Burger King

Burger King, often abbreviated as BK is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. It was founded on July 28, 1953 in Jacksonville, Florida but currently operates in Miami, Florida. The company is run by two determined men namely David Edgerton and James Mclamore who shared the same vision, to provide people with tasty yet affordable food with a clean and welcoming environment. In 1954, BK first opened its doors to public in Miami, Florida. Its standard products namely burgers, fries, milkshakes from its early days have evolved to sophisticated burger meals, breakfasts, chicken, and healthy salads. In 1957, BK introduced the Whopper which has become their most successful product today mainly known for its perfect flame grill taste. Early findings of 2010 tell us that Burger King currently operates over 12,000 outlets in approximately 73 countries, serving 11.1 Million customers on daily basis, making it the second largest hamburger fast food chain after its global competitor McDonalds (http://www.bk.com/en/us/company-info/index.html). However, todays competitive business environment demands businesses to be more ethically responsible and care for the environment and society. Therefore, the success of BK is directly linked to the perception its stakeholders carry of it. This essay aims to discuss the ethical policies and corporate responsibilities practiced by Burger King that appeal to various stakeholders and also discuss some of the legal difficulties faced by the company. To start off with, the two terms must be understood. Ethics are actions and morals that govern a particular individual. Business ethics defines how a company integrates core values such as honesty, trust, respect and fairness into its policies, practices and decisionmaking (www.bsr.org). Corporate Social Responsibility on the other hand is about how a business manages its processes to produce an overall impact on society

(http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/definition.php). Detailed practices of BK will be discussed in the following paragraph. BKs major stakeholders apart from the shareholders include the government, suppliers, banks, advertising agencies, employees and more importantly the community and customers as they are the end users of their products. For example, customers may want to know how the food they pay for and consume is being produced. Government may want to see if right labour practices are being adopted by the organization. BK produced its first ever corporate responsibility report titled BK POSITIVE STEPS to gain insight of its current practices of corporate responsibility
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and also find out what corporate responsibility actually resonated to its stakeholders. The report is organized into four key areas as follows Food, People, Environment and Corporate Governance. Statements such as Burger King Holdings, Inc is committed to making a positive impact in the communities where we live and work by partnering with our franchisees, employees and suppliers which is found on the BK POSTIVE STEPS report reassure BKs positive approach in being an ethically responsible company. Over the years, BK has focused on product innovation and developed the theory of Have it your way that allows customers to choose from a variety of meals that best suit their diet and lifestyle. BK provides detailed nutritional information on all their meals to customers so that they can make informed choices, therefore not misleading customers to buy a product that may not best fit them or their diet. BK has made all this information public by placing it on their global website. Media has been very critical about not allowing young children to eat fast food. Despite the arguments, parents have not stopped their young ones from heading to the nearest fast food chain. As a result, BK has stepped up its efforts and produced nutritional meals aimed at kids that have surprisingly low level of calories whilst maintaining the same great taste they desire. BK is also part of some important Government and Self Regulation authorities like the Council of Better Business Bureau (CBBB), Childrens Food and Beverage Initiative and European Unions pledge of Providing and Promoting healthy choice of food to childrens and adults. BK also maintains a high standard when it comes to Food Safety by following numerous amounts of quality control checks both internally and externally to make sure everything ranging from raw materials from suppliers to in house production techniques and restaurant level quality is of the highest standards. At BK, special importance is placed on its people or its employees who are the cornerstone to this company. BK prioritises the safety and wellbeing of its employees by implementing a number of robust safety and health processes. All employees are educated on cleanliness and health measures via a global operational manual used across all BKs chain of restaurants. Employees are often engaged in various safety training programs so that they are well prepared to minimize risk at all times and ensure safety of fellow colleagues. Diversity has been a key factor to BKs success. BK is made of a workforce that comes from nearly all parts of the globe. More and more people are looking to work for organizations that embrace diversity and in reality customers too prefer buying from diverse organizations because they are likely to find someone similar to them. Another area of focus has been women who work for the
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organization. BK runs a Women Leadership Forum (WLF) which was founded by a group of women working for the company who came from different backgrounds. The aim was to develop an organization that would embrace the leadership potential of women within the company and provide enough opportunity to learn and develop their skills. Today, the management pays prime attention to this and supports all of its employees with a special focus on women to learn and lead not only within the organization but also in the community in which they live. BK also provides financial assistance to its employees in emergency situation through its BK Family program (http://www.bk.com/en/us/company-info/index.html). BK has taken several steps to minimize environmental impacts by implementing various energy conservation and waste management techniques. An energy management team headed by the Senior Vice President is responsible for researching and implementing energy reducing techniques throughout BKs global system. For instance, BK uses a specialized Broiler in their kitchen named The Duke Flexible Batch Broiler (FBB) which saves up to 52 percent gas consumption when compared to previous broilers and also reduces the cost of electricity by up to 90 percent. BKs packaging is under strict controls too. The ink used for printing on the packaging is certified non-toxic and contains no hazardous toxic material. To reduce overall waste, consumers also receive paper product wrappings whenever possible. BK purchases over 32,000 tons of recycled paper annually that are used for their napkins and kids meal bags in the US and Canada. To preserve water, specialized water-flow faucets are installed across all their restaurants. Finally, BK is dedicated to the purchase of Beef from suppliers that raise them in environmentally responsible ways. In 2008, PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) awarded BK with Most Improved National Food Chain in recognition for their progress. BKs code on conduct and ethics are integrated into their strategy and their philosophy is simple integrity, honesty and compliance with the law are not optional. Employees are regularly trained on business codes and ethics so that they can put it to best practice. BK even has their own set of ethics for their suppliers which include conditions of employment and other environmental rules which the suppliers must adhere to. Therefore, BK not only cares for its own employees but also any individual directly linked to them. BK runs a Burger King Scholars Program that awards students in the US and Canada for their academic achievements. Funding charitable organizations around the world are also amongst the companys philanthropic contributions to
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the society. (Burger King Corporation, 2009. BK POSITIVE STEPS, Corporate Responsibility Report 2009, Miami: Burger King Corporation) Despite their ethical practices, BK has witnessed some minor legal disputes in the past. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) believed that the type of caging that was used by BKs suppliers was unethical to animals. Therefore, legal action was taken and as a result BK started purchasing animals from cage-free companies

(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/194334/peta_celebrates_as_burger_king_becomes.ht ml). On another occasion, BKs advertisement for their Tex-Mex burger was found to discriminate a group of Mexicans and as a result BK was forced to revise the advertisement. (http://www.mahalo.com/burger-king-texican-ad). Another area where one may argue is whether BKs advertising to children is ethical or not. However BK has never been in the radar for such ads. Also BK has been lucky enough to not have been filed any Lawsuit cases at unlike its competitor McDonalds which has seen several Lawsuit cases over the years. In conclusion, since its start in 1953 BK has come a long way in terms of popularity and financial success. They currently operate over 12,000 outlets worldwide serving 11.1 Million customers on daily basis, gaining revenue of $2.5 Billion in 2009. Their broad of range of tasty products and affordable prices has appealed to a large chunk of the market. However, the company is restricted by ethical and social obligations that must be fulfilled in order to continue achieving its success. BK has realized the importance of this, and is continuously thriving to fulfil its ethical and social obligations by meeting the needs of its customers, employees, the environment and the society as a whole. However, the company has been involved in minor legal difficulties in the past with organizations such as PETA with regards to animal rights and other discriminatory issues, but has successfully tackled them without hurting their reputation. By and large, BKs Ethical and Corporate Social Responsibilities are well defined and forward thinking but more importantly being put to effect by the company and are definitely more than just a public relations exercise. To honour their efforts, the Better Business Bureau handed BK an A+ rating for their performance related to ethical business practices.

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