Hungry Jack's
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| Hungry Jack's | |
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| Type | wholly owned subsidiary; exclusive Australian franchisee of Burger King |
| Founded | 1971 in Perth |
| Founder | Jack Cowin (Hungry Jack's) James McLamore and David Edgerton (Burger King) |
| Headquarters | 1A Garden Office Park 355 Scarborough Beach Rd. Osborne Park 6017 WA |
| Key people | Jack Cowin |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Fast food including hamburgers, chicken products, salads, french fries and milkshakes |
| Owner | Competitive Foods Australia |
| Parent | Hungry Jack's Pty. Ltd |
| Website | hungryjacks.com.au |
Hungry Jack's (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to HJ's) is the exclusive Australian master fast food franchisee of Burger King Corporation. Its parent company is Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's currently owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Hungry Jack's and Burger King 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 300 locations in that country, HJ's is the second largest franchisee of Burger King in the world.
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[edit] Corporate profile
[edit] History of "Burger King" in Australia
When Burger King decided to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a man running a small takeaway food shop in Queensland. As a result, Burger King provided the Australian franchisee, Jack Cowin, with a list of possible alternative names that the Australian Burger King restaurants could be branded as. The names were derived from pre-existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and its then corporate parent Pillsbury. Cowin selected the "Hungry Jack" brand name, one of Pillsbury's US pancake mixture products, and slightly changing the name to a possessive form by adding an apostrophe 's' thus forming the new name Hungry Jack's. Accordingly, the first Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation, established in Perth in 1971, was branded as Hungry Jack's.[1]
- 1996 to 2001 - Legal proceedings
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 each 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 the 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 and Victoria.[2][3][4] In addition, BK sought to limit HJ's ability to open new locations in the country, whether they were corporate locations or third-party licensees.[5]
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 breech of the contract. The Supreme Court of New South Wales agreed with Cowin and determined that BK had violated the terms of the contract and awarded Hungry Jack's $46.9 million AUD ($41.6 million 2001 US dollars).[6] 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.[7][5] 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.[8][9]
- 2002 to the present day
After BKC lost the case, it decided to terminate its business in the country and sold its operations and assets to its New Zealand franchise group, Trans-Pacific Foods (TPF). 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. TPF administered the chain's 81 locations until September 2003 when the new management team of BKC reached an agreement with Hungry Jack's Pty to re-brand the existing Burger King locations to Hungry Jack's and make HJP the sole master franchisee of both brands. An additional part of the agreement required BKC to provide administrative and advertising support as to insure a common marketing scheme for the company and its products.[10] TPF transfered its control of the BK franchises to HJP, which subsequently renamed the majority of the remaining BK locations as Hungry Jack's.[3][11] While HJP is now the exclusive master franchisee for Burger King in Australia and has the right to allow new Burger King locations in the country, no new locations have opened and only a small handful of BK restaurants remain in New South Wales.[12]
- Facts and figures
Many Hungry Jack's restaurant locations are designed around a 1950s/1960s styled theme. Background music from this era may be played within the restaurant (occasionally through a '50s era styled Jukebox) with associated contemporary pictures and memorabilia utilized as part of the interior decor. In the larger sit-down style restaurants, the seats and tables are laid out in a 1950s diner style.
[edit] Products
- See also: Burger King products
The only BK trademarked products that HJ sells are the Whopper and the Ocean Catch sandwich. All other products go by a generic naming such as hamburger, chicken nuggets or fries.[13][14] Otherwise, Hungry Jack's sells the usual range of burgers but also offers an Australian specialty: the Aussie Burger. This burger is based on the traditional Australian fish and chips shop favourite, including fried egg, bacon, onion, and beetroot, with the traditional meat, lettuce, and tomato. Hungry Jack's locations are required to follow any menu changes made by Burger King.
Hungry Jack's breakfast menu, introduced in late 2005 in three states (Queensland, Western Australia, and Northern Territory) and the other states on October 31, 2007, bears little resemblance to Burger King's US breakfast menu. The main breakfast sandwich is served on either an English muffin, baguette roll or as 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.[13][14]
[edit] Advertising
- See also: Burger King advertising
Hungry Jack's in Australia has trademarked the new slogan, 'Oh Yeah', which was featured in commercials that ran late 2005/early 2006. Other changes at Hungry Jack's include a new salad line and deli-style baguettes. While Burger King has updated its logo to the "blue crescent" design in all other markets, 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.
Hungry Jack's Kid's Club mascots are unique to the Australian franchisee, as opposed to other international locations that use one 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.
Hungry Jack's retains strong links with Perth, with the city's first team in the Australian Football League, the West Coast Eagles, having been sponsored by Hungry Jack's since their entry into the league in 1987.
[edit] See also
- KFC (Another one of Jack Cowin's franchises in Australia)
- Domino's Pizza (Another one of Jack Cowin's franchises in Australia)
[edit] References
- ^ Restaurant Business News (2003-05-30). Burger King Re-flags Australian Stores. AllBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Alina Matas (1999-11-11). Burger King Hit With Whopper ($44.6 Million) Of A Judgment. Zargo Einhorn Salkowski & Brito. P.A.. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ a b In Australia, Burger King to become 'Hungry Jack's'. South Florida Business Journal, (2003-05-30). Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ BK press release (1998-11-06). Burger King Corporation Announces The Opening Of The Company's 10,000th Restaurant. PR Newswire. Retrieved on 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.”
- ^ a b Rani Mina. A Franchiser’s Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing. Findlaw Australia. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
- ^ [2001] NSWCA 187
- ^ [2001] HCATrans S157/1
- ^ Importing into Australian law the US notion of good faith in contract-related dealings. Allens Arthur Robinson (June 2008). Retrieved on 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.”
- ^ Rani Mina (Corrs Chambers Westgarth) (March 2002). A Franchiser’s Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing. Findlaw (Australia). Retrieved on 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.”
- ^ The Gale Group (2003-06-09). Hungry Jack's to replace BK brand in Australia. Nations Restaurant News. Retrieved on 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.”
- ^ AP Wire (2003-09-13). Burger King slips into Hungry Jacks uniform. the Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 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.”
- ^ In Australia, Burger King to become 'Hungry Jack's'. South Florida Business Journal, (2003-05-30). Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
[edit] External links
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