Burger King President Tom Curtis said customer calls helped revamp the company’s signature Whopper product and spur a turnaround for the entire fast-food chain.
“We’ve been listening to our guests a lot lately,” Curtis told Jim Cramer on CNBC’s “Mad Money” on Friday. “I have personally taken 1,800 calls from guests and have received over 70,000 calls.”
restaurant brand internationalBurger King, the parent company of Burger King and Tim Hortons, on Wednesday reported better-than-expected results, driven by another quarter of international growth and a turnaround at U.S. stores. Burger King US grew same-store sales 5.8% in the three months ended March, outperforming rivals that had recently warned of weak consumer spending. This would be a clear acceleration from the same-store sales growth rate of 1.6% in 2025.
Curtis said customer feedback played a central role in the company’s turnaround, helping to shape everything down to the Whopper changes.
“What we’ve learned is that people love the Whopper, but sometimes you think it’s going to be crushed,” he said. “Sometimes we didn’t like the bread we were served, so we knew exactly where to go.”
Curtis said Burger King considered possible changes to the sandwich for more than two years, but ultimately decided to make only modest adjustments after hearing that consumers wanted the core product to remain largely the same.
Joshua Kobza, CEO of Restaurant Brands International, also emphasized sandwich innovation during the company’s earnings call. He said the newly launched Elevated Whopper “features a new glazed bun, creamier mayonnaise and clamshell packaging, which has resulted in positive guest feedback and the highest average Whopper sales volume in over three years.”
Curtis said the company values customer feedback and is working beyond menu items. Burger King is also working on renovating its restaurants and improving the in-store experience to attract more families.
“When you take your family to a restaurant, you’re really putting the experience in the hands of the team and the type of establishment they’re visiting,” Curtis said. “So it should be a better experience.”
The strategy seems to be working. Curtis said sales of children’s meals have increased about 40% over the past six months after implementing new King Jr. meals and a SpongeBob-themed family promotion.
He added that Burger King is in the early stages of a broader turnaround effort as more restaurants across the system are modernized.
“I feel like we’re in the early stages of this transformation,” he said. “We feel we have many years of runway to continue growing this brand.”
