The Vision and Uncommon Touch of Jim McLamore
The FLAME Magazine, In Memoriam Sept 1996 (excerpts from pages 6-10)
Burgers, fries and Cokes. A deceptively simple, value-laden strategy that has withstood every test of time. Stated so clearly and easily by the late Jim McLamore, this guiding principle may have gotten lost during some of the system’s darker times. But it has returned to its rightful place and proves itself every day at Burger King counters and cash registers across the country, ringing up record sales and distancing itself from the competition in taste tests and desirability.
Burgers, fries and Cokes. Deceptively simple yet startlingly visionary, and to those who knew him, respected him, and learned from him, emblematic of Burger King Corporation’s co-founder Jim McLamore, who more than 40 years ago, changed the way America looked at burgers.
Many franchisees spoke of him as a quiet giant, a man who first, second and last, knew fast food and how to serve it. A man who never wavered from his vision, and always had time for the franchisees. As The Flame spoke with franchisees about their memories of Jim McLamore, it was discovered that he is most revered for two things - his belief in the franchise system, and his uncommon, ‘common’ touch. Here then is the NFA’s tribute to a man of honor, of enormous accomplishment and above all, a man of inspiration with a good and generous heart.
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Born in New York City in 1926, Jim McLamore, a man inextricably linked to Miami, fell in love with the area the day he laid eyes on it. He was hitch-hiking south from Ithaca, where he was studying at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, to see his future bride, Nancy, during Christmas break. It was the mid-40s, and the area was a seasonal, seaside playground. He told friends later he knew then it was where he wanted to be.
Before Miami and Burger King, however, there was a stint at running a YMCA cafeteria in Wilmington, Delaware after graduating in 1947. Married the same year, he went on to buy a 14-stool Colonial Inn Restaurant in Wilmington, eventually selling it to finance his move to what was to become his life-long home - Miami.
The McLamores arrived in 1951 and Jim was reputed to be impressed by the crowd at the Brickell Bridge restaurant - so he bought it. It almost broke him. By the summer, Miami’s seasonality had taken effect and the crowds dropped off painfully. Just a few blocks away however, was future Burger King Corporation co-founder David Edgerton, managing the Howard Johnson hotel, with its menu of 15-cent burgers and shakes.
“Just Like You’d Cook in Your Own Backyard”
By 1954, David Edgerton had become a friend, the friendship had become a business venture, and the business venture had become the Insta-Burger King. “It was a 15-cent burger and shake operation,” recalls Edgerton. “There were a lot of them back then, all competing on price.” For five years, there was struggle, hardship and times when the partners did not think they would make it. A $60,000 loan from a trucking entrepreneur was acknowledged as saving the day.
But more than cold cash, McLamore’s vision and Edgerton’s technical ability had already planted the seeds for the future Burger King empire with the introduction of the Whopper in 1957. This oversized, flame-broiled burger sandwich provided that unique market edge every entrepreneur searches for, and like many good ideas, it came on the heels of what looked like almost certain failure.
Illinois franchisee Bill Spence, and McLamore’s son-in-law, recalls the story as he first heard it. “Dave and Jim were in the car and driving around to check on one of the restaurants in northern Florida (Jacksonville.) The Burger King there wasn’t doing well, and down the road, the competition had lines out the door. Well, the competition was serving a big, thick hamburger and we weren’t. On the way home, Jim and Dave kept going over the issue, talking and thinking, until they decided a large, juicy burger sandwich with all the ingredients would be a “Whopper of a Sandwich.” It would sell even better if it was just like the one you’d broil in your own backyard.” (The Insta-Burger technology, while it cooked more than 400 buns and burgers per hour, was having problems with heating elements corroding from the burger drippings.)
So Edgerton set to building the flame broiler in a garage, and “Jim scrounged up the money to build it,” he recalls. With Edgerton perfecting the flame-broiling technique (as well as the shake machine), and McLamore creating the sandwich concept, the “Whopper of a Sandwich” soon became “The Whopper,” and as they say, the rest is history.
Whoppers originally sold for 29 cents , but they cost 44 cents to make, Edgerton recalled. “But Jim was adamant about giving value,” and rather than compete in the no-win 15-cent burger niche, McLamore pushed the bigger burger. “It became 30 percent of our business,” Edgerton says, “and the 15-cent burgers did themselves in.”
Edgerton and McLamore discontinued the “horrible green” colors of the Insta-Burger line and changed the name. They chose the Burger King name because “it was the only name we could register - Burger Queen, Burger Prince, Burger Castle... they were all out there,” said Edgerton, “but they failed.”As to the colors, “well, Jim read a book on the effect of colors, and we changed over to bright red and yellow,” the signature of Burger King across the world.
Armed with a new name, a new look and the best burger around, Burger King, “Home of the Whopper,” also was expanding nationally. In 1958, Bob Furman, a franchisee if 37 years from Illinois, became part of the system and met the legendary co-founder. “At that time, my father spotted a tiny, three-line ad in The Chicago Tribune advertising for a Burger King Franchisee. My dad, who was planning for retirement and thought this might be the right opportunity, pasted the ad on the back of a postcard and pailed it off.” While the Furmans (father and son) were not even sure they would get a reply, they heard directly from Jim McLamore, who, explaining they didn’t have any brochures to send, suggested instead that they fly to Miami to talk. At that time, Burger King’s entire national presence was eight or nine stores, and franchising was in its infancy.
“We met him in the commissary, and while we were talking, he chopped lettuce and onions,’ Furman continues. “ Around 11, he suggested lunch and excuses himself as he and Dave had to go to work. We went up to the counter and there he was, working the cash register while Dave was working the fries.” Burger King was very much a family affair in those days, Edgerton remembers, with Nancy doing the books and the taxes. Even the operating manual was done in the McLamore home. “We’d stay up late at night. I’d be talking and Jim would be typing. We wrote the book on operations. Everyone was copying us after a while.”
The Furmans became franchisees and opened Store #12. And they rose to, and more than met, an admirable challenge. McLamore challenged franchisees to operate with the best quality and service possible - and to make money. As Florida franchise Jerry Ruenheck recalled, “Jim never made any bones about the fact that we’re in this to make a profit.”
Making money in 1959 meant upping the bar from average store sales of $6,000 a month to surpass the new goal of $100,000 a year. As Furman recalls, no one had done $100,000. But the Furmans broke the barrier and Store #12 rang up more than $100,000 in sales its first year.
A motivator who brought out the best in people, McLamore is remembered by many franchisees for his special touch as a role model, and the respect that he carried with him as one who once worked behind the counter.
“Jim was an individual who inspired total respect, and founded a company not only as a place where employees could develop and emulate him, but for the franchisees, who could be businessmen like him and grow the system,” recalls former employee and franchisee Ramon Moral of Florida. “He was a true leader, a man we could respect. He was one from those earlier days when men would make a deal on a handshake, and when I shook hands with him, I knew I could believe his word completely.”
Jim McLamore’s word build many a franchisee - and corporate employee. Jerry Ruenheck remembers how his career was built.
It was 1968 and he had his eye on becoming a Burger King franchisee in Seattle. But there were no openings there, so “Jim suggested, ‘Why not come and work for us for a while,’” Ruenheck says, echoing the casual style many use when recalling their conversations with McLamore. “When the opportunity opens up in Seattle, you can have your franchise. He hired me 28 years ago in February,” said Ruenheck, who eventually rose through the ranks to become Burger King president. But he had to wait until 1985 to become a franchisee.
Keeping It Simple
The franchisee system was just a budding concept in 1956 when McLamore seized on it, according to Jack Eberly, former Burger King corporate lawyer and Oregon franchisee. “He took this concept and made it possible for the American Dream to flourish among the franchisees. I owe my business existence - and so does every franchisee - to Jim McLamore because he personally created the opportunity for us to be entrepreneurs.”
Eberly’s first meeting with McLamore was in 1969 when he was “a cub lawyer” on BKC’s legal staff. McLamore was Chairman and CEO. “He invited me to lunch and I was startled he would even think of doing something like that - a gesture which truly measures a man. It was so indicative of how he would extend himself to meet people, and I’m sure he treated most everyone else that same way.”
“We went for lunch to the R&D store behind headquarters and I remember very clearly that when we walked into the restaurant, where they were testing the products, Jim just hated the fact that there were too many items on the menu...the customer would easily get confused. He liked the simple appeal and to work on the basis that ‘quality, speed of service, value and cleanliness’ were the watchwords of a successful operation.”
But there was a difficult period “when we strayed, from soup to nuts,” said Ruenheck. It was a time of menu experimentation and what some have regarded as directionless decision-making. It came in the 70s, several years after the co-founders sold their substantial holdings to the Pillsbury Corporation, a decision Edgerton recalls was made because “we thought it was too big for us to run properly. We were restaurant men, not big businessmen.”
“Burger King was only a piece of the pie, not the whole pie,” he continues. “Fast food is an industry where you have to grow to keep pace, and if Jim had not been on the Pillsbury Board, and virtually instructed them about keeping Burger King growing...well I don’t know what would have happened,” he muses. “There was a strong tendency among the board to invest in other brands such as Green Giant. It’s a tribute to Jim’s tenacity that we were even able to grow as well as we did.”
Selling the world’s second largest fast food hamburger chain to Pillsbury was a decision which, it was said, McLamore came to regret. What much be remembered, several franchisees state, was that after Pillsbury, the”franchisees were the bridge back to the original concept of Burger King...and he never forgot that.”
Jim McLamore’s profound influence on the franchisees - and employees alike - bred incredibly strong bonds of loyalty that helped the system weather some of its worse crises.
Wisconsin franchisee Mike DeRosa said, “If you were in the system, as an employee of a franchisee, you were part of the Burger King family. It was unthinkable that you’d switch loyalties... that all came from the way Jim made us feel, as if each and every one of us were essential to the system.”
Cornerstone of the Brand
That presence was missed with the acquisition by Grand Met in the 80s. He was not as active during those difficult times, but as Al Suber, Delaware franchisee said, he still maintained “his astounding gift for knowing everything that was going on.” He continued to talk to franchisees, “coming to our regional meetings, looking us up, having a drink, telling stories...”
His treasury of advice left unsolicited, then Chairman Emeritus McLamore maintained an office at the headquarters building in Miami. It was Jim Adamson’s administration that franchisees credit with bringing Jim McLamore and his wisdom back to the franchisees and the system.
Both Al Suber and Wayne Thompson, franchisee in Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa, recall the pivotal NFA Toronto meeting when Adamson had just taken over. McLamore had already attended several NFA meetings at the invitation of Jerry Ruenheck and he was “always an inspiration.”
“He told Jim Adamson he was not going to like many of the things he was going to say about him and Grand Met,” said Suber. “But he really told it like it was in Toronto,” continues Thompson. “He got off harpoon after harpoon on how far off the marketing was, and how for off the value we were. We’d let prices go through the roof, the customer counts were going down. He let ‘em have it...with Jim and his whole team sitting right there.”
“While we were struggling,” Suber continues, “he was telling us to lower our prices. We didn’t know what to believe. We thought he didn’t know what he was talking about, something he and I kidded about later.”
Adamson, however, listened and gained the respect of the franchisees. That crucial meeting and the company’s willingness to listen - several franchisees described how McLamore could hold a room of 2,000 people so spellbound “you could hear a pin drop” - marked a critical turning point. “There is no doubt that his re-entry into our brand demonstrated how instrumental he was to our overall success,” said Philadelphia area franchisee Steve Lewis. “He was the cornerstone of our brand.”
Equally as important, his message inspired the franchisees. He was retired yet spend “hours with us at the MAFA Restaurant Managers Convention,” remembers Thompson. “He spoke with each of us for two hours before dinner, had his picture taken with more than 150 people and then stayed in the hospitality suite until 10:30. He had such energy at his age - he inspired me to do more, so I became part of RSI.”
That motivational spirit is one which the NFA is dedicated to preserving. “We should always remember that his legacy should be our reason to execute this brand to the best of our abilities every single day. Jim would be proud of this, and all of us,” said Lewis.
But perhaps the thing that Jim McLamore would be most proud of - the man who believed heart and soul in the franchisees and credited them with the “best ideas of Burger King” - is that shortly before he passed away, he learned that his eldest grandson had been approved as a licensee. The business he built for so many families was coming home once again.
At the memorial service on August 12, Whit McLamore paid tribute to his father with a moving eulogy entitled “Heroes Lost.” The last verse is reprinted here:
So remember them for their spirit
And for how they lived life too
Remember then for their love and
Warmth and being there for you
You see, heroes don’t come easily,
They don’t happen every day
So when you love one it’s OK to cry,
And talk to them when you pray.
Many franchisees recal Jim McLamore’s modesty, his love of a good laugh and his big heart. But few realized the reach of his big heartedness and extraordinary philanthropy. Here is a brief look at the '“other career” of Jim McLamore
University of Miami: When Jim Mclamore became Chairman of the University Board of Trustees, the endowment was in dire condition. His determination raised more than $517.5 million in five years, surpassing the $400 million goal and causing trustees to waive the rule restricting a chairman’s tenure to two years. He served nine in all, and in 1990 was made Chairman Emeritus for Life, receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Humanity that same year. In 1995, the University dedicated the James W. McLamore Plaza.
The Nightly Business Report/WBPT: Hailed as the public procasting system’s best business program, the show concept was conceived by Jim McLamore while serving on the station’s Board of Directors. It became one of the most successful programs in public television’s history, broadcasting five nights a week throughout the nation.
Miami Dophlins: A part owner of one of the “winningest” franchises in professional football, many credit McLamore with spotting the talent of the yound Don Shula, who went on to be one of the game’s greatest coaches.
He also served as President of the National Restaurant Assiciation, and the Florida Restaurant Association, as the Chairman of the United Way of Dade County, and numerous other civic and philanthropic charities which honored him throughout his career.
