Did Burger King Once Have A 'Queen' Nemesis Chain?

While it doesn't offer the best fast food burgers in the business — especially since other chains have long since surpassed it with offerings like fresh, never frozen beef — the quick-bite stop known as Burger King still retains its crown after more than 70 years in business. BK operates more than 19,000 locations in over 100 countries, making it one of the largest burger chains in the world. But did you know the Home of the Whopper once had a rival known as Burger Queen?

It's true. Once upon a time, there was a growing chain of fast food restaurants called Burger Queen, which had more than 200 locations spanning from Florida to Missouri at its heyday in the 1970s. The chain was even expanding globally, with franchising agreements in Canada, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Burger Queen was founded in 1956, just two years after the debut of the first Burger King restaurant in 1954. Both chains originated in Florida, with Burger King launching in Miami and Burger Queen first opening its doors in Winter Haven, Florida, about 225 miles to the north. Food offerings were similar between the two in the early days, with burgers, fries, and milkshakes featuring prominently on each chain's menu. While Burger King's king mascot was part of the franchise's branding from its earliest days, Burger Queen adopted a cartoon mascot known as Queenie Bee in 1971, which thereafter featured prominently in the company's advertising.

Not surprisingly, Burger Queen had some identity challenges. Ongoing litigation with bigger rival Burger King stretched out for two decades before BK finally gave up the fight over the Burger Queen trademark. The franchise also had similar legal trouble with Dairy Queen over the use of the "queen" identity — which proved ironic, considering the future relationship that would later transpire between the two companies (more on that later). DQ, home of unforgettable fast food milkshakes and other signature frozen treats, also reportedly took legal action to prevent Burger Queen from selling milkshakes and other dairy products at its locations.

Burger Queen also ran into name-related trouble when it began expanding overseas. International partners in the United Kingdom advised calling the restaurant Huckleberry's in their territory instead of Burger Queen since the "queen" moniker could have been offensive to Brits (in consideration of their ruling monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II).

In general, the franchise had trouble trademarking its name in international locales due to confusion between it and the Burger King brand in foreign legal jurisdictions. Ultimately, the company elected to rebrand completely and change the controversial name. In 1980, executives chose the name Druther's as its replacement. However, even that name incurred some hiccups because Anheuser-Busch had a line of sodas bearing the Druthers name. But the two companies were able to work out an agreement in the end. Burger Queen execs felt the new name better reflected the restaurant's evolving food offerings, which by this time also included fried chicken, breakfast, fresh salad bars, and fish items.

Not long after Burger Queen's corporate rebrand, some of the company's Florida locations were shuttered. The company's 17 U.K. Huckleberry's locations were sold, and a key partnership in Canada was later terminated as well. The Druther's brand did fairly well for a while, though, operating 158 restaurants across eight U.S. states as of 1985. But growth was no longer advancing, and a few of the Druther's restaurants also closed down by 1987.

Ultimately — and interestingly, considering their history — the Druther's franchise, once known as Burger Queen, linked up with Dairy Queen in the late 1980s to form an equity partnership. In 1990, 117 rebranded Druther's locations were converted into Dairy Queen franchises. This move brought breakfast to DQ since Druther's had previously been offering breakfast at its restaurants. Ultimately, a large percentage of the former Burger Queen/Druther's restaurants became fully absorbed into the Dairy Queen universe.

Today, only one independently owned Druther's Restaurant is still in operation, located in Campbellsville, Kentucky. The last surviving Burger Queen locations affiliated with the former chain, having transitioned to independent ownership, were located in Taipei, Taiwan, as of 2021. However, per Google business listings, those locations appear to have since shut down.