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Article: Local franchisee's recipe for change drives Burger King's growth
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- June 28, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2005 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Burger King -- arch-rival of the Golden Arches -- is taking a bite
out of Chicago.
With the help of Heartland Food Corp., its biggest Chicago
franchisee, Burger King is seeing sales surge in McDonald's backyard.
To be sure, Miami-based Burger King trails Oak Brook-based McDonald's
in sales by a wide margin. But the long-troubled fast-food chain is
staging a comeback.
"We've had incredible success, not just dollars success, but
attitude change," said Jeff Rogers, 57, president and chief executive
of Heartland, which owns 220 Burger Kings, including 110 in the
Chicago area.
Less than three years ago, the company that had been Chicago's
biggest operator of Burger Kings went bankrupt, victim to ...