 When Burger King moved to expand its operations into Australia in the early 1970s , its business name was already trademarked by a takeaway food shop in Adelaide . As a result , Burger King provided the Australian franchisee , Jack Cowin , with a list of possible alternative names derived from pre @-@ existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and its then corporate parent Pillsbury that could be used to name the Australian restaurants . Cowin selected the Hungry Jack brand name , one of Pillsbury 's US pancake mixture products , and slightly changed the name to the possessive form , Hungry Jack 's . The first Australian franchise of Burger King Corporation was established in Perth in 1971 , under the auspices of Cowin 's new company Hungry Jack 's Pty , Limited . 
