If you’ve ever asked why is Burger King called Burger King rather than something closer to its original name, the short answer is: it wasn’t always called Burger King at all. The chain started life under a different, clunkier name, and a change of ownership is the real reason “Insta” disappeared.
This post walks through exactly what happened, in order — the original Jacksonville restaurant, the machine it was built around, and the Miami franchisees who eventually took over and renamed it.
The Original Name: Insta-Burger King (1953)
The business that eventually became Burger King started in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1953, under the name Insta-Burger King. It was founded by Keith J. Kramer and his relative Matthew Burns, and the name wasn’t a marketing flourish — it described the restaurant’s whole concept. Understanding this starting point is the first step to answering why is Burger King called Burger King rather than something closer to that original name.
The Insta-Broiler Machine That Started It All
Kramer and Burns had bought the rights to a piece of equipment called the Insta-Broiler: a conveyor-style oven that could cook burgers quickly and consistently while toasting the buns at the same time. It was genuinely innovative for the era, and it was central enough to the business that every new franchise was required to install one. That’s where “Insta” in the name came from — not a personality or a founder’s name, just the machine the whole concept was built around.But if you’re wondering why is Burger King called Burger King, the answer goes beyond the original Insta-Burger King name and the equipment that helped launch the business.
Miami, 1954: A Second Team Enters the Story
As Kramer and Burns franchised the Insta-Burger King concept, two Miami-based restaurateurs, James McLamore and David Edgerton, licensed the format and opened their own location in Miami in December 1954. McLamore and Edgerton weren’t just franchisees for long — they reworked the format, refined the kitchen setup, and eventually introduced the Whopper in 1957, which became the brand’s signature product.Their changes would eventually help shape the answer to the question, “why is Burger King called Burger King?” as the company moved away from its original Insta-Burger King identity.
Why the Company Nearly Failed
The original Insta-Burger King company ran into financial difficulty as it expanded through franchising in the 1950s — the root cause behind the answer to why is Burger King called Burger King today, rather than still carrying its original name. Reports vary slightly on the specifics, but the consensus across sources is that the Insta-Broiler equipment proved less reliable at scale than hoped, and the parent company struggled financially while its Miami franchisees were thriving. It’s a useful reminder of how far the brand has come since — you can see exactly what survived that shaky start on the full Burger King menu with prices today.
The Buyout and the New Name
McLamore and Edgerton bought out the struggling parent company — most sources place this in 1959, though the exact year the “Insta” name was dropped nationally varies by source, with some accounts pointing to 1957 (around the time the Whopper launched) and others to the early 1960s, when McLamore secured the national rights to operate simply as “Burger King”. The table below lays out the sequence as consistently as the available sources allow.
Whichever exact year you go with, the underlying story is the same: the founders of the original Insta-Burger King struggled to keep the business afloat, and the Miami team that had licensed their format ended up taking full ownership and simplifying the name in the process.
So, Why “Burger King” and Not “Insta-Burger King”?
Put simply: once McLamore and Edgerton owned the company outright, there was no longer a reason to keep a name built around a specific piece of kitchen equipment — especially one that hadn’t proven fully reliable. “Burger King” was shorter, easier to say, and described the product rather than the machine behind it. It’s a fairly common pattern in branding history: the practical, feature-based name of the earliest version gets replaced once new owners want something punchier and more memorable. Anyone asking why is Burger King called Burger King today is really asking about that ownership change, more than any single rebrand decision.
For a look at what’s actually on the menu today, rather than how the name came about, you can explore the full UK menu on this site.
FAQs | Why is burger king called burger king
Was Burger King always called Burger King?
No — this is really the whole answer to why is Burger King called Burger King rather than something else. It started in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, named after the Insta-Broiler cooking equipment the original restaurants used. The name was simplified to Burger King after new owners took over the company.
Who renamed it to Burger King?
James McLamore and David Edgerton, two Miami-based franchisees who took over the struggling original company and simplified the name as part of a wider revamp of the business.
What was the Insta-Broiler?
A conveyor-style cooking machine that could grill burgers quickly and toast buns at the same time. It gave the original restaurant its name, but proved less reliable as the business scaled up through franchising.
When exactly did the name change happen?
Sources vary — some point to 1957, around the launch of the Whopper, while others place the full national switch to “Burger King” a few years later, in the early 1960s. The buyout of the original company itself is most commonly dated to 1959.
Final Thoughts | Why is burger king called burger king
The short version of why Burger King isn’t called Insta-Burger King today, and the fullest answer to why is Burger King called Burger King at all: the original company built its name around a piece of cooking equipment, ran into financial trouble, and was bought out by the Miami franchisees who’d go on to build the brand people recognise now. Once they owned it outright, keeping a name tied to an unreliable machine no longer made sense — so “Insta” quietly disappeared, and Burger King was what remained.