The Untold Truth Of Burger KingThe Untold Truth Of Burger King

Did you know, for instance, it wasn't always called Burger King? The chain started out in 1950s Florida, and it was called Insta-Burger King after one of their key pieces of equipment: a stove called the Insta-Broiler. When the Insta-Broiler went the way of the dodo and was replaced by the now-famous flame-broiler, the name didn't make much sense any more. It became just Burger King in 1961, and it wasn't long after that the so-called Burger Wars began. So, what else don't you know about this fast food giant?

not enough just to get the word out about your product, successful advertising means making people want to buy it. That's a tough thing to do in the ever-changing landscape of public opinion and social media, and in 2009 Burger King's ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky decided to use Facebook as a platform for some bizarre viral marketing. They created an app that awarded people a coupon for a free Whopper ... if they deleted 10 people from their friends list. No big deal, right?

What may have been all in good fun turned a little dark. The app also sent messages to anyone who found their friend status on the chopping block, letting them know their friendship was valued at less than one-tenth of a Whopper. Ouch.

Facebook shut the app down after only ten days, saying it was a massive violation of their users' privacy. In that time, CNET says the app was installed on almost 60,000 accounts, 20,000 of those people got free Whoppers, and 200,000 people had their feelings hurt. Suddenly, it's not so fun anyEveryone knows what the BK logo looks like, and that makes the black-and-white signs of one Illinois Burger King look that much more out of place. There's a weird story here, and it starts with the Frigid Queen ice cream shop in Mattoon, Illinois. It changed hands in 1952, and when new owners thought they'd have a little fun with the name — "every queen needs a king", Atlas Obscura reports — they called their new burger joint Burger King. They trademarked the name in Illinois in 1959, and even though the other Burger King was already up and running, it hadn't made it to Illinois yet. When it did, there was a huge problem.

It's a classic case of David vs. Goliath, and in this case, the little guy won. Illinois courts ruled that Gene and Betty Hoots could not only keep their restaurant's name but they were also given a section of Illinois that was just theirs. The larger Burger King was forbidden from opening a location anywhere within a 20-mile radius of the Hoots' Burger King, and when they approached the Hoots to ask permission to set up shop within the radius, permission was denied.

They were called Satisfries, and Time says that even when Burger King rolled out their lower-calorie, higher-price fries, it was with the caveat that sales would determine their ultimate fate. They started appearing on menus in September 2013, and by August 2014, many locations were getting rid of this healthier option.

Satisfries had about 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than their standard fries (and cost more), but let's put this in perspective: the small serving still had 40 more calories than a small serving of standard McDonald's fries.

At the same time they were getting rid of Satisfries in most locations, BK also announced they were going to be bringing back another menu item: Chicken fries. Time Money says this little microcosm of fast food economics is the perfect demonstration of one of the biggest problems in the industry, and that's the healthy being pushed to the wayside in favor of the not-so-healthy — all done under the guise of giving people what they want.

They threw shade at little brother

In 2015, McDonald's turned 60. That's a big deal, but McDonald's is actually the younger burger-slinging sibling, and BK took the anniversary as an opportunity to remind them who had actually opened first — by a whole four months.