Burger King Is Pouring $30 Million Into A Whopper Image Refresh
This may come as a surprise to you, but Burger King isn't exactly the new kid on the block when it comes to fast food. It's been in the business for well over half a century now, having first started out in the early-to-mid 1950s as a Florida hamburger joint before exploding into one of the most recognizable symbols of American fast food. Through all the menu changes, redesigns, ups, downs, and sometimes even somewhat embarrassing mistakes (remember when the company tried to sell roast beef?), there's one menu item that's been the face of Burger King for all those years: the Whopper.
Introduced in 1957 at a cost of only 37 cents, the Whopper has remained the cornerstone of Burger King's menu. According to Zippia, over 2.1 billion of these flame-broiled beauties are sold every single year, demonstrating the sheer popularity and staying power of this 70-some-year-old hamburger. To think that Burger King would ever get rid of its most beloved and recognizable menu item would be madness.
But, although the Whopper is popular, it's still pretty old. And like most old things that have existed well into the modern era, the Whopper needs a bit of a "spit-shine" on its image to make it appeal more to a younger generation. But this isn't like trying to resell a car, a band, or a fashion line back to the public — it's a hamburger. What is Burger King's plan to "modernize" its famous Whopper sandwich to serve the modern consumer?
Burger King has high hopes to revitalize the Whopper
"What we really want to do in the short term is reintroduce America's love affair with the Whopper." These were the words Burger King's North American President Tom Curtis provided in a discussion with CNN Business in September 2022. While Burger King laid out plans to recover from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was still quite a bit of attention being paid to a very simple-sounding, yet very complex question: How can Burger King revitalize the Whopper? In order to accomplish this task, the restaurant would need two things: plenty of money and someone who knows how to work miracles.
This is why, for that purpose, Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands, brought in Patrick Doyle and a total of $30 million. Doyle is widely credited for being a sort of "miracle worker" who helped transform Domino's Pizza into a pizza powerhouse during his tenure as CEO from 2010 to 2018, boosting the company's stock from $12 per share to $270. In an interview with Yahoo! Finance Live, Doyle explained that improvements to Burger King's brand are being centered around a program known internally as "reclaim the flame."
Doyle admitted that the brand's basic improvements must be made on things like service and franchisee profitability. He also mentioned that the Whopper was something of an "iconic brand," and for that reason, he has plans to revitalize the classic menu item. Notably, this isn't the first time Burger King has said this. "The Whopper is a multi-billion dollar brand and we need to treat it as such," Restaurant Brands CEO José Cil told Yahoo! in 2022. "You should expect to see new extensions and innovations around the Whopper, some of which are already proven winners in our international markets."