Dave Edgerton, Co-Founder of Burger King
AKA David R. Edgerton, Jr.
Born: 1928
Dave Edgerton originally inquired about obtaining a Dairy Queen franchise in 1954, then changed his mind and bought the rights to open a restaurant to be called "Insta Burger" in Miami, with a concept centered on an innovative mechanical burger-cooking machine. Edgerton drew a picture of a fictional 'King' and re-named his restaurant Insta Burger King, but business was slow and the burger-cooking machine broke down whenever business picked up. His fellow Cornell alumnus James W. McLamore became a business partner three months after the first restaurant opened, and they dumped both "Insta" from the name and the unreliable cooking machine for a better machine of their own design. Burger King had 274 locations when the company was sold to Pillsbury in 1967, and the chain now has about 11,000 restaurants in more than 60 nations. In Australia, because 'Burger King' was already trademarked by a carry-out restaurant in Adelaide, the chain is known as Hungry Jack's.