Who does not know Mc Donald’s and Burger King, the leading fast food giants. Like Pepsico and Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Burger King are one of the great rivals of the time. Both companies have significant share in the market and give a tough fight to each other.
The foodies have made these two brands well known fast food brands all over the world. With the increasing trend of fast foods, these two among others have seen a tremendous growth in their sales and margins.
Let’s get insight into these two rivalries and their burger war.
History
Mc Donald’s
Mcdonald’s was started in 1940 almost 8 decades before. The company was founded by two brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald, as a fast food restaurant offering varieties of food. The operational format was named as Speedee Service System. The company is well known for its faster service. After gaining success in the business the two of them started to franchise.
But, it was not just the end of Mc Donald’s story. Just when the company started a franchise program the story took a turning point.
A man named Ray Kroc, one of the travelling salesmen, reached these two brothers. He, looking at the success of the business, became the franchise agent of Mc Donald’s. Soon, Ray started on his own and started Mc Donald’s system in 1955. He opened the franchise for the first time in 1961. The company entered India in 1996 as a joint venture between Oakbrook and other local partners.
Burger King
Started in 1953, Instant Burger King was introduced after being fascinated by the success of McDonald’s.. Before that McDonald’s was the sole fast food chain to operate at that vast level. Instant Burger King was founded by Keith J. Kramer and Matthew Burns. The word instant has a relevance as the company used Insta machines that time.
But as every story has a turning point, Instant Burger King does also have. In 1959, when the business was not so smooth and going through a downtrend, Instant Burger King was sold to Jamed McLamore and David R Edgerton. The name was then changed to Burger King eliminating the word “Instant”. After some great expansion they sold the company to Pillsbury in just 8 years of acquisition in 1967.
Burger King entered the Indian Market in 2014, it was the second largest burger chain to enter in India.
The Growth timeline
Mc Donald’s
The salesman Ray found that the potential in Mc Donald’s business is in the franchises. He gradually started training facilities for the franchise to get them trained about the Mc Donald’s business and operations. It was known as the Hamburger University. In the few years, Ray started adding more values and making significant changes in the business to expand it. Ray changed the logo of the brand. Ray took over Mc Donald’s in the year….. And had made the company a
The Company came up with its IPO in 1965, and gradually the business took expansion. Within almost three years of publicly trading, the company has started operating in more than 110+ nations and has opened more than 30000 Mc Donald’s outlets.
Burger King
After acquiring the business, Pillsbury was unable to make the business a well known fast food brand and was facing an issue while franchising the brand. He approached one of Mc Donald’s experts to help him in the franchise program. This led to immediate change in the company’s model and showed significant growth.
But the business faced some obstacles, and the company was acquired by Grand Metropolitan in 1988. After a few years, the brand was again sold and acquired by other companies. At the end, TPG Group and 3G Capital acquired the brand.
Rivalry Comparison
On the basis of some key points, let’s compare these two fast food giants.
- Market value or brand value
- Products
- Outlets
- Financials
Market Value
Mc Donald’s, one of the leading fast food chain brands all over the world, has a Market capitalization of $205 billion as of September 2023. The company has doubled its market cap in less than ten years. Mc Donald’s is listed on US stock exchange Nasdaq.
On the other hand Burger King, has brand value of around
$7.1 billion globally.
Products
- Burger
Both the company offers burgers as fast food brands yet in comparison both have their own stuffing and ingredients used. In price Mc Donald’s burger is slightly charged higher prices than Burger King.
- Fries
Both the company offers French fries but offers different tastes and shapes. Burger King has tried different shapes of the fries in the past.
In comparison of outlets in India, Mc Donald’s has 500+ stores as reported in march 2023, whereas its rival, Burger King has 390+ stores in the same period. In Delhi alone the brands Mc Donald’s and Burger King have 79 and 84 stores respectively.
Financials
McDonald’s has reported revenue of $ 24.19B in 2023, which is 4% higher than the previous year revenue. Over the years the company has seen an increasing trend in its revenue.Company has reported earnings of $9.5+ billions in 2023.
Burger King has annual revenue of 1.85+ billion. Though both the rivals are long way different in comparison yet they both are the top rivals in the fast food chain.
Conclusion
Though Mc Donald’s being an older brand and larger than Burger King in terms of Market, revenue and other parameters, both the brands have tough competition to each other in fast food restaurants. Over the years both have seen growth in terms of revenue, stores, and customer base.
Even though the market has seen many other fast food chain restaurant brands enter the industry, these two rivalries are leading the market.
Disclaimer: This article is to provide you insight of the two fast food chain rivals. We do not promote any of the products or brand in this article.
