Burger King: History, Key Facts and Reviews

1953-1959: from Insta-Burger King to the Whopper

Burger King started in Jacksonville, Florida, where Keith G. Cramer and his wife’s uncle, Matthew Burns, opened Insta-Burger King on July 23, 1953 (Wikipedia). Their restaurants were built around the Insta-Broiler, the oven that gave the company its name. On December 4, 1954, James McLamore and David Edgerton opened a franchise in Miami. In 1957 McLamore created the Whopper and sold it for 37 cents. Two years later the pair bought the national rights to the struggling company and renamed it Burger King Corporation. The Whopper is still the product the chain is judged on; our guide to what goes on a Whopper takes it apart layer by layer.

1963-1989: Pillsbury and the first restaurants abroad

Burger King first left the mainland United States in 1963, with a restaurant in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1967 the food group Pillsbury bought the chain, then 274 US restaurants, for $18 million. Canada followed in 1969 in Windsor, Ontario, and Australia in 1971 in the Perth suburb of Innaloo, under the name Hungry Jack’s because of a trademark dispute (Wikipedia). Europe came in 1975 with a first restaurant in Madrid, and Mexico in the late 1970s. When Grand Metropolitan bought Pillsbury for $5.7 billion in 1989, Burger King changed hands with it.

1997-2014: Diageo, private equity and RBI

Burger King went through four owners in less than twenty years. Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness in 1997 to form Diageo. In 2002 a group led by TPG Capital bought the chain for $1.5 billion, then listed it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006 under the ticker BKC. In 2010 3G Capital took control for $3.26 billion, or $24 a share. The 2014 merger with the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons created Restaurant Brands International, the group that also owns Popeyes and Firehouse Subs.

2025: 19,900 restaurants and a reset in the United States

Today Burger King is a franchise business: more than 95% of RBI’s restaurants are run by franchisees. At the end of 2025 the chain counted 19,900 restaurants in 126 countries and territories and $29.4 billion in system-wide sales (RBI Form 10-K 2025). The US network shrank to 6,650 restaurants, 51 fewer than a year earlier, as RBI pushed remodels under its “Reclaim the Flame” plan. China, with 1,474 restaurants at the end of 2024, was down to about 1,250 when RBI handed control of the business to the investment firm CPE in November 2025, with a target of more than 4,000 by 2035 (RBI). Spain reached 1,000 restaurants at the end of the same year. For this year’s menu changes, read our roundup of the new Burger King Whopper in 2026.

Key dates

• 1953: Insta-Burger King opens in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 23.
• 1954: James McLamore and David Edgerton open their Miami franchise on December 4.
• 1957: the Whopper goes on sale for 37 cents.
• 1963: first restaurant outside the mainland US, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1967: Pillsbury buys the 274-restaurant chain for $18 million.
• 1975: first European restaurant, in Madrid.
• 2014: the merger with Tim Hortons creates Restaurant Brands International.
• 2025: 19,900 restaurants in 126 countries and territories at year-end.