Burger King: The Instaburger Oven, Hungry Jack's and a Creepy King

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Keith Kramer and Matthew Burns visited the McDonald brothers in San Bernardino and in 1953 opened Insta-Burger King in Jacksonville, Florida, built around the Insta-Broiler oven. It struggled, and Miami franchisees David Edgerton and James McLemore bought it in 1959 and dropped the "Insta." The quarter pound Whopper of 1957 let the chain compete on size rather than speed. Pillsbury bought the company in 1967, and loose franchise terms let a Louisiana operator, Chart House, grow large enough to try to buy the parent in the 1970s. Donald N. Smith, hired from McDonald's in 1978, launched Operation Phoenix, requiring owners to live within an hour of their restaurants.

Norman E. Brinker started the Burger Wars with attack ads comparing burgers on screen. Later neglect under Grand Metropolitan and Diageo left franchisees like the 400 store AmeriKing in Chapter 11. TPG Capital bought the chain for $1.5 billion in 2002 and hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which revived the King as a silent mascot and launched the Subservient Chicken website. 3G Capital paid $3.26 billion in 2010, dropped the King, and merged with Tim Hortons in 2014 to form Restaurant Brands International, a tax inversion that drew political criticism.

• In Australia the name was already taken by an Adelaide takeaway, so the 1971 franchise became Hungry Jack's, after a Pillsbury pancake mix.
• In 1977 Burger King sold Star Wars glasses, the first major fast food movie tie in.
• The Xbox game Sneak King had players deliver food as the mascot.
• Recent changes include the Impossible Whopper, nugget servings cut from 10 to 8 and the digital focused Sizzle restaurant design.
• A UK International Women's Day tweet reading "women belong in the kitchen" was meant to promote a scholarship for female chefs.