 The company known today as Burger King itself began as a franchise ; the predecessor of the modern company was founded in 1953 in Jacksonville , Florida as Insta @-@ Burger King . The original founders and owners , Kieth J. Kramer and Matthew Burns , opened their first stores around a piece of equipment known as the Insta @-@ Broiler . The Insta @-@ Broiler oven proved so successful at cooking burgers , Kramer and Burns required all of their franchises to carry the device . The rights to open stores in Miami , Florida belonged to two businessmen named James McLamore and David R. Edgerton and their company South Florida restaurants , Inc . Due to operational issues with the Insta @-@ Broiler , in 1954 McLamore and Edgarton made the decision to replace the Insta @-@ Broiler with a mechanized gas grill they called a flame broiler . Even though the company had rapidly expanded throughout the state until its operations totaled more than 40 locations in 1955 , the original Insta @-@ Burger King ran into financial difficulties and the pair of McLamore and Edgarton purchased the national rights to the chain and rechristened the company as Burger King of Miami . 
