How Burger King tries to make customers feel important without feeling inauthentic

Burger King has spent decades telling customers to “Have it Your Way.” Now, the Miami-based fast-food chain wants its employees to make sure guests feel like they rule.The philosophy is reflected in Burger King’s more recent “You Rule” slogan — and in how the company approaches hospitality inside its restaurants.“We’re certainly encouraging our restaurants to bring that conversation to the forefront,” Joel Yashinsky, Burger King’s chief marketing officer, told Fox News Digital.“We really want to make that real.”That means working with franchise operators “to really think about how we can communicate very clearly to the guests that they do rule,” Yashinsky said.But those interactions can’t feel forced, he added.“It has to be authentic,” he said.

“We can’t force it, but we are trying to, obviously, encourage that type of engagement to take place because we are truly trying to live it and mean it.”The “You Rule” slogan was introduced in 2022.The newest catchphrase, “There’s a New King and It’s You,” was introduced earlier this year.Burger King leadership has been talking with general managers about how to make that philosophy a “natural engagement” with guests, Yashinsky said.“The guest does rule,” he said, “and we need to make sure that we acknowledge that.”Burger King isn’t the only fast-food chain to make a signature interaction with customers part of its approach to hospitality.Chick-fil-A has become known for employees responding to customers with “my pleasure,” a phrase closely associated with the chain’s approach to customer service.At Burger King, part of instilling its own hospitality philosophy begins with employee training.Burger King employees are required to attend “Burger King University,” which once had a physical campus at the chain’s Miami headquarters, according to the Miami Herald.

Today, however, the instructional program is solely online.An emphasis is placed on being ...