Company Snapshot: Burger King Worldwide Inc.

Address:
505 Blue Lagoon Dr
Miami, FL  33126

Telephone:
305 378-3000

Internet Homepage:
http://www.bk.com

Total Current Locations:
12,534

Trading Areas:
All 50 U.S. states, 81 foreign countries

Total Revenue:
$2,335,700,000

Senior Executives:
CEO: Bernardo Hees
CFO: Daniel SchwartzExec
VP, President North America Division: Steven Wiborg

Burger King, the world’s second largest hamburger chain (ranked by number of locations), made the headlines in mid-June when it returned to the stock market just 20 months after being taken private by new owners 3G Capital Partners. It now trades on the New York Stock Exchange as BKW.

As part of its going-public announcement, management reported that it expects to sell all but about 100 of its nearly 1,000 company-operated restaurants to franchisees. BK also has aggressive growth in its future, particularly in international markets. Last summer, development plans for several hundred locations in Brazil were announced. In early June of this year, Burger King reported plans to open 1,000 restaurants in China over the next five to seven years as well as a joint-venture agreement for several hundred restaurants in Russia in the next few years.

The company has also been making culinary news in recent months as it has undertaken a major overhaul of its menu, highlighted by a new marketing campaign featuring such high-profile celebrities as David Beckham, Steven Tyler, and Jay Leno. The reworked menu includes about 10 new items such as Garden Fresh salads, snack wrap sandwiches, fruit smoothies, chicken strips and frappe drinks. Its recent promotion of an ice cream sundae with bacon has had consumers either oohing and aahing or shaking their heads in horror.

Even before the new menu launch, the company had begun to see a turn-around with first quarter results showing same-store sales increase of 4.2% in the U.S. and Canada, its best performance in about two years.