You cannot talk about fast food companies in the US and even worldwide without mentioning McDonald’s. When you mention McDonald, burger king will be tailing right behind it. The two fast food companies were founded around the same time – 14 years apart, though.
After many decades of survival, the rival between McDonald’s and burger king is worth assessing—Mcdonald’s vs burger king. We will discuss their history, popularity, annual Revenue, and how they`ve managed to remain relevant for several years.
The History Of McDonald
McDonald’s was founded in San Bernardino, California, by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald. The company started in 1940 with both brothers offering a wide variety of fast food menus.
Eight years later, the brother developed limited menus of drinks, pies, chips, and hamburgers. The hamburgers were delivered swiftly on request because they usually pre cooked them and kept them heated using the heat lamps.
The limited menu business scheme proved to be a great idea for early McDonald’s. They recorded a tremendous increase in sales. They were able to offer a more simplified, quick, and efficient service delivery such that they gained the name Speedee Service System.
Precooking the hamburgers and delivering them swiftly on request helped them to gain customers’ trust. This enabled them to reduce the operational cost of running the restaurant and the price of the hamburgers. McDonald’s hamburgers were cheaper compared to their competitors at the time.
After years of success, the two McDonald brothers entertained the idea of franchising the restaurant. They’ve already gained a name and a large audience of loyal customers. The perfect moment came when Ray Kroc, a traveling salesman, visited the restaurant and noticed their immersed success.
Ray Kros became a franchise agent for the early McDonald brothers in 1955 and later bought the company from them in 1961.
The History Of Burger King
Fourteen years after McDonald’s was founded and was doing successfully well, Burger King came into the picture. Burger King was founded in Miami, Fluoride, in the United state in 1954. The two founders, Keith J. Kramer and Mathew Burns, were inspired by the success of McDonald’s.
They decided to purchase a machine called Insta-Broiler which enables them to precook their burgers just like McDonald’s. They opened the first store and named it Instant Burger King. The brand started its franchise program immediately after it was established in 1954, beating McDonald’s to enter the franchise race.
The Instant Burger King experienced signs of glitches in its early years around 1959, such that it was sold to James McLamore and David R. Edgerton.
Both of them were franchisees of Instant Burger King at the time and already knew how the business worked. They both renamed the company, Burger King.
The new Burger King was expanded to 250 locations across the United state before they sold it in 1967.
McDonald’s VS Burger King Comparison
Both companies, McDonald’s and Burger King, have survived many decades and never waiver from serving fast food to feed the world population. We will use some yardsticks such as popularity, most famous burgers, and annual income to compare both companies.
Popularity
McDonald’s is currently found in more than 100 countries around the world, serving more than 70 million customers daily. The United States alone can boost more than 13514 McDonald’s restaurants scattered across its 54 states.
McDonald’s restaurants are usually owned by business owners in various countries worldwide. McDonald’s has more than 38 000 restaurants in multiple locations around the world.
Burger King has restaurants in more than 18,700 locations worldwide. Burger King has a lesser number of restaurants in the United States compared to McDonald’s. Almost 100 percent of Burger King restaurants are owned and managed by independent business owners.
Most Popular Item On The Menu
Both Burger King and McDonald’s have distinct menus. The two companies offer a diverse array of burgers, desserts, salads, beverages, and coffee.
McDonald’s also has healthier options on its menu, contributing to its unwavering popularity. Checking through the Burger King menu a healthy-conscious individual may be overwhelmed by the Burger King menu due to the unavailability of these healthy choices that McDonald’s offers.
The most iconic and popular McDonald’s product is the Big Mac, while Burger King can also boost its Whopper sandwich. Both products are the best-selling fast food of all time for both companies. Burger King sold a total of 1.7 billion Whopper sandwiches in 2002—the same goes for McDonald’s in 2017.
McDonald’s Big Mac and Burger King Whooper burgers are both widely accepted internationally. However, the overall sales of these burgers are higher in the United States than in any other part of the world.
Customer Service Comparison
Burger King offers swift drive-thru services and superior customer service than its rival. Walking through the resturant, you feel welcome due to how the crew will attend to you. This may not be true in all Burger King restaurants, but on average, they have good customer service.
McDonald’s also exudes a welcoming aura when you enter its restaurants but not as much as Burger King. Burger King also has innovative marketing departments that are always ready to attend to customers’ complaints on social media.
McDonald’s has a total of 6889 reviews on trust pilot, with 76% of these reviews being 1 star. A large percentage of the reviews were due to poor service delivery, especially when ordering food through the McDonald’s app.
We also checked the trust pilot review for Burger King. The company has 2543 reviews with 75% 1-stars. A large percentage of Burger King reviews boils down to high prices for their products and longer delivery times.
Annual Income comparisons
McDonald’s has the highest market cap compared to Burger King. McDonald’s has a market capitalization of $214.67 billion as of July 2023. The company boosted higher annual revenue of $23,182 billion with 40,275 restaurants worldwide. McDonald hired more than 1.9 billion people and topped the list of the highest employers of labor in the world in 2015.
Burger King is the 5th most popular fast food company in the world based on its total number of restaurants worldwide. Burger King restaurants can be found in 19,257 locations worldwide. The company has an annual revenue of $23.4 as of 2021.
The Franchises Scheme
McDonald started selling the right to operate McDonald’s restaurants 15 years after it was founded. Since then, 93% of McDonald’s restaurants are owned and managed by business owners in different countries worldwide. The initial investment required to own the right to operate McDonald’s restaurants falls between $1.3 – 2.3 million with an initial charge of $45,000.
Burger King started the franchising scheme immediately after it was founded. Almost 100% of Burger King restaurants are owned and operated by business owners in different countries. Excluding the real estate acquisition or improvement Burger King’s initial investment falls between $333,100 and 3.4 million. The company also requests an initial franchise fee of $50,000.