Strange Facts About Burger King

Everybody kind of knows the history of McDonald’s: Ray Croc, something something, lots of restaurants, something, the Big Mac, world domination and so on. But what about the apparent king of burgers? What’s their story? Well here are some unusual, random and strange facts about Burger King. Enjoy.

Ths Insta-Burger Kings

Burger King was actually originally named Insta-Burger King. When founders Keith Kramer and Matthew Burns visited the original McDonald’s restaurant they pretty much ripped the idea and bought the rights to two pieces of equipment called ‘insta’ machines. These machines were apparently very good at broiling burgers and so in 1953 in Jacksonville, Florida the first Insta-Burger King was born.

The Pillsbury Dough Boy Owned Burger King

In the late 60s the Pillsbury Company purchased Burger King and tried to restructure the then struggling burger chain. Deviously, they hired McDonald’s executive Donald Smith to help fix the company. Smith implemented new franchise agreements, standardised restaurant decor and a more interesting menu.

Burger King is Called Hungry Jack’s in Australia

Our Aussie readers are fully aware of this fact but our foreign readers might not realise that Hungry Jack’s is the exclusive franchise of Burger King in Australia which is wholly owned by a parent company called Competitive Foods Australia. When Burger King looked to expand operations into Australia in the early 70s it found that a tiny takeaway food shop in Adelaide had the name already trade-marked. And so the Australian franchisee Jack Cowin was given a list of possible names that could be used. Cowen selected ‘Hungry Jack’ the name of parent company Pillsbury’s pancake mix and slightly changed the name to the possessive form with the addition of an apostrophe, thus creating Hungry Jack’s.

Hungry Jack’s Strikes Back

In 1991 when Hungry Jack’s renewed their franchise agreement with Burger King they agreed that they would open a certain amount of new stores each year for the term of the contract. Then in 1996 Burger King got greedy and claimed that new stores weren’t opening fast enough so they began opening their own stores. Subsequently Australia had Hungry Jack’s and Burger King restaurants at the same time, both with near identical menus. In 2001 Hungry Jack’s sued Burger King claiming breach of contract and was awarded $46.9 million AUD and sole rights to the Australian market.

Condom Found in Burger

In 2007 Van Miguel Hartless of Fair Haven purchased a Southwestern Whopper at a Burger King in Rutland. He took the burger home and on the third bite knew something terrible had happened. He claims to have tasted something very foreign and ‘sour’. Looking at his burger he discovered an unwrapped condom half hanging out. Mr Hartless said he suffered from vomiting, nightmares and emotional trauma wondering whether the prophylactic had been used. It is reported that the case was settled outside of court for an undisclosed sum.

Burger King’s Secret Menu

That’s right there is a secret menu at Burger King that only the privileged few know about. It requires a special wink, a funny hand-shake and some money – mostly just some money. Some of the highlights on the secret menu include: Frings, for those who can’t decide, a half-serve of fries and half-serve of onion rings; The Rodeo Burger, basically just a cheeseburger topped with onion rings and BBQ sauce and the nastiest of the lot, The Suicide Burger. This thing is shameful. Also known as the Quad Stacker, this thing boasts four beef patties, four slices of cheese, buckets of bacon and a smattering of special sauce. It has 800 calories, 53 grams of fat and 2,430 milligrams of sodium, over 1000 milligrams over the recommended daily intake.

Actually, you can keep your special, greasy handshake to yourself thank you very much.

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So there you have it, a tasty selection of unusual trivia. Now you can impress friends with your bizarre knowledge of pointless and strange facts about Burger king like a fancy pants.