Hot Dogs Coming Up at Burger King!

Grilled Dogs from Burger King Made of Hundred Percent Beef

Anyone who has ever barbecued knows that the three most common foods to cook on the grill are hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken. On February 10, Burger King announced it was adding flame broiled grilled hot dogs to its menu, which for many years has featured both hamburgers and chicken. So why did it take 63 years for them to offer hot dogs?

Brief History

Founded as Insta-Burger King in 1953, the company has had many owners. In 1959 the founder sold the company to two of its franchise owners, James McLamore and David R. Edgerton who renamed the company Burger King; this was followed by a sale to two large public companies (Pillsbury in 1967 and Grand Met/Diageo in 1988) then to two private equity firms  (TPG Capital in 2002 and most recently 3G Capital, the current owner in 2010).

From its inception the company has used a signature flame grilling system that allows the food to cook quickly, which makes it taste more like it was prepared on an outdoor barbecue. Despite this innovative technology, the basic menu has not been altered significantly since the company began. Breakfast was added in 1978, a salad bar in 1983, and chicken tenders two years later in 1985. Since then there have been many tweaks to the menu, but fundamentally it hasn’t changed in 30 years.

From the outset, the company was beset with problems, often created by the owners. Pillsbury and Grand Met, as very large multinational companies, were not sure what to do Burger King and how it fit within their organizations.  Over the course of the 50 years prior to the company’s ownership by private equity firms, new leaders were repeatedly brought in to improve results, strategies were reshaped, contracts were changed (for example moving from Coke to Pepsi) and other actions were taken which collectively had a destabilizing effect on the company.

While all of this was going on, it was very hard, if not impossible, for the leadership teams in place at the time to engage with their two most important constituents: employees and customers. And in the highly competitive world of fast food, engaging with employees and customers needs be at the top of the list if a company wants to grow, gain market share and improve profitability.

Having it Their Way – Engaging with Customers

As reported in The New York Times on February 10, 2016, Alex Macedo, President of the company’s North America division said that adding grilled hot dogs “makes all the sense in the world for us.” Macedo also said that customers had been asking Burger King for a long time to add frankfurters, and that about a year and a half ago, the company began seriously working to satisfy that demand, testing its hot dogs in fives cities within the U.S. To top it off, team members have been watching training videos about how to prepare the hot dogs; Snoop Dogg gives the lessons in English, while Charo is featured in the Spanish–language version.

With the launch, starting on February 23, Burger King will serve hot dogs in more restaurants than any other restaurant chain in the U.S. Considering the fact that, according to some estimates, over 20 billion hot dogs are consumed each year in the U.S., Burger King is now poised to grab a meaningful share of that market. And to make the hot dogs – and the new enterprise — even more tasty, the mustard and ketchup for the dogs will be supplied by Heinz, another company jointly owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway.

It looks like the leadership at Burger King has learned to listen to their customers. Well done!

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