Question for Miss tutor

Description of Burger King……………………………………………………....................3

Historical Perspective...…………………...…………………………………………...……3

Scope of the business……………………………..................................................................4

Products and Services offered……………………………………………………………….5

Scope of Market distribution…….…………………………………………......…………...6

Overview of Leadership and Management Structure……………………………….……....7

Current issues of the organization……………………………………………….………….8

References………………………………………………................…………….…….…....9

Burger King

On the basis of the number of restaurants, Burger King is the second-largest fast-food hamburger restaurant. Basically, the company operates its business through its owned and franchised restaurants. Currently, the company has 13,960 restaurants in 100 countries of the world. Among this, 52 restaurants are owned by the company and 13,908 are owned by franchises. Burger King Highly believes in delicious food at affordable prices. Mainly, the company generates revenue from three sources; they are as follows:

· Sales at owned restaurants

· Revenue from Franchises. Franchises pay royalties on the basis of amount of ales and fee paid by them.

· Income from property, which is derived from leasing and subleasing to franchises

Historical Perspective

Burger King has gone through number of ups and downs in its entire life. It has a long history. It was established in 1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton. In 1957, the company launched Whopper. Further in 1959, company thought of going nationwide and signed number of franchise contract with different parties. However, in 1967, the Burger King was acquired by Pillsbury Co. for $18 million. In 1977, Donald Smith was appointed with an aim to restructure the franchise system of the firm. 1982 was a memorable year for the Burger King because it is the year in which it was claimed that the grilled burgers of the company are better than its close competitors McDonald’s and Wendy’s. In 1989, Pillsbury was acquired by Grand Metropolitan. In 1991, Bacon whopper was introduced.

In 1997, a merger took place between Grand Metropolitan and Guinness and Diageo plc. Was formed. Again in 2002, Burger King was acquired by group of investors which are controlled by Texas Pacific Group. Recently in 2010, Burger King was acquired by 3G capital. Just after the acquisition, company restructured its stores and menu items in order to remain competitive in the market. In 2012, 3G Capital sold 29% stake in the hamburger chain to Justice Holdings Ltd for $1.4 billion. Justice Holding ltd is a UK based company which is formed by the different investors with a motive to buy company. “The Whopper has seen a number of inventive iterations over the years, including the spicy Angry Whopper, and has also seen simple tweaks, such as with the Bacon Whopper” (Dostal, 2012).

The company has 20 foreign subsidiaries to control the operations in the market. Some of them are BK Asiapac, Pte. Ltd., BK Venezuela Servicios, C.A., Burger King B.V., Burger King Restaurant Operations of Canada,BK (Hong Kong) Development Co. Limited and more

Scope of the Business

The growth rate of fast-food industry is 2.8%; which is quite low. Currently, fast-food industry is facing number of issues such as decreasing demand from the customers, high competition and many more. This is the reason that growth of fast-food industry is steady. Further, same growth rate is expected in the coming years as well. As the health and fitness awareness is increasing, the customers are turning toward healthier food items; which in turn is resulting into decrease in the demands of fast-food products.

Generally, the food offered by the fast-food restaurants contains high calorie which can lead to number of diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, high blood pressure and many more. In particular, in this era of worldwide economic crisis and rising food prices, a significant price increase without noticeable improvement in taste of food and physical restaurant environments can undermine the fast-food restaurant's competitiveness (Min and Min, 2011).

However, in order to overcome such challenges, Burger King is really trying hard. It studies the needs of the customers and makes all possible changes in its products. In 2013, the company added number of low-fat food items to its menu; such as Veggie Burger, Tender Green Chicken Sandwich and Garden Salad, Caesar salad with grilled chicken, Cheese Burger Kids’ meal, Egg and Cheese Muffin and Chicken, Apple and Cranberry salad with tender grill. Further, in the same year, the company also added low-fat Satisfries; which is highly appealing to the customers. In a nutshell, it can be said that the fast-food business can grow if healthy and delicious food is offered at affordable prices.

Products and Services Offered by Burger King

Burger King has long list of food items. In burgers, it offers whopper sandwich, rodeo burger, cheese burger, bacon cheese burger, hamburger and more. In chicken and more, it offers buffalo chicken fries, chicken fries, original chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets, big fish sandwich and more. In salads and vegies; it offers morning star veggie burger, garden side etc. In the category of breakfast, it offers French toast sticks, smooth roast coffee and more. Apart from this, the company also serves different beverages, coffee and frappes, sides, sweets, value meal and kids meal (Burger King, 2015). The company offers the facility of takeaways and home delivery. Additionally, it also takes large orders for corporate functions, events and parties.

Source: http://www.wattagnet.com/articles/22073-buying-chicken-for-burger-king-end-user-perspective-on-protein-costs?v=preview

Scope of Market Distribution

According to US Fast Food Market Outlook 2010, “fast food is an important segment of the restaurant industry and growth of this segment is outpacing the growth of overall restaurant industry” (Food Sector Analysis Reports, 2009). The presence of the Burger King can be felt in 100 countries of the world. In Africa, the company has 34 restaurants in the countries like Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. In Asia, it can be seen in the countries like China, Hong Kong, Iraq, India, Malaysia, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait and more. In Caribbean, it is available in Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Aruba, Saint Lucia and more. It covers France, Finland, Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, Hungary and more countries of Europe. In North America, it covers Canada, Panama, United States, Costa Rica, Mexico etc. In Oceania, it can be seen in Australia, Guam and New Zealand. In South America, it covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia etc. Further, Finland, Australia, France, Greece, Iceland, Israel are the abandoned market of Burger King. The company serves its customers through its 13,980 restaurants all over the world.

Overview of Leadership and Management Structure

Leadership is, in the new economy, a dimension of the greatest relevance to achieve strategic success or failure (Pedraja-Rrejas, 2015). Currently, the organization is running under the leadership of Daniel Schwartz. When it comes to styles of leadership, it is observed that the company uses different leadership styles in different situations. For example, at the time of making quick decision, it uses autocratic style of leadership and situation require participation of employees. Then it uses democratic or participate leadership type.

However, it uses transformational leadership style in most of the situations. In this style of leadership, more emphasis is given to communication. Fast- food industry is a very challenging industry; due to which the company has to make frequent changes in the organization. Transformational leadership style not only helps in change management but also assists in responding to the frequent changes in the organization.

Furthermore, the structure of the organization is hierarchical which means that the organization is divided into three levels; they are top, middle and operational. Top level includes board of directors and managing directors; who are responsible to design the policies of the organization and to take all the important decisions of the company. Middle level consists of managers of different departments such as marketing, sales, finance and more. This level is responsible for the implementation of planned activities and to take all those decisions which are related to day-to-day activities. Further, operational level consists of supervisors and workers; who take care of the production.

Current Issues of the Organization

Fast-Food: It is one of the biggest concerns of the organization. The customers are moving to low-calorie food; due to this the sales of fast-food are declining. This is continuously increasing pressure on the organization. This is the reason that company is adding number of low-calorie food items in its menu.

Dependence on Franchisees: The company has strong dependence on its franchisees for its revenue generation which leads to number of problems like lack of participation in strategic initiatives, reduction in royalty rates and more. Further, if any franchisee goes bankrupt, then it will adversely impact the brand image of the company.

High Taxes: The company has to pay big amount of taxes which directly increase the prices of the product. This in turn affects the demands of the customers.

In addition to this, high competition is also a major concern of the organization. Starbucks, Yum, McDonalds and Wendy’s are the major competitors of the company.

Overall, it can be said that the company is trying hard to remain competitive in the market. For this, it is not only focusing on its products and services but also increasing the expenditure on marketing and opening its own restaurants to avoid the issues of franchisees.

References

Burger King menu (2015). Retrieved from