The Whopper is leaving Israel, nearly twenty years after the Burger King chain opened in the country. Israelis apparently prefer the taste of Burger Ranch, or so say the owners who are converting the 52 Burger Kings into Burger Ranches. From Arutz-7:
Orgad Holdings, Burger King’s Israeli franchise, announced Sunday that Israel’s 52 Burger Kings will be converted to Burger Ranches, and will stop operating in August.
[…]
Burger King is not the first American company to fail in Israel. Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Wendy’s have also come and gone. McDonald’s which opened in Israel in 1993 and has 131 branches, is still serving Big Macs throughout the country.
I don’t remember Wendy’s, but I do remember when the very first McDonalds opened up in Israel. A group of us made the drive from Jerusalem down to Tel Aviv for the taste of a non-kosher American hamburger. McDonalds has a thriving business now, but it almost never opened in Israel because the government refused to allow the fast-food chain to use their preferred type of potato.
The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post.
4 thoughts on “Burger King to Close in Israel”
I believe the first MacDonalds in Israel was at the Golani Junction, not in Tel Aviv. But, I could be wrong.
My memory agrees with the detailed article at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_Israel
I can't argue with Wikipedia…although I didn't miss it by much, did I?
Cheers
Burger King and Burger Ranch both get their meat from the same place. The only difference is one package says BK, the other BR.