 Shortly after the acquisition of the chain by Pillsbury in 1969 , Burger King opened its first Canadian restaurant in Windsor , Ontario , in 1969 . Other international locations followed soon after : Oceania in 1971 with its Australian franchise Hungry Jack 's , and Europe in 1975 with a restaurant in Madrid , Spain . Beginning in 1982 , BK and its franchisees began operating stores in several East Asian countries , including Japan , Taiwan , Singapore and South Korea . Due to high competition , all of the Japanese locations were closed in 2001 ; however , BK reentered the Japanese market in June 2007 . BK 's Central and South American operations began in Mexico in the late 1970s , and by the early 1980s it was operating locations in Caracas , Venezuela , Santiago , Chile and Buenos Aires , Argentina . While Burger King lags behind McDonald 's in international locations by over 12 @,@ 000 stores , by 2008 it had managed to become the largest chain in several countries including Mexico and Spain . The company divides its international operations into three segments : The Middle East , Europe and Africa division ( EMEA ) , Asia @-@ Pacific ( APAC ) and Latin America and the Caribbean ( LAC ) . In each of these regions , Burger King has established several subsidiaries to develop strategic partnerships and alliances to expand into new territories . In its EMEA group , Burger King 's Switzerland @-@ based subsidiary Burger King Europe GmbH is responsible for the licensing and development of BK franchises in those regions . In the APAC region , the Singapore @-@ based BK AsiaPac , Pte . Ltd. business unit handles franchising for East Asia , the Asian subcontinent and all Oceanic territories . The LAC region includes Mexico , Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands . 
