In 1954, James McLamore and David Edgerton opened their first BURGER KING ® Restaurant in Miami, Florida. These visionaries had extensive experience in the restaurant business and shared a belief in the guiding principle of offering reasonably priced food, served quickly, in attractive, clean surroundings. The BURGER KING ® Vision today honors that original vision.

America was first introduced to the Original Whopper ® Sandwich in 1957 at a price of 37 cents. It was an instant sensation and immediately became BURGER KING ® flagship product. Today the WHOPPER ® is world renowned for its fire-grilled taste and the many ways customers can order it to their liking.

Burger King Corporation was the first fast-food chain to introduce dining rooms allowing customers a chance to eat inside. Drive-thru service, designed to satisfy the customer “on the go” was introduced in 1975 and now accounts for more than 57.0% of BURGER KING® business. “Take-out” represents another 19.4% of off-premise dining. You don’t have to go far for the fire-grilled taste of BURGER KING®. Regardless where you live there’s a restaurant nearby. In total there are more than 11,285 BURGER KING® restaurants worldwide representing 58 countries selling 2.2 billion hamburgers annually. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003 Burger King Corporation had system-wide sales of $11.1 billion!

The great success of the early restaurants made the BURGER KING® concept a natural for selling franchises. The concept spread rapidly throughout the 1960s and in 1963 the first international franchise restaurants opened in Puerto Rico.

Ninety-one percent of BURGER KING® restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees. Many of these are family-owned operations that have been in the business for decades. Their investment in their BURGER KING® restaurants is an investment in their communities, the brand and their future.

Through Support Programs franchisees receive the following.

Training

• Managerial
• Technical
• Marketing
• Operational

Site Selection

• Comprehensive guidelines and specifications
• State-of-the-art geographic mapping systems
• Market analysis
• Site evaluation techniques
• Field-based real estate team

Marketing

• $300+ million annual marketing program
• Local and national campaigns
• Customized marketing plans

Restaurant Operations

• On-site field training and guidance
• Purchasing economies
• Quality assurance programs

BURGER KING® franchisees across the country also develop and coordinate a variety of exemplary education programs in their own communities. These local programs create strong bonds between BURGER KING® franchisees and local students, teachers and community leaders.

Concerned with the high dropout rate in schools, Burger King Corporation has joined Communities in Schools Inc. the largest stay-in-school organization which forms a national network of 24 Academies designed for students who have already dropped out of school or are functioning below their potential in traditional school settings.

The Burger King/McLamore Foundation was established in 1997 to unite the entire BURGER KING® system in one philanthropic effort that provides deserving youth with the educational opportunities they need to succeed. Since the inception of the Burger King Scholars Program in 2002 the Foundation has awarded a total of 5,471 scholarships of $1,000 each for college or post-
secondary vocational/technical school to deserving youth throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Other programs include partnership with local schools to conduct “Benefit Nights” scholarship programs, serving as mentors and volunteers in local school systems and teaming with local newspapers to set up newspaper boxes in BURGER KING® restaurants with a percentage of the proceeds going to Burger King Academies.

Joining the BURGER KING® system grants you access to experienced BURGER KING® professionals who have but one goal in mind which is to build the brand and your business. So, if you’d like to invest in a lucrative company with a household brand name and also in your community, give them a call today!