Burger King Core Competency Essay Example

Burger King is the world’s largest flame- broiled fast food restaurant chain. 65 As of mid- 2009, it operated about 12,000 restaurants in all 50 states and in 74 countries and U. S. territories worldwide through a combination of company- owned and franchised operations, which together employed nearly 400,000 people worldwide. Only Yum Brands ( A& W, KFC, Long John Silver, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), McDonald’s, and Subway, with 36,000, 32,000, and 28,000 restaurants, respectively, were larger. Given that Yum Brands has no hamburger units, Burger King is second in the fast food hamburger restaurant segment/ market. Burger King plans to increase the number of net operating units by 3 to 4 percent per year in the near future, with most of that increase coming in international operations. Two major ways in which Burger King differentiates itself from competitors are the way it cooks hamburgers— by its flame- broiled method as opposed to grills that fry— and the options it offers customers as to how they want their burgers. This latter distinction has been popularized with the “ have it your way” theme. About two- thirds of Burger King’s restaurants are in the United States, and its U. S. and Canadian operations accounted for 69 percent of its $ 2.54 billion revenue in fiscal 2009. The geographic distribution of Burger King’s restaurants is shown on Map 12.2. Although the company began in 1954 by offering just burgers, fries, milk shakes, and sodas, the menu has expanded to include breakfast as well as various chicken, fish, and salad offerings. Nevertheless, burgers remain the mainstay of the company, and 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Whopper sandwich, which is considered Burger King’s signature product. Burger King has also differentiated itself with some innovative advertising campaigns through the years, such as its use of a figure of a man who is the Burger “ King.” Recently, the company ran a “ Whopper Virgins” campaign in which it assembled people who