10 branches in the country, including 9 in Tel Aviv and its suburbs, and 1 in Eilat located in Ramon Airport. Out of all these locations, 7 are Kosher branches.
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.
Nordic Service Partners (NSP) is the largest franchisee of Burger King in the Nordic countries as well as being a franchisee of KFC in Sweden and TGI Fridays in Denmark. The company is today one of Sweden's largest restaurant companies specialising in fast food restaurants.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)The AmeriKing bankruptcy has added uncertainty to the prospects for Burger King, which relies heavily on franchise owners of its restaurants.