Hungry Jack's

"Hungry Jack" redirects here. For the lake in Minnesota, see Hungry Jack Lake.
Hungry Jack's
Wholly owned Subsidiary
Master franchisee of Burger King in Australia
Industry Restaurants
Genre Fast food
Founded 1971 (1971) in
Perth, Western Australia
Founder Jack Cowin
(Hungry Jack's)
James McLamore and David Edgerton
(Burger King)
Headquarters Osborne Park, Western Australia
Products Hamburgers, Chicken products, Salads, French fries, Onion rings, Breakfast and Hot and Cold Beverages, Kids' meals, Desserts[1]
Revenue Decrease A$1.043 billion (2010)
Increase A$538 million (2010)
Decrease A$246.5 million (2010)
Total equity Increase A$1.289 billion (2010)
Number of employees
 15,000 (2010)
Parent Competitive Foods Australia
Slogan The burgers are better at Hungry Jack's
Website www.hungryjacks.com.au

Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd is the exclusive Australian master fast food franchise of Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia. As the master franchise for the continent, the company is responsible for licensing new operators, opening its own stores and performing standards oversight of franchised locations in that country. With over 390 locations across Australia, Hungry Jack's is the second largest franchise of Burger King in the world (second to Carrols Corporation).

Corporate profile

History of "Burger King" in Australia

A Hungry Jack's restaurant in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

When Burger King moved to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a takeaway food shop in Adelaide.[2] As a result, Burger King provided the Australian franchisee, Jack Cowin, with a list of possible alternative names derived from pre-existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and its then corporate parent Pillsbury that could be used to name the Australian restaurants. Cowin selected the "Hungry Jack" brand name, one of Pillsbury's U.S. pancake mixture products, and slightly changed the name to a possessive form by adding an apostrophe and "s" to form the new name "Hungry Jack's".[3] The first Australian franchise of Burger King Corporation was established in Innaloo, Perth on 18 April 1971, under the auspices of Cowin's new company Hungry Jack's Pty, Limited.[4] By the end of its first decade of operation, Hungry Jack's had expanded to 26 stores in three states. In October 1981, the company opened its first New South Wales store in Sydney's CBD on the corner of Liverpool and George Street. In 1986, the chain entered Victoria by purchasing 11 stores from the ailing Wendy's Hamburger chain, later converting them to Hungry Jack's.[5]

1996–2001 — legal proceedings

A Hungry Jack's outlet within Melbourne Airport T2.

In 1991, Hungry Jack's Pty Limited renewed its franchise agreement with Burger King Corporation which allowed the Hungry Jack's to license third party franchisee; however, one of the conditions of the agreement was that Hungry Jack's had to open a certain number of stores every year for the term of the contract. In 1996, shortly after the Australian trademark on the Burger King name lapsed, Burger King Corporation made a claim that Hungry Jack's had violated the conditions of the renewed franchise agreement by failing to expand the chain at the rate defined in the contract and sought to terminate the agreement. Under the aegis of this claim, Burger King Corporation in partnership with Royal Dutch Shell's Australian division Shell Company of Australia Ltd., began to open its own stores in 1997 beginning in Sydney and throughout the Australian regions of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania.[6][7][8][9] In addition, Burger King sought to limit HJ's ability to open new locations in the country, whether they were corporate locations or third-party licensees.[10]

As a result of Burger King's actions, Hungry Jack's owner Jack Cowin and his company Competitive Foods Australia, began legal proceedings in 2001 against the Burger King Corporation, claiming Burger King Corporation had violated the conditions of the master franchising agreement and was in breach of the contract. The Supreme Court of New South Wales agreed with Cowin and determined that Burger King had violated the terms of the contract and awarded Hungry Jack's A$46.9 million (US$41.6 million in 2001).[11] In its decision, the Court said that Burger King sought to engineer a default of the franchise agreement so that the company could limit the number of new Hungry Jack’s branded restaurants and ultimately claim the Australian market as its own, which was a purpose that was extraneous to the agreement.[10][12] The case introduced the American legal concept of good faith negotiations into the Australian legal system, which until the time of the verdict had been rarely used in the Australian court systems.[13][14]

2002 to the present day

A Hungry Jack's/Coles Express/Shell outlet in Elizabeth Street, Hobart. From 1997 until it was rebranded in 2003 this was Hobart's first and only Burger King-branded outlet, and was the first Burger King in Australia to be located outside an airport.[9]

After Burger King Corporation lost the case, it decided to terminate its operations in the country and in July 2002 the company transferred its assets to its New Zealand franchise group, Trans-Pacific Foods (TPF).[15][16] The terms of the sale had TPF assume oversight of the Burger King franchises in the region as the Burger King brand's master franchisee.[17] Trans-Pacific Foods administered the chain's 81 locations until September 2003 when the new management team of Burger King Corporation reached an agreement with Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd to re-brand the existing Burger King locations to Hungry Jack's and make Hungry Jack's Pty the sole master franchisee of both brands. An additional part of the agreement required Burger King Corporation to provide administrative and advertising support as to ensure a common marketing scheme for the company and its products.[18] Trans-Pacific Foods transferred its control of the Burger King franchises to Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd, which subsequently renamed the remaining Burger King locations as "Hungry Jack's," joining the other 210 outlets at the time.[3][7]

Many new Hungry Jack's restaurants have a 1950s theme. Music from this era may be played within the restaurant (occasionally through a '50s-style jukebox) with associated contemporary pictures and memorabilia utilized as part of the no decor. In the larger sit-down style restaurants, the seats and tables are laid out in a 1950s diner style.

In the 2009–2010 financial year, Competitive Foods Australia reported an after-tax profit of $32.1 million on sales of $1.043 billion.[19]

In late 2011, it was announced that Hungry Jack's will undergo a complete overhaul of its menus, restaurants, staff uniforms and advertising. The 'Burgers are Better' slogan has been replaced with 'Hungry Jack's makes it better'. The current '70s style restaurants will be renovated, new Asian styled meals and Organic beef options have been added to the menu and a new website and mobile application have been created. The full redesign is expected to be completed by the end of the 2013 financial year.[20]

Products

Main article: Burger King products
A Hungry Jack's Bacon Deluxe combo meal, a long-standing menu option unique to the Australian market.

Hungry Jack's products include burgers (meat and vegetarian options), chicken, french fries, onion rings, salads, drinks (hot and cold beverages) kid meals and desserts, as well as a full breakfast menu. The only Burger King trademarks that are sold at Hungry Jack's are the Whopper and the TenderCrisp and TenderGrill sandwiches. All other Burger King products go by more generic naming schemes, such as "Hamburger", "Veggie Burger", or "Grilled Chicken Burger".[21][22]

Hungry Jack's breakfast menu, introduced in late 2005 in three states (Queensland, Western Australia, and Northern Territory) and the other states the following year in 2006, bears little resemblance to Burger King's US breakfast menu. The main breakfast sandwich is served on either an English muffin and a wrap (breakfast burrito) instead of a croissant; the hash browns are served as patties as opposed to Tater Tots and the restaurant features pancakes.[21][22] Hungry Jack's now includes new healthier option salad line and deli style baguettes.

Advertising

Hungry Jack's in Australia has trademarked the new slogan, 'Oh Yeah', which was featured in television commercials that ran late 2005/early 2006. While Burger King has updated its logo to the "blue crescent" design in all other markets from 1999, the Hungry Jack's logo is still based on the previous 1996 revised Burger King bun-halves logo, employing the simpler bun-and-filling motif.[24]

Hungry Jack's Kids Club

Hungry Jack's Kid's Club mascots are unique to the Australian franchisee, as opposed to other international locations that use one of the two existing BK kid's mascots, the Burger King Kids' Club or the Honbatz. HJ does have a Kid's Club program similar to the US offering, offering themed birthday parties at its restaurants along with its Kid's Club Meals. One other noticeable difference between the HJ and BK children's programs is the placement of the apostrophe in the name: HJ places it before the "s" while BK places it after.

Sponsorship

Hungry Jack's retains strong links with Perth: the city's first team in the Australian Football League, the West Coast Eagles, have been sponsored by Hungry Jack's since their entry into the league in 1987.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hungry Jack's Menu".
  2. ↑ Andrew Terry; Heatrher Forrest (2008). "Where's the Beef? Why Burger King Is Hungry Jack's in Australia and Other Complications in Building a Global Franchise Brand". Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business, 2008 28 (2): 171–214. ISSN 0196-3228.
  3. 1 2 AP Wire (2 June 2003). "Burger King slips into Hungry Jack's uniform". the Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-03-08. Burger King Corp's new management said on Friday it was ceding the Australian market to the Hungry Jack's brand, dissolving a convoluted relationship that at one time went to court in a franchising dispute.
  4. ↑ Restaurant Business (30 May 2003). "Burger King Re-flags Australian Stores". AllBusiness.com. Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2007-09-29. Mr Cowin bought the Australian franchise for Burger King from the chain's then-owner, Pillsbury Co. But because the Burger King name was already registered in the country, Cowin used a Pillsbury pancake-mix brand, Hungry Jack, for his stores."; "Hungry Jack's was BK's original franchisee in Australia, but the company could not use the Burger King name at the time because it was already trademarked.
  5. ↑ "Hungry Jack's: About Us". Hungry Jack's Online. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Alina Matas (11 November 1999). "Burger King Hit With Whopper ($44.6 Million) Of A Judgment". Zargo Einhorn Salkowski & Brito. P.A. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  7. 1 2 "In Australia, Burger King to become 'Hungry Jack's'". South Florida Business Journal,. 30 May 2003. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  8. ↑ BK press release (6 November 1998). "Burger King Corporation Announces The Opening Of The Company's 10,000th Restaurant". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2008-03-08. Burger King Corporation announced today that it is opening its 10,000th restaurant in Australia on Saturday, November 7, a major milestone in the fast-food giant's development plans.
  9. 1 2 Caples, John (8 July 1999). "Burger King to head North". The Examiner. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  10. 1 2 Rani Mina. "A Franchiser’s Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing". Findlaw Australia. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  11. ↑ [2001] NSWCA 187
  12. ↑ [2001] HCATrans S157/1
  13. ↑ "Importing into Australian law the US notion of good faith in contract-related dealings". Allens Arthur Robinson. June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-24. Now, it seems that the Courts are using these concepts in commercial disputes in New South Wales. An unreported judgment late last year in Hungry Jack's v Burger King indicates that the notion of good faith may well be implied between the parties in some contractual disputes.
  14. ↑ Rani Mina (Corrs Chambers Westgarth) (March 2002). "A Franchiser’s Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing". Findlaw (Australia). Retrieved 2008-06-01. In contrast, it was necessary to imply this duty [good faith] in the Burger King case to give business efficacy to the agreement because the agreement gave Burger King a discretionary power to terminate the agreement on the basis of operational and financial grounds that involved subjective considerations. Burger King could terminate the agreement for the slightest breach based on a subjective evaluation of the circumstances if it were not obliged to act in good faith.
  15. ↑ Olympic Software press release (May 2006). "Burger King all fired up about Microsoft Great Plains Professional" (Press release). iStart. Retrieved 2008-07-27. TPF Restaurants manages the New Zealand Burger King franchise. Established in New Zealand in 1994, the company now has 65 restaurants in New Zealand and a growing operation in Australia.
  16. ↑ Jackson, Allison (25 April 2002). "Jack not so hungry for Burger King". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  17. ↑ BK Press release (24 April 2002). "Burger King Corporation Announces New Agreement Creating A Growth Platform For The Burger King(R) Brand In Australia" (Press release). PRNewswire. Retrieved 2008-07-27. The agreement also includes servicing the 21 existing BURGER KING franchisees, all new franchisees operating under the BURGER KING brand and the responsibility for growth and development of the brand in Australia
  18. ↑ The Gale Group (9 June 2003). "Hungry Jack's to replace BK brand in Australia". Nations Restaurant News. Retrieved 2008-03-08. "Consolidation means more money for marketing and will create a powerful, single brand with an increased focus on operations excellence that should add to growth in profitability", Brad Blum, chief executive of Miami-based Burger King, said.
  19. ↑ Sonti, Chalpat (13 December 2010). "The burgers sell better at Hungry Jack's". WAToday.com. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  20. 1 2 Klein, Nathan (19 October 2011). "Hungry Jack's offers health info menu boards, replaces 'burgers are better' slogan". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Hungry Jack's menu". Retrieved 10 Mar 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Burger King's US menu". Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  23. ↑ Casey, Marcus (23 January 2013). "The old slogan is better at Hungry Jack's". mUmBRELLA. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  24. ↑ "Renelt Belic Design: Hungry Jack's Logo". Renelt Belic Design. Retrieved 28 July 2012.

External links

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