Well well well, it looks like Burger King is about to release its quarterly earnings and sales results on May 2nd. Last quarter, they managed to increase their U.S. same-store sales by a whopping 5%! How did they do it, you ask? By implementing early steps in their turnaround plan. You know, it might’ve been easier if they just asked for my help, but hey, what do I know?
Burger King has been working hard to rejuvenate its domestic sales with a $400 million plan in partnership with its franchisees. Their main focus is on revamping the restaurants and investing in advertising. It’s like they’ve been listening to my suggestions all along. I always knew they were smart people.
One thing that sets Burger King apart from its rival McDonald’s is its close relationship with its franchisees. The two fast-food chains are like night and day. McDonald’s has had some publicized spats with its operators over the years, whereas Burger King is all about togetherness. I guess it pays to be nice to your business partners, huh McDonald’s?
Before announcing their turnaround strategy, Burger King spent a year simplifying operations to improve efficiency and order accuracy. They even took a good hard look at their chicken sandwich and realized it was too complicated. It involved twenty-one steps to prepare the final menu item, which is insane. So, they reformulated and renamed it to the Royal Crispy Chicken sandwich, which now only takes five steps. Way to go, Burger King!
In addition to simplifying operations, Burger King launched an in-store training program for all its restaurants, which instructed workers to greet customers, make Whoppers properly (because nobody likes a poorly made Whopper), and give out those iconic crowns. Curtis, CEO of Burger King, says that this was “the most important thing that we did coming out of the convention.” I think it’s safe to say that Curtis takes his crowns seriously.
Burger King also held roundtables for general managers in forty-five cities to train them on how to execute a deep clean of their restaurants. Now, I’m no expert, but I think cleaning is always a good thing. It resulted in a 20% increase in guest satisfaction, too. Looks like they’re doing something right over at Burger King.
Their “You Rule” marketing campaign also took off, with customers being treated like royalty instead of the Burger King mascot. And even though Curtis wasn’t initially a fan of the “Whopper Whopper” jingle used in the campaign (he thought the lyrics were underwhelming), it went viral and spawned memes across Twitter and TikTok. The song now has almost 3.3 million streams on Spotify. Looks like Curtis misjudged the power of a catchy tune.
Former Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle has joined Restaurant Brands as its executive chair since the company announced its “Reclaim the Flame” strategy. Doyle’s top priority for Burger King has been improving franchisee profitability, which is good news since two of them have filed for bankruptcy so far in 2023. Yikes. But Curtis is optimistic because “if managed correctly, the outcome can be better than where you were before.”
While Burger King’s “Reclaim the Flame” strategy seems to be taking hold, Curtis isn’t jumping the gun just yet. He’s emphasizing that it’s a multiyear growth strategy and that these things take time. Burger King has only spent $15 million out of the $50 million Restaurant Brands earmarked to improve the restaurants’ appearances in conjunction with franchisees’ own investment. So, let’s give them some space and time to work their magic, shall we?

Serious News: cnbc