Despite intense competition in the fast-food market, Burger King has created a strong brand position thanks to its clever growth strategies. It is well-known that the franchise’s burgers are good, but in the beginning, Burger King struggled to compete globally with market leader McDonald’s massive advertising budget. So how did Burger King carve out its place in the burger market?
The back story
Founders Keith Kramer and his wife’s uncle, Matthew Burns, built a stove called the Insta-Broiler and named their company Insta-Burger King in 1953. But a year later, they ran into financial problems. It was then that David Edgerton and James McLamore stepped in, bought the ailing company and renamed it Burger King.
The pair improved the original design and created a gas grill called the flame broiler – which eliminated all the problems of the Insta-Broiler. By 1959, the pair saw growth potential and in 1961, the signature Whopper burger took off and became a hit across the United States. By the late 1970s, Burger King grew to become America’s second-largest burger chain, known for its high-quality, great-tasting and affordable food.
Burger King’s big message
Focus group researchreassured the company that the Whopper tasted better than its rival, McDonald’s. The reason was that the burger was substantial, very satisfying and offered consistently good, fresh vegetable ingredients – which it still does to this day. Using this to its advantage, the chain decided to focus its creative strategy on highlighting the fresh ingredients that went into the Whopper.
For instance, it erected a billboard that showed a whopping big tomato with the line, The big taste of a Whopper, or just lettuce leaves with the line, Lettuce have a Whopper. These billboards were on display for two years. In the third year, Burger King continued to play on this theme, but added visual icons to appeal to an international market, like a picture of a tomato next to the leaning tower of Pisa with the line, I’m leaning towards a Whopper. The results proved that the three-year campaign was a success with a cumulative 37.7% increase in sales.
Its growth strategies explained
Burger King uses cost leadership and broad differentiation strategies to remain competitive. A financial objective is to reduce operating costs so that its products can be offered at lower prices through economies of scale and error prevention. Secondly, Burger King creates unique characteristics that differentiate it from its competitors. It supplies this differentiation through its advertising and brand representation. Its slogan, Be Your Way, lets customers know that the chain offers flexible options. In terms of its product offering, it has a fine way of grilling its burger patties and offering free drink refills.
Burger King also employs intensive growth strategies by opening new stores in overseas locations where there are no operations. Its cost leadership strategy is particularly important when it tries to break into emerging markets.
Burger King keeps it simple
Any restaurant needs to pay close attention to its menu because if it gets this wrong, it could end up losing revenue. A menu needs to bestrategically engineeredto ensure it is on-brand, easy to read and profitable. The psychological theory known as the “paradox of choice” explains that if you offer guests too many options, they are likely to feel overwhelmed. One of Burger King’s key drivers is its simple menu. When it does add items to its menu, they are sourced from ingredients already in use. With this strategy, it can attract new customers without alienating existing ones.
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FAQs
Its growth strategies explained
Burger King uses cost leadership and broad differentiation strategies to remain competitive. A financial objective is to reduce operating costs so that its products can be offered at lower prices through economies of scale and error prevention.
What are the strategies employed by Burger King? ›
Burger King employs value pricing and promotions as part of its marketing strategy to attract price-sensitive customers and drive traffic to its restaurants. The company offers a range of value meals, combo deals, and discounts to provide affordable options for customers while maintaining profitability.
What is the strategy formulation for Burger King? ›
Burger King uses two generic strategies for competitive advantage: cost leadership and differentiation. The company's primary generic competitive strategy is cost leadership. According to Michael Porter's model, this generic competitive strategy involves minimizing costs, which can lead to low prices.
What is the SEO strategy of Burger King? ›
SEO Strategy
By strategically utilizing a mix of high and low-volume keywords, Burger King has been successful in maintaining strong online visibility and ranking on top of Google's search engine results page (SERP) for relevant searches with a fruitful organic search traffic of 6.44 million.
How did Burger King grow? ›
Their first stores were centered around a piece of equipment known as the Insta-Broiler, which was very effective at cooking burgers. It proved so successful that, as they grew through franchising, they required all of their franchises to carry the device.
Was the Burger King rebrand successful? ›
Burger King's rebranding efforts were a huge success, according to the company. The fast-food underdog out-performed McDonald's by 66% with consumer purchase intent. Customer visitation intent increased by 39%, and Burger King received 1.1 billion impressions in the first five days of the rebrand.
What is an example of an intensive growth strategy? ›
Example: Apple focuses on the product development as one of the main intensive strategy for the growth of its market. It offers attractive and innovative products in the existing markets to increase its market share and performance.
What is the key competitive advantage of Burger King? ›
Burger King employs two primary generic strategies for competitive advantage: cost leadership and broad differentiation (Panmore Institute). These strategies enable Burger King to position itself uniquely in the market, catering to a wide range of customer preferences and maximizing its market share.
What tools of persuasion are used in Burger King? ›
They are Everyday/Colloquial Language, Emotive Language, Rhetorical Question, Hyperbole, Connotation, Imagery, Metaphor, Simile, Repetition, Assonance, and Analogy.
What is burger strategy? ›
The hamburger paragraph writing strategy is best represented by a picture of a hamburger: the top bun is the main idea or the topic sentence; the lettuce, tomato, cheese and condiments are all the juicy supporting details; the bottom bun is the concluding sentence.
Just like its competitors it also offers combo meals that are cheaper in price compared to the separately sold items. Promotion – Burger King uses a variety of channels to promote its products. It offers sales promotions with deals and discounts, advertising, social media and more.
What is Burger King's packaging strategy? ›
Internationally, Burger King India banned single use plastics, and continues to use materials like birch wood for forks, spoons, and stirrers. The Burger King brand has also launched paper straws for soda beverages in seven European countries, with further expansion planned.
Who is Burger King's biggest competitor? ›
Top Burger King Competitors & Similar Companies
- KFC.
- Pizza Hut.
- Domino's.
- McDonald's.
- Subway.
- Smokin Joes Pizza.
- Taco Bell.
- Papa Johns Pizza.
Burger King has unveiled its new brand positioning with the tagline 'You Rule' as part of its earlier-announced 'Reclaim the Flame' plan. As part of the campaign, created by OKRP, a one-minute TV spot 'You Rule' has been launched, which has a new take on the classic 'Have it Your Way' jingle from the 1970s.
Who does marketing for Burger King? ›
Patrick (Pat) O'Toole Appointed Chief Marketing Officer of Burger King® U.S. & Canada.
When did Burger King become famous? ›
By 1961, the eatery had been renamed Burger King and its signature burger, The Whopper, was beginning to make waves across the US. In 1963, the franchise opened its first international restaurant in Puerto Rico.
Why did Burger King lose popularity? ›
A telling sign of Burger King's decline is the steady decrease in sales. A major issue contributing to this slide is inconsistency in product quality and customer service. Customers expect the same taste and quality in their favorite Whopper, whether they're in New York or New Delhi.
Who is more successful, McDonald's or Burger King? ›
The verdict is in, and McDonald's is the victor. The three biggest U.S. burger chains have reported their earnings, giving investors a look at their 2023 U.S. performances.
