Burger King (NYSE: BKC), often abbreviated to BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. It was founded in 1954 by James McLamore and David Edgerton, and has since used a franchise model to expand to just over 11,200 stores in 65 nations around the globe. One of its largest franchisees is Hungry Jack's, which owns, operates and sub-licenses over 300 restaurants in Australia.Burger King Holdings is the parent company of Burger King, in the US it operates under the Burger King Brands title while internationally it operates under the Burger King Corporation banner. It is a publicly traded company with investment firms of TPG Capital, L.P., Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs each owning about 25% of the company. At the end of its fiscal year 2006, Burger King reported that there are more than 11,220 outlets in 61 countries; 66% of the restaurants are in the United States and 90% of the restaurants privately owned and operated. The company has more than 37,000 employees who serve approximately 11.4 million customers daily.The Burger King menu has evolved from a simple offering of burgers, fries, sodas and milkshakes in 1954 to a larger, more diverse set of offerings that includes several variations of chicken, fish, salads and breakfast. The Whopper was the first major addition to the menu by Mr. McLamore in 1957, a sandwich that has since become Burger King's signature product. Not all introductions have had the success of the Whopper; BK has introduced many products which failed to catch hold in the marketplace. Some products that have failed in the US have seen success in foreign markets, where BK has also tailored its menu for regional tastes .Burger King's "Golden Age" of advertising was during the 1970s when the introduced its mascot the Magical Burger King, a memorable jingle, and several well known and parodied slogans. Beginning in the early 1980s, its advertising began to lose focus; a series of less successful ad campaigns created by various agencies continued for the next two decades. In 2003, Burger King set about resuscitating its moribund advertising with the hiring of the Miami-based advertising agency of Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B). CP+B completely reorganized Burger King's advertising with a series of new ads centering around a resuscitated Magical Burger King character.