You can’t fix a problem without admitting you have one.
Restaurant Brands International’s Burger King has done exactly that.
Burger King U.S. President Tom Curtis admitted that even he had lost his fandom of the restaurant chain. “Then I watched the brand as a non-guest, and I didn’t see any changes in the restaurant. So I was never inspired to go back for maybe 15 years,” he told Entrepreneur.
And yet, he also saw something else: People still wanted to love Burger King. “The brand had gotten old, tired, irrelevant,” he said. “But there was a latent love and nostalgia around the brand. People wanted to return to it. They just needed a reason.”
Burger King has been working on giving them that reason since launching its “Reclaim the Flame” program in 2022. It has also embraced the idea that, in addition to remodeling restaurants, it needed to address its food.
Burger King made major in-store changes
When “Reclaim the Flame” launched, Burger King had fallen below Wendy’s in systemwide sales, making it the number-three player with McDonald’s at the top of the burger space.
The company explained its progress in executing that program during its second-quarter earnings call.
“This plan includes investing up to $700 million through year-end 2028, comprised of advertising and digital investments and high-quality remodels and the ‘Royal Reset,’ which includes relocations, restaurant technology, kitchen equipment, and building enhancements,” the company shared.
As of June 30, 2026, Restaurant Brands International, Burger King’s parent company, has funded $194 million out of up to $550 million planned toward the Royal Reset investments.
CEO Joshua Kobza acknowledged that there’s a lot of work left to do.
“As much as we’ve made progress on image, we still have a lot of restaurants out there that aren’t modern image. So I think we still have a few years left of getting to that point we’ve all talked about, where almost every Burger King across America is a new, modern Burger King,” he said during the second-quarter earnings call.
Burger King fixes its food
Burger King’s current television commercials include ads where it admits that its chicken nuggets weren’t good enough. Kobza talked about the process of fixing them during Barclays 19th Annual Global Consumer Staples Conference on Sept. 9.
“We upgraded the quality of the product. It’s juicier, full white meat chicken. We improved the crispiness of the coating on the nugget,” he said.
The chain, however, did not stop at fixing the nugget.
“And also, importantly, everybody who loves nuggets knows that nuggets go well with sauces. So we’ve been on a journey to upgrade our sauces. It’s actually been a project that’s been going on for a few years,” Kobza added.
The CEO admitted that work remains.
“I still think there’s a long way to go. Burger King has improved, but it can be much, much better. We have a whole kind of calendar for a couple of years of further things that we want to do to elevate the menu… and that will take us a little bit of time to get through,” he shared.
Burger King is back to number two
Burger King is once again the second-largest burger chain in the U.S. by systemwide sales, according to CNBC.
Kobza talked about the chain’s performance during the Q2 earnings call.
“Burger King U.S. was a standout performer this quarter,” he said. “…Through the first half of 2026, we’ve delivered above algorithm same-store sales of 3.5% and organic adjusted operating income growth of 8.5%, along with nearly 14% adjusted EPS growth.”
Passing Wendy’s to sit behind McDonald’s is a milestone in Burger King’s comeback.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that the company deserves credit for patience and execution.
“Burger King’s turnaround is a good reminder that there usually isn’t one magic promotion that fixes a restaurant chain. They’ve been putting money into the stores, improving operations, fixing the menu and getting franchisees healthier,” he told TheStreet.
Making an impact, he added, takes time.
“Eventually the customer notices. The growth in same-store sales tells you they’re not just getting existing customers to spend more. They’re giving people a reason to consider Burger King again,” he said.
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