BSB6201 – Operations Management – Level 6

Burger King operation

Group Report

Amal Alsaeed – 201000283

Hussain Ali – 20900541

Qassim Khalil – 20090070

Zahra Alqattan - 201000388

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Table of Contents

1.0Introduction .........................................................................................................3
2.0Findings ...............................................................................................................3
2.1 Burger King overview ........................................................................................3
2.2 Importance of product design to companies........................................................5
2.2.1 Other Models ...................................................................................................6
2.3 Stages of new design ............................................................................................7
2.3.1 Concept Generation .......................................................................................7
2.3.2 Screening ......................................................................................................8
2.3.3 Preliminary design: ........................................................................................9
2.3.4 Evaluation and improvement Matrix .............................................................. 10
2.3.5 Prototyping and Final Design......................................................................... 10
2.4 Applying NPD Procedure to Burger King ............................................................ 11
2.4.1 Concept Generation ..................................................................................... 11
2.4.2 Screening .................................................................................................... 11
2.4.3 Preliminary Design ....................................................................................... 15
2.4.4 Evaluation and Improvement ........................................................................ 16
2.4.5 Prototyping and Final Design......................................................................... 21
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 21
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 22

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1.0Introduction
The purpose of this report is to introduce a new product development procedure for the
management of Burger King, as they need to be innovative if they want to be ahead in the
fast food industry because the competition in it is vicious. Looking at the market gap is as
important as looking at the customers' demands in this industry because customers
determine your profitability and popularity.

2.0Findings
2.1 Burger King overview
Burger King has been founded in the beginning of the 50's by James McLamore and David
Edgerton. The idea was to provide great burgers considering the quality of their ingredients
and the beef they use. Few years later, Burger King introduced a new sign for the restaurant.
After the mid of 50's, BK introduced the Original Whopper Sandwiches. At the end of the
50's, Burger King started franchising the restaurant all over The United States (Burger King
Corporate office, 2013). In 1963, Burger King started franchising outside the US in Puerto
Rico. Burger King’s operation is based on the quality of their food and how do they choose
the ingredients to make good meals for their customers. The management of Burger King is
franchising their restaurant all over the World and they make sure that they are providing
the same quality and the same taste of sandwiches around the globe (Burger King Corporate
office, 2013). They standardized their services and their logo where they can be recognized
easily. In 2009, 3G Capital bought Burger King and made it a private held company. The
market that Burger King operates in is multi-national with different cultures, competing with
other fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Hardees and Wendy’s.

Burger King has a big variety of meals where they have divided their menu into three
categories

Breakfast menu Lunch & Dinner Menu Snacks

Combo meals Combo meals Salads & Wraps

Sandwiches & Burritos Fire-Grilled Burgers & Chicken Strips & Nuggets
Sandwiches
Oatmeal, sweet & sides Fish & Chicken Sides

BK Value Kids Meal Oatmeal

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Drinks & Coffee Chicken Strips & Desserts

Nuggets
Kids Meal Dessert Dinks & Coffee
Source : (Burger KING Corporate office, 2013)

Breakfast menu has a variety of choices where there are combo meals with different choices
like eggs, ham, cheese, croissant, biscuit and muffins. It is provided with the option of drinks
(Soft drinks and Coffee). For customers who have children, there is menu for their kids as
well. Lunch and Dinner menus get the higher number of requests everyday, which led BK to
provide more options and different sizes of sandwiches. There are combo meals including
meat, ham and chicken as well as grilled chicken meals. Snacks menu is for people who are
looking for small and really quick meals every day. This type of menu includes a selection of
soft drinks, salads, nuggets and desserts. The goal of Burger King is to offer meals with
reasonable prices, quick services and to make sure the food is clean. Burger King also has
signature recipe with their ingredients. The primary market of BK is adults from 18-34 years
old and the secondary market is kids ranging from 7-17 years old (Rodriguez, n.d.).

Many corporations, which Burger King is one of them, are setting up a stakeholder
orientation due to the ethical matters and social responsibility which can influence their
success and existence for a long, long period of time. However, stakeholders can be
identified as a group of people that have a stake in some parts of an organization’s products
and services. For instance, as Burger King is a massive corporation in the fast-food segment,

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it has stakeholders within the corporation such as the employees and its management as
well. Burger king’s external stakeholders, that the picture above displays, are the customers,
suppliers and government agencies which they have a claim in merchandise, operations
markets and so on (Mayr’s Organizational Management, 2013).

2.2 Importance of product design to companies

Product design has become the tool that companies can manipulate their competitors with.
Difference in appearance is fundamental if the company wants to stand out (Moré, 2010). As
companies want their new products to increase their sales revenue, product design has
become a key strategic activity that needs to be developed and followed (Vonderembse,
d.n.). When companies introduce a unique product that is desired by customers, it gives
them the opportunity to charge more for it (Moré, 2010). The reason why product design
exists is to generate products that can compete with others in terms of quality, appearance,
performance, service life and price (Vonderembse, d.n.). Product design is becoming a
critical point for companies that need to satisfy customers who keep on demanding variety
of products (Vonderembse, d.n.). Confusion, delays and problems in product design are
becoming life threatening for companies because customers can easily switch from one
brand to another nowadays as there is a variety of high quality replacements (Vonderembse,
d.n.).

Upon research it was found out that product design is important because:

 Product design leads to organizational success as it is vital to remain competitive in

the market (Sawhney & Prahalad, 2010). As mentioned above customers are shifting
to other products easily because of the huge variety that exist.
 Product design outlines the product quality (Vonderembse, d.n.). The product must
be fit for its purpose and must function as it is expected which will increase the
product reliability because customers make their purchase decision according to a
list of factors including the design of the product itself that reflects the brand image.
 Product design mirrors the company response to customer's feedbacks,
recommendations and complaints. For example nowadays customers became more
concern with environmental issues and whether the product harms the environment

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or not (Vonderembse, d.n.). That's the main reason why companies started to think
about recyclable materials.
 Product design decreases the production life cycle of the product (Campbell & Hale,
2007). In this way engineers will have full understanding of the strategy that needs
to be followed in order to accomplish the desired design and in the same time the
company will confirm its presence in the market.

2.2.1 Other Models

There are a lot of models to follow such as The Waterfall Model that includes 7 stages
starting of requirements that identify the problem in the product and it ends with
maintenance (Eppic, n.d.). Also The Stage Gate Model adapted from Cooper in 1986 which
contain 5 stages starting with primary research and ending with full production and market
launch (Eppic, n.d.). The used Model is The Five Stages Model, it has five stages that will be

explained in details below.

The Waterfall Model

http://eppic.biz/2012/03/29/eppic-pi-tool-series-new-product-development-npd-models/

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The Stage Gate Model

http://eppic.biz/2012/03/29/eppic-pi-tool-series-new-product-development-npd-models/

The Five Stages Model

http://moodle.polytechnic.bh/moodle/course/view.php?id=320

2.3 Stages of new design

2.3.1 Concept Generation

Generating multiple ideas help businesses to have a full understanding of opportunities,
requirements and problems that might occur. It is useful to generate information from all
sources available which includes internal and external research.

External Research: any company should take a look at their competitors in the market to see
the products they have and what they could do to improve it. Also they have to look at what
the competitors are missing and produce it to be ahead in the market. In addition, it is
necessary to be aware of the customer's needs, which is done through surveys or asking for
current customers' feedback that will in return let the company provide services or products
that suit the demands which lead to maximize the profitability of the company and attract
more customers. The previous researches are types of primary research according to
Dunsmuir & Williams. Moreover, experts can be the key of growing up in the market by

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providing ideas from other cultures to implement them in the business which will help to
gain customer satisfaction and this is a type of secondary research.

Internal Research: the internal research has a big impact on work improvement. A good
example of internal research is to hold a meeting with the staff especially those who
interact with customers on a regular basis to get ideas from them that satisfy the
clients. Also to know if there are available machines and equipments that can ease
the process. All of the resources of internal research that have been mentioned
above are types of primary research ("Review of research," ).

2.3.2 Screening
This step gives the company an opportunity to recognize the ideas that can succeed in the
market which minimize the company's risks and gives them a chance to evaluate their ability
to implement the ideas. Each idea needs to be evaluated according to a set of criteria before
it gets accepted.

1. Feasibility: The company has to measure their capability of implementation of new

product, assessing the quality of human resources is a critical step for new product
implementation. Employees need to have specific set of skills that fits the skills
criteria needed for production. After looking into the employees skills, the company
has to consider the quantity of resources available for the production process. This
will help speeding up the production; as the number of staff who has the skill
needed for the production process will be available in the beginning of the process
which will not cause pressure for the HR department in recruitment of new staff
members and will not delay the production process. Added to that the company has
to look into their financial resources, reviewing previous financial statements is
important because it will help the company knowing their exact position financially.
Evaluating financial resources to see whether they can cover the production process
expenses and will not cause losses is important as well. The company also has to
bear in mind that their equipments and machines are up to date.
2. Acceptability: The company has to accept the idea and have the willingness to
proceed with the production process. In addition, customer's demands and needs
have to be taken into consideration. Examining the customer's demands is vital
because it is strongly connected to their needs. Launching products in the market

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that mirrors the customer's needs will cause customer satisfaction. Satisfying
customers is a core goal to every organization; as if the customers are satisfied it will
reflect back on the financial returns and demands on the product that will be
increasing as result.
3. Vulnerability: The possibility of errors occurring in or after the process has to be
taken into consideration; also the company has to assure its willingness to take the
risk even though there is a possibility of failure. The consequences of getting it
wrong has to be considered, actions have to be taken in the spot so the company
does not waste more money on the product if it failed.

2.3.3 Preliminary design:

This step is to create a suitable design that sells the product and to map up how the product
will include all the functions that are required for getting the final product. It is important to
create high rank design description which will represent level zero that shows the final
product. In the map design, under the product will be level one and it should includes the
components of the product and other features that are in the product itself such as
packaging, it's called level one. The second level will list up the type of components and
packaging for the products. If any of the components has any other feature or
customization, the number of levels will increase. Though, the levels of the operation
increase if the product or the service seems more complex. The main purpose for
preliminary design is (Ketchum, n.d):

1. to get the materials or components needed for making estimates the cost for the
design
2. to have a clear idea of the structural activity
3. to set up the aspects of the assembly
4. to use it as a check on the final design

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During this stage, it requires a lot of time and patience to obtain a thorough understanding
of the conceptual plan as it is not advisable to start making a design after doing a limited
analysis of it (Ketchum, n.d). The design concept can be expressed as functional block
diagrams, sketches and other outlines (Nasa Headquarters, n.d).

 Example of Functional block diagrams

2.3.4 Evaluation and improvement Matrix

It is important to make an evaluation to identify the relationship between the clients’
demands and the availability of the suppliers to provide the products or services that are
required by the customers. Added to that, the matrix aims to recognize the evaluation and
development for specific type of services or products in the market. The importance of the
matrix is to prioritize and specify the choices for improvement by the organization. The
WHAT'S section represents the customers’ needs from the business itself, while the business
should cover all of the customer's needs by providing specific type of actions to be taken
which are clearly sits in The HOW'S section of the matrix. Moreover, it is vital to know its
importance to the customers and the competitors’ situation in the market.

2.3.5 Prototyping and Final Design

In this step, the company communicates directly with the customers by putting up all the
ideas and build on them to get the final design, which is a result of external judgment
(customers' demands). This design should be covering all the improvement that are

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necessary and come up with the final step. This design should be established in the market
for customers as soon as it is completed (Tanida, Scott, Makkar, Dickson& stein).

2.4 Applying NPD Procedure to Burger King

Five stages will be discussed below for implementation at Burger King.

2.4.1 Concept Generation

Burger King has Research and Development (R&D) department that is devoted for product
enhancement (A Whooping Success, 2008). Thomas Berger, division vice president for
Central Europe said "Burger King main task is to guarantee that the business constantly
meets the customer's need, that's why R&D department exists. Furthermore, product
innovation is one of the key aspects to Burger King’s achievements. BK has experts that are
in charge of market research and product development, each group has different
responsibilities such purchasing and operations, quality management and marketing. R&D
team gets ideas from different spots; they observe trends not only in Germany but also on
international level. Added to that, they talk to customers and get ideas from suppliers as
well. Also evaluating market research and keeping an eye on the market to surprise
customers". The research and development team will carry on a market research that will
help to understand and expand the knowledge of the market trends which will in return help
the team to analyze the existing and potential customers (Brunner, 2013). Added to that
carrying a market research will help BK to reveal potential problems and reduces risks. This
step will allow them to get close with their market segment to evaluate customers reaction
towards the ideas (Brunner, 2013). Moreover, analyzing the competitor's products will be a
huge advantage for Burger King as it will give them the opportunity to see what is missing in
the competitors products and what needs to be enhanced (Brunner, 2013). Facilitating
communication between the company and its customer is done through market research
which will help BK finds out their customer's likes and dislikes (Brunner, 2013). After the
investigation done on market trends, the proposed ideas were:

1. Building a smoking area within the restaurant.

2. Provide customers with IPads instead of paper menu.
3. Develop an organic burger.

2.4.2 Screening
Before selecting or rejecting ideas these aspects need to be measured (Akrani, 2012). Three
areas will be analyzed below:

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 Building a smoking area within the restaurant (This idea was generated via web
research):
1. Feasibility: The idea is doable as Burger king has the financial resources to
apply it but on the other hand BK's employees do not have the skills needed
therefore BK doesn’t has the quantity of human resources as well (Yahoo
Finance, 2013). The budget of the project is huge as BK has to employ other
companies for building and decorating and installing new AC's that suck the
smoking to reduce it and provide cleaner air.
2. Acceptability: Smokers will accept the idea but non-smoker customers will
find it annoying especially when they want to eat inside with their kids.
Moreover; the idea is not satisfactory for the financial returns as the budget
is huge and non-smoker customers will be affected (Koat, 2011).
3. Vulnerability: Implementing the idea will cause financial losses because the
branches that will be implementing the idea will be closed while building the
area and installing the Air conditioners. A potential loss that should be
considered is non-smoking customers (Koat, 2011).
After screening, the idea turned to have more negative than positives.
Customers health will be affected, especially children. The number of people
eating in the restaurant might decrease. All these reasons might reduce the
publicity of BK and cause financial loses as well.
 Provide customers with IPads instead of paper menu (This idea was generated via
web research):
1. Feasibility: Burger King has the financial ability to provide IPads in their
branches instead of the paper menu (Yahoo Finance, 2013). However, BK
has to employ a software company to create software that matches their
menu as they don't have the skilled employees to do it.
2. Acceptability: Implementing the idea will cost BK a lot of money as IPads are
not cheap, besides the staff training so they know how to use it and respond
to orders by using this technology. Customers who are familiar with using
IPads will be thrilled for the idea but other who don’t know how to use it will
face problems with their orders as the prefer face to face interaction (CNN,
2011). The idea might not satisfy the financial returns as the number of
customers may decrease due to lack of knowledge of using the IPads and
the money spent for implementing the idea (buying the IPads, installing

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them inside the restaurant, creating the software and training the staff) is
huge (CNN,2011).
3. Vulnerability: Customers who want to customize their sandwiches may not
be able to do it unless the installed software by BK is well detailed (CNN,
2011). Also staff training might take long time and some mistakes from staff
and customers could happen which leads to inconvenience service (CNN,
2011).
After screening, the idea is not cost effective as the implementation is highly
expensive and complicated. A percentage of customers will be affected
which will affect the financial returns as well; therefore it is not the right
idea to implement.
 Development of organic burger (This idea was generated via current customers
feedback and market research of competitors products):
1. Feasibility: To remain competitive BK offers variety of products such as full
breakfast line, salads, desserts and more (Daszkowski, d.n.). In 1954 the first BK
restaurant was open, three years later the original Whooper sandwich was
introduced (Daszkowski, d.n.). Burger King had reformed its menu in 2010 as it
was structured for male orientation (Thorn, 2011). Many products were
reformulated including the Whooper that was introduced with new type of
cheese and packaging, added to that approximately 20 products were added to
the menu including ice-creams frappes and chicken strips (Thorn, 2011). Burger
king had built up a research and development department that has the needed
skills to cope with the customers’ demands (A Whooping Success, 2008). Burger
King is continually growing and so its employees as it is stated in Burger king
official website "As of December 31, 2011, we had approximately 34248
employees in our Company restaurants and our restaurants support center"
(Burger King, 2011). Burger King has the ability to launch new product as the
cash liquidity reaches up to $500000 (Yahoo Finance, 2013). Also BK had
reported rise in quarterly profit that exceeded expectations because their
expenses dropped by 65% compared to last year quarter (Burger King Profit,
2013).
2. Acceptability: In 2007, Burger King took positive steps to give customers the
product, choice and information they expect by publishing a Global Health
statement (Burger King, n.d.). The Food You Can Trust Program was introduced

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in Europe; enhancements for product nutrition and customer communication

are still on the table (Burger King, n.d.). Also in the same year in November BK
had took a step forward and signed up voluntarily to the EU Pledge on Children's
Advertising which means they have to control 100% of the advertisements that
target children under 12 years old (Burger King, n.d.). BK was one of 10
companies who took the initiative to sign this agreement; as a result Kids Meal at
Burger King has to meet the standards of BK's nutrition criteria (Burger King,
n.d.). In addition, BK had introduced new items to the kids menu with lower salt
content including Char-grilled Chicken Fillet Stripes and Chicken Bites (Burger
King, n.d.). Both of these items are made with no chemical addition or artificial
colors (Burger King, n.d.). Burger King is also committed to working with the FSA
to provide customers a range of healthier menu items by reduction in salts and
soaked fats (Burger King, n.d.). Another program that is being activated in BK's
restaurants is the Sensory Testing Program that makes sure salt reduction and
soaked fats do not affect the customers' expectations of great tasting of burgers
and sides (Burger King, n.d.). As customers are more aware now of the food they
are eating and the effect that it has on their body and overall health, they are
demanding products that offer good nutrition and give health benefits
(Kavounis, 2005). Added to that 78% of quick serve restaurants are witnessing
huge demand on salad and bottled water, in fact they had shown the biggest
increase of all menu items according to the National Restaurant Association
(Zelman, n.d.). In 2010 the fast food industry revenue was $184 billion, BK and
Starbucks were accounted for less than half of the revenue (Statics and Facts,
n.d.). As the official Burger King website stated, BK's revenues in 2012 had
reached $1.97 billion (Burger King, 2012).
3. Vulnerability: Burger King had introduced many products that passed the testing
stage but failed to attract the customers, a big example of that is BK Crown
Jewels line of sandwiches that was originally launched in New Zealand then was
distributed on international level (Romero, 1988). Despite the many failures of
products, BK keeps taking risks and launching new products frequently (Romero,
1988). BK introduced Bull's-eye Barbecue sandwich that was served in a special
way but later on the sandwich was served as a traditional style double
cheeseburger (Romero, 1988). Another failure was The Baguette Line
Sandwiches that did not meet the company expectations (Romero, 1988).The

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next disappointment was the large adult oriented sandwiches that were made
with fried or grilled chicken or a whopper patty and offered with variety of
toppings which gives the customers the opportunity to customize the sandwich
(Drinnan, 2006). This line was successful at first and was considered for global
rollout but interest in the products faded away and the line was discontinued
(Drinnan, 2006).
After screening the idea, it was found out that BK has the ability to launch new
product because they have the organizational capacity needed and the skills
besides the financial resources. In addition the customers will accept the idea
because it is upon their demands which will make it satisfactory for the financial
returns and will encourage BK's management to proceed with the idea. The risk
in implementing this idea is the history of BK's failed products. Perhaps it won't
meet the company potentials or interest in the product might fade away which
in both cases will lead to discontinue the product.
The chosen idea is developing an organic burger as it is benefits both sides,
burger king and the customers. Burger king is used to introducing new products
in the market as they have the needed resources to do it (human and financial).
Moreover customers are seeking healthy products that can be served quickly
and with releasing the organic burger BK will be able to that. The risk of
introducing the product to the market is low as it is upon customers requests
and if the product fail no big financial loses will occur as BK was in this position
before and they know how to deal with it.

2.4.3 Preliminary Design

Burger King’s (BK) franchise in Australia has introduced a new line of burgers, organic
burgers. The new organic burger promoted as being certified organic beef where the used
beef is from the Channel Country in the Australian outback (Burger Business, 2011).
Conversely, the organic burger is yet to be made in other countries.

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Level 0 Organic Burger

Level 1 Ingredients Package

Outer Leaflet Pack

Organic Brown Cheese Tomato Onion Lettuce Mayonnaise Sauce
Level 2 Beef/Chicken Bread
Logo
Cheddar Low-fat BBQ

Level 3 Blue Cheese Cheese

Mozzarella Tartar

The shape above shows the components of making the organic burger. The new burger has
joined the Burger King-style burgers that Hungry Jack’s, the exclusive Australian master fast
food franchise of Burger King Corporation, previously offered such as the Whopper, Classic
Angus, Angry Angus along with other burgers (Burger Business, 2011). There are many levels
of creating a product or a service and the number of levels depends on how complex or
simple the product or the service is. For the "Organic Burger", the process of making it goes
through three levels. "Level 0" is about the final product, whereas "Level 1" involves the
ingredients and the packaging. In "Level 2", there are the ingredients required within the
sandwich, under "Ingredients", and the types of packaging for both inside and outside the
restaurant under "Package". For the third level, the customer can customize the sandwich.
For instance, the customer can choose any type of cheese such as mozzarella, cheddar and
blue cheese. There is also a low-fat mayonnaise and a variety of sauces. For the packaging,
Burger King’s logo will be printed on the pack that contains the burger.

2.4.4 Evaluation and Improvement

Burger King provides its customers the freedom of choice by giving them the option to
customize their meals to suit their lifestyles and diet. In addition, Burger King tries to
enhance its products and services to satisfy their customers by improving their menu by

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focusing on its core products such as Whopper sandwich. This in return, will give the
customers more options to choose from (Burger King, n.d). McDonald’s, which is one of
Burger King’s main competitors, is far ahead of Burger King in the food industry according to
Advertising Age, the leading global source of news, intelligence and conversation for
marketing and media communities (Melnick, 2012). Thus, 3G Capital, a global multi-million
dollar investment firm focused on long term value creation, purchased Burger King
Corporation in 2010, making it a privately-held company (Burger King, n.d). As a result,
“Burger King brought in a new management team and got to work crafting a strategy to
jumpstart the brand” (Melnick, 2012). Mr. Steven Wiborg, one of the new management
team, which has been the Chairman of North America and Global Executive Vice President at

Burger King since April 11, 2013, said at the time “we needed to take a hard look at
ourselves because over the last 10 years, we had definitely fallen behind our competition”
(Melnick, 2012). Since then, Burger King yielded a four-pillar $750 million strategy which the
first pillar is the menu expanding. “I think it is important to make sure you have a menu that
applies to not just one segment of consumers. Especially when you consider that half the
population is female and half is male, and then when you really dial that into a 18–34-year-
old target, you’re now really limiting yourself. So the menu expansion is really about opening
the target and making sure the menu is there” (Melnick, 2012). Other competitors are
Wendy’s and Yum! which come after both McDonald’s and Burger King (Yahoo Finance,
2013).

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The template “Quality Function Deployment (QFD)” below shows the way of evaluating the
designing for the customers.

HOW’S

Importance to Customers Competitive evaluation

Customer Requirements

X= Us
A= McDonald’s
B= Wendy’s

Equipment
Calories

Sodium
(On scale of 5 = the best)
Price

Staff
Size

Fat
1 2 3 4 5

Taste 9 A B X

Nutrition 9 A X B

Visual appeal 6 A B X

Good value 10 B X A
WHAT’S
Fast Delivery 8 B X A

Hospitality 8 B XA

Flexibility 9 A XB

Quality 9 A XB

= Strong Relationship

= Medium Relationship

= Weak Relationship

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The matrix above shows what the customers require from Burger King and how Burger King
is going to attain these requirements to its customers. When it comes to taste, there is a
strong relationship of how it will be achieved by maintaining the use of sodium as well as fat.
As it has been mentioned above, Burger King gives its customer the opportunity to manage
what they eat by customizing their meals to fit their diets and lifestyles. Thus, if a customer
wants a low-fat meal or the normal meal, the restaurant will ask him/her how does he/she
like his/her meal cooked (Burger King, n.d). In 2007, Burger King created a sodium task force
to look at the levels of sodium in key menu items. The task force at this time is looking at a
number of techniques to reduce sodium, while meeting or exceeding current taste profiles
across its menu offerings (Burger King, n.d). Moreover, Burger King pays a lot of attention
when it comes to Nutrition. Currently, Burger King offers more than 350 exclusive meal
combinations with 650 calories or less under one third of the USDA’s (which stands for
United States Department of Agriculture) recommended 2,000 calorie daily diet.
Furthermore, in the last two years, Burger King focused much of its efforts on childhood
nutrition initiatives. One of their main initiatives has included in implementing the nutrition
guidelines in the U.S., Canada and Europe for children under twelve. Another initiative is the
"establishment of a multi-discipline nutrition task force that includes a nutritionist and
representatives from marketing, legal, product innovation, regulatory, product safety and
corporate communications” (Burger King, n.d). In addition, Burger King “product innovation
teams are regularly working with its trained chefs and nutritionist to develop new menu
options that provide a choice of great tasting food while meeting its guests’ nutritional
needs” (Burger King, n.d). Nevertheless, the visitors of Burger King’s website can have a look
at the nutrition facts and ingredients of the meals. Commonly, customers like the look of the
meal they order in terms of taste as well as visual appeal. Hence why Burger King has a lot of
meals where the customer can customize them the way they like them to be. On the other
hand, Burger King declares that value is an important element for its customers that can
help them make their choices. By providing a good value, BK provides quality, too. (Burger
King, n.d).

The matrix shows that Burger King has the preference in terms of taste. Wendy’s, which is
one of the main competitors of BK, comes next while McDonald’s after both of the two
corporations. The reason for that would be that Burger King makes delicious burgers by
using unique recipes and the best materials, along with fresh food with real ingredients that
provide the best tasting food. In addition, a research has shown that the percentage of fat
and sodium in BK’s burgers is higher than both of McDonald’s and Wendy’s (Oracle’

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ThinkQuest, n.d). Moreover, BK has an active programme of sensory testing to ensure that
they meet the expectations of its customers of great tasting burgers (Burger King, n.d). In
terms of nutrition, Wendy’s is the best. For instance, the percentage of protein in the
cheeseburger is 25 while BK is 23 and McDonald’s 15. Not to forget that Wendy’s has the
lowest percentage of fat in their burgers than both of BK and McDonald’s (Oracle’
ThinkQuest, n.d). BK provides quality for a good price. Additionally, BK’s burgers have the
best visual appeal. Its management has a great sense of creativity. McDonald’s menu,
however, is the less expensive (Fast Food Menu Prices, 2013). On the other hand, the items
in Wendy’s menu are more expensive than Burger King (Fowler, 2012). However, the burger
sales are down at both of Wendy’s and McDonald’s while at Burger King it is the opposite.
The earnings of BK in the first-quarter were higher than both of McDonald’s and Wendy’s as
BK earned $35.8 million, approximately (McBride, 2013). Customers want their meals to be
delivered as fast as possible as naturally people do not like waiting when they are hungry.
Whether for an inside or outside delivery, Burger King serves their customer as fast as
possible. When it comes to home delivery, in 2012, Burger King seemed to take the idea very
seriously as it was looking for reclaiming its second spot behind McDonald’s in the fast food
chain (Tice, 2012). At the present time, BK wants from their customers to enjoy the
convenience of its delivery to them. Moreover, BK gives its BK Loyalty Program members a
special treatment by providing tempting offers when they order. Burger King has the human
capital and the sophisticated tools to achieve what requires to be done. In terms of
hospitality, BK trains and developing its employees by providing them training and
developing programs as the employees are the public face of its band. Furthermore, BK pays
a lot of attention to diversity as it wants its employees to treat all customers the way they
want and prefer as employees have the cultural knowledge (Burger King, n.d). BK’s
employees have the quality and are flexible to adapting to different circumstances as the
training and developing programs help them with adapting and problem solving (Burger
King, n.d). There is a program that BK provides to its staff which is called Equipment
Knowledge program (BK Careers, n.d). The program is about keeping the employees up-to-
date about the latest equipment and facilities that have been brought in and training them
of the way of using these new tools as Burger King seeks to move forward in terms of
flexibility (Restaurant Services, Inc., n.d).

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2.4.5 Prototyping and Final Design

The displayed pictures above present the final product as well as the packaging. The original
burger sandwich will include a half-pound of organic beef, brown bread, cheddar cheese,
lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Also, a cheese sauce will be added at the top. However,
the customer can decides whatever he/she wants in the sandwich by selecting from a
variety of the ingredients that Burger King provides, whether he wants a double beef or
chicken burger and any type of sauce that are provided. He can also decide whether he
wants a low-fat mayonnaise or the original type that come with the sandwich. In terms of
outside packaging, Burger King places the sandwich in a pack that has a creative design and
easy to open. While on inside the restaurant, the sandwich will be placed on a leaflet which
is served on a plastic tray.

Conclusion

In this report we have talked briefly about BK's background history and gave a summary of
their operation, market, product, primary and secondary market plus their stakeholders.
Also the importance of NPD procedure to any company was analyzed. In addition we have
chosen the five stage model to create the NPD procedure. Three ideas were generated
through multiple sources but after screening, only one got accepted.

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