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After facing earlier
hardship, Burger King
execs tout turnaround

Top national Burger King Corp. executives are in town visiting stores and preaching to the choir about the chain's growth, expansion plans and its largest Hawaii franchisee, California-based Kazi Management LLC.

A ceremony yesterday highlighted the executives' tour at Hawaii's first Burger King restaurant, built in 1976 at 1056 S. Beretania Street, across from No. 1 rival McDonald's.

John Chidsey, president of the Americas for Burger King Corp., Zubair Kazi, who owns 22 of Hawaii's 28 Burger Kings, and a store manager lifted a black piece of fabric to reveal a plaque commemorating the store's 28-year-old significance.

The newly remodeled store reopened last month with a new interior look and reconfigured parking lot and drive-through lane. In the four years Kazi has been a Burger King franchisee, sales at his ever-growing number of stores have risen nearly 60 percent, Chidsey said.

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STAR-BULLETIN STAFF Donnie Locsin-Buechner, 2, played yesterday at a table of the newly renovated Burger King on Beretania Street. The fast food restaurant has a Hawaii inspired mural inside.

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Kazi has verbal commitments to expand into Lahaina, Maui, and in Hilo and Waimea on the Big Island, according to Steve Johnson, managing director of Kazi Foods Restaurants Hawaii. The company always is looking for the right locations, he said.

Hawaii's Burger King restaurants record the highest average store sales in the nation for the Miami-based corporation.

The numbers have been a bright spot for Burger King, which saw profits drop 21 percent between 2000 and 2002 according to BusinessWeek. British booze maker Diageo Plc sold the company to Texas Pacific Group in 2002. The following year, the company hired California-based Trinity Capital LLC to help restructure the company and its franchisees.

Greg Brenneman, who was previously brought to Honolulu for the unsuccessful attempt to merge Aloha and Hawaiian airlines, was named chief executive of Burger King in July. Having apparently drawn the short straw, Brenneman was leading a similar Burger King executive tour in Connecticut.

Chidsey reported that sales are higher than they've been in 10 years. However, Trinity last week hired away two top Kazi executives for a partnership that will acquire Hawaii fast food restaurants and potentially compete against the Burger King-Kazi expansion plans.

"Welcome to the real world," Chidsey said.