Consolidated Burger Holdings Owns Sites in Florida and Georgia
Consolidated Burger Holdings, which operates 57 Burger Kings in Florida and Georgia, on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In its filing, Destin, Fla.-based Consolidated Burger cited several years of financial struggles, in particular blaming the pandemic for a decline in customers “without proportionate decreases in rental obligations, debt service and other liabilities.”
Consolidated Burger will continue operating its restaurants as it seeks a court-supervised sale of all assets during the bankruptcy proceedings. During the seven-month lead-up to the bankruptcy, the franchisee had unsuccessfully tried to find a purchaser, USA Today reported.
By the Numbers
Consolidated Burger disclosed sales of $67 million and an operating loss of $12.5 million in fiscal year 2024, USA Today said. The franchisee had $76.6 million in sales and a net operating loss of $6.3 million in fiscal year 2023.
Consolidated Burger has about $36.6 million in debts, QSR Magazine reported, and only $179,000 in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. Its debts include $2.4 million in unpaid franchise fees to Burger King Corp. The franchisee secured a $1.6 million debtor-in-possession, or DIP, loan to help it get through bankruptcy proceedings, QSR added.
A Look at Consolidated Burger
The franchisee’s Burger Kings are separated into two entities: Consolidated Burger A, which operates 39 restaurants, and Consolidated Burger B, which operates 18, Franchise Times noted in its article about the bankruptcy. Four of the restaurants are located inside Walmart stores, while 53 are traditional standalone sites.
QSR Magazine noted that the franchisee’s restaurant locations are arrayed in three geographic groupings: the Florida Panhandle, which has 20 restaurants; South Florida, with 19; and Tallahassee and Southern Georgia, 18 restaurants. Tallahassee alone has nine locations.
Other Burger King Franchisees’ Bankruptcies
Consolidated Burger isn’t alone as a multi-unit BK owner with bankruptcy difficulties. Other Burger King franchisees that have filed for bankruptcy in recent years include:
- Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, operator of 120 locations in the West and Midwest. It went bankrupt in March 2023, as documented by QSR and Franchise Times.
- Ninety-unit TOMS King-operated restaurants in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. It declared bankruptcy in 2023, QSR said.
- Premier Kings, a franchisee with 172 Burger King locations in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Premier Kings declared bankruptcy in October 2023 after the owner’s death led to operational instability, Restaurant Business reported.
Legal Dispute with Franchisor
Consolidated Burger Holdings also was involved in a 2023 court case that battled its franchisor. The franchisee claimed Burger King Corp. had breached a remodeling contract and franchise agreements, Franchise Times reported.
Quoting from that lawsuit, the franchisee alleged Burger King “threatened to terminate the franchise agreements” for some restaurants “based on remodel defaults that BKC has fabricated in order to oust” Consolidated Burger Holdings from its franchise system. Last September the parties reached a settlement, Franchise Times said.
Brand’s Revitalization Effort
For the past couple of years, Burger King has made a sweeping push to remodel its restaurants and re-energize the brand. Parent company Restaurant Brands International has said it planned to spend about $2.2 billion to revitalize and revamp its Burger King locations, according to CNBC.
As part of the brand turnaround, in January 2024 Burger King spent about $1 billion to acquire Carrols, its largest franchisee, whose restaurants are primarily located in the eastern half of the U.S. The franchisor announced plans to remodel all of those restaurants along with its other aging locations over the next four years or so, according to CNBC.
In additional initiatives to refresh the brand, Burger King in 2023 launched a bold restaurant redesign called Sizzle, which features digital ordering kiosks along with streamlined drive-thru and order-pickup lanes. And in 2022, it made a marketing splash by rolling out its You Rule tag line and tweaking the lyrics to its “Have It Your Way” tune that’s been an earworm to TV audiences since the 1970s.
Burger King’s Overall Status
Burger King, which had 6,701 U.S. sites at the end of last year (a decrease of 77 from the end of 2023), had opened 80 Sizzle sites by the fourth quarter of 2024, QSR’s article stated. The magazine also said that Burger King had finished the remodeling of 370 locations last year.
In 2024 Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International reported $8.4 billion in revenue, an increase of 19.7% over the previous year’s total, according to USA Today. Firehouse Subs, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Tim Hortons are other franchises in Restaurant Brands’ portfolio.
