Burger King franchise with 118 restaurants files for bankruptcy after accruing debts of $14million

Burger King can be rather good, if the franchise owners keep on top of everything. Many treaty it like a turnkey, and never check on the places personally and rely on managers they pay to do that.

The food business is tricky and the quality really suffers when there is no one in real control. Workers are lazy if they can get away with it.

McDonalds also has quality issues but they are usually fixed in short order, as the franchise owners are held to higher standards because of the corporate spies that keep them on their toes. Owners can lose the franchise if they do not continually upgrade equipment and properly train their staff.

Personally, I liked the A&W rootbeer restaurants that served it in cold mugs, and also had great burgers and hot dogs. They could really have a comeback with all that is going wrong today in fast food.

a reply to: putnam6

Looks like it's time for those kids to learn to frame a house or fix a car, maybe even learn how to install ducting or electric wiring?

oh wait... but that's actual work, I don't think the kids will go for it now a days.

a reply to: iamthevirus

" oh wait... but that's actual work, I don't think the kids will go for it now a days. "


Necessity Breeds Invention

OR

Necessity Breeds Contempt


CHOOSE you Little PUNK Asses ! *)

a reply to: putnam6

I had to paste this from Quora because I find it very interesting RE BK:

Fred Phillips
·

Business Owner in the Restaurant Industry (1981–present)Updated 9mo
Why does Burger King struggle so hard in trying to compete against McDonald's?
Boy is this the right question for me! I have worked in around Burger King for over 40 years, and was deeply involved in the competitive wars with McDonald’s in the 1990s. There’s a very simple reason why Burger King has struggled… Inconsistency.

Burger King is nearly as old as McDonald’s, haven’t been founded in 1954 in Florida. Their paths stayed pretty parallel into the early 1960s, when McDonald’s took off due to a very well planned program of franchising and development that focused on real estate. McDonald’s owned it, rented it to the franchisees, and used the money from that to pay for the purchase… So McDonald’s really is a real estate company more than a restaurant company. Seems a little far-fetched, but it’s true. Solid company structure from the mid-1960’s until today.

Burger King on the other hand has passed through numerous owners since it’s existence, starting in the 1960s with Pillsberry (yes, the dough boy folks), who kept it as a subsidiary until the late 1990’s. Under Pillsbury‘s ownership, the company stayed stable and grew its franchise base in a consistent manner. However, when Pillsbury sold the company to Grand Metropolitan (GM) out of England, things began to go south quickly.

GM was an alcohol company, who owned such brands as Guinness and Baileys Irish cream. They had involvement in bars in England, but never with a fast food restaurant chain. GM saw BK as a cash cow, and basically drained the company of money for years to fund other non-restaurant needs. They brought in executives from England who had no knowledge of the food industry, as sort of a training ground for them. Not a good combination.

Burger King also owned a lot of real estate under Pillsbury, though under a different program than McDonald’s. But once GM got involved, the real estate started to be sold as a way to pay for the purchase of the company. They nearly completely paid for their entire purchase by selling off the real estate- which was a stupid move for BK, as it removed an important asset base for the company.

GM later became Diagio, and under Diagio’s ownership they began to look for a buyer, because they realized it wasn’t a business they wanted to have within their liquor organization. This was a time when large investment groups were getting involved in the restaurant industry, so they sold the company at a profit to a US company called Texas Pacific Group (TPG). TPG then began their own dismantling of the US corporate structure, as a way to save money.

After TPG held it for a few years it was bought by a Brazilian group - who paid a lot of money for BK because of the ever expanding trading environment. They proceeded to remove even more of the corporate structure of BK - reducing it to basically nothing more than a holding company. They focused on international franchising, and did a good job in bring in new franchisees across the world. But By eliminating real estate, operations, training, marketing, and other departments almost in their entirety in the US, and eliminating hundreds of experienced people who were very loyal to Burger King, it just ruined the brands operations and strategic planning capabilities.

The Brazilian group eventually combined with the Tim Hortons group out of Canada, and recently Popeyes to create the new entity RBI, which runs all the businesses. While very successful as an organization, growing the company over the years internationally to a great extent, it really never addressed the fundamental differences between McDonald’s and Burger King when it came to quality and operations. Burger King‘s are just not up to the same level as McDonald’s, and I doubt ever will be because of the way they’ve been handled. By having virtually no company stores, decisions are made that seem reactionary and off the cuff, loading the stores with gimmicky products and putting undo pressure on the franchisees to shoulder nearly every task with little to no backup from BKC.

I know several McDonalds executives who I have discussed this BK subject with, and to a person they agree with my assessment, and were happy that BK was so disorganized as a competitor. BK’s food in its original form (like the Whopper) were superior to McD’s offerings, and they knew it. But with the constant turnover at BK it was a recipe for disaster long term.

I love BK, and even 20+ years since leaving I still stay in touch with my former executive colleagues. There is even an alumni group of BK folks. Great people who were basically tossed aside during these various sales, and have gone on to work with other brands and enhansed them as a result.

BK is a classic example of corporate greed taking a great brand and diminishing it as a result. 😉👍

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR READING THIS POST. I am humbled by your response to it - I am overwhelmed and appreciative. There are some interesting opinions that have been shared….I encourage you to read a desenting opinion below, and my response. Free speech is what makes our world better, versus places where you can’t proper an opinion. But also, facts are facts….something we have lost sight of recently here.

Balance of emotions and facts are what makes life work, don’t you agree? 😁🤟

UPDATE TIME. Hello folks, thanks so much for reading my post. Over 500K views…wow! I have been answering questions on other chains due to your requests, so if you want to learn background about KFC, Chick Fil A and others, check into my profile.

I did visit a brand new rebuilt BK yesterday here in California. Had to see what was new. Building was nice, and it was loaded with crew, training. Because of all those people, I got my food quickly. I was the only inside customer at 4:30. But, sadly, the underlying issues are still there. My food was warm, not hot; the fries were way too salty and only warm; I wanted an ice tea (there was a picture of it on the drink machine), but they didn’t have it. Not part of the rebuild. While I was eating inside, a couple of cars came through the DT, but one came back because he didn’t get his full order. Seriously? A new store with about 12 employees at 4:30, and it still wasn’t right?

Their system is clearly broken. They’ve made it overly complicated to produce the food, using lots of holding equipment to allow the pre-cooking of nearly every menu item, in a bid to save labor. Getting a fresh piping hot sandwich is basically impossible now, because of the production methods. People are willing to wait for a quality product, like the made to order food at In -N -Out. I have seen wait times in the 10–20 minute range there, with no one complaining. And they do 2–3 times the BK sales. Sacrificing speed for quality is stupid. I had this nearly exact argument 23 years ago at a BK corp meeting, and I was basically dismissed. Too many way smarter people in the room I guess🤨.

One more thing….I did real estate for BK for a long while, and I just don’t understand why they rebuilt this restaurant. It’s not in a good location at all, being a bedroom nighttime area, not a daytime one. A lot of money was spent, and I doubt that it will ever make a profit.

And the beat goes on….stay tuned!🤨

a reply to: charlyv

Apparently there is almost no corporate leadership in BK now, which has led to poor local decisions and a lot of confusion.

a reply to: putnam6

Good. I hope they all close and take McDonalds with them.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

McDonald's is in even worse shape, their menu is so limited... they used to have wraps and salads and healthier options like egg-white breakfast sandwiches.

Now it's like they have 3 basic items arranged in various forms and called something different lol.

a reply to: iamthevirus

Hey Mickey D's , SUPER SIZE my Heart Disease Please !

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

They have more drink selections than they do menu items, seriously.

I always did like their buckwheat breakfast pancakes though... it's been quite awhile since I had McDonald's, probably right around the time they took the wraps away.

That grilled chicken cesar wrap wasn't bad at all, I would get the pack of dressing on the side so you could control how much went on each bite. Their fries and hash browns like every other fast food place have not been worth getting for many years now so it was usually a la carte wraps or a salad for me if McDonald's was the choice. (and a 50/50 cut iced tea)