Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain

Chain store

Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...

 of hamburger

Hamburger

A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...

 fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 Miami-Dade County

Miami-Dade County, Florida

Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

-based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1955, its two Miami-based franchisees, David Edgerton

David Edgerton

David R. Edgerton is an American entrepreneur and the founder of the Burger King Corporation.On March 1, 1954, he opened the restaurant Insta Burger King in Miami, Florida, U.S. On June 1 of the same year, he met James McLamore and the two founded the Burger King Corporation.Edgerton graduated...

 and James McLamore

James McLamore

James Whitman McLamore was co-founder of the Burger King fast food franchise with David Edgerton. McLamore attended Northfield Mount Hermon School before matriculating at Cornell University....

, purchased the company and renamed it Burger King. Over the next half century the company would change hands four times, with its third set of owners, a partnership of TPG Capital, Bain Capital

Bain Capital

Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...

, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments globally....

, taking it public in 2002.