No, it's the same in America.

BK has lagged way behind McDs and Subway on various fronts. Lack of new product items, old technology, minimal promotion, dirty and outdated dining rooms. The last BK near me that hasn't closed down looks like it hasn't had a coat of paint in 15 years. Meanwhile McDs is tearing down and rebuilding new stores ground-up all over town.

Twenty or thirty years ago, in America, McDonald's and BK were literally in a deadlocked battle of the giants. Burger wars! Those days are long gone.

Well up until just a few years ago BK was in near constant fights with its franchise owners. That and changing ownership a few times isn't going to give you a good base to operate from.

That and McDonald's just owns kids.

I still prefer a BK burger to most MCD's burgers.

There is a BK near the office, and I used to attempt a drive-thru on my lunch -- but, their drive-thru was actually slower than going inside. After a few attempts (and being late back to the office once) I gave up.

To contrast, there are a group of McDonald's stores near my office that are testing a linked drive-thru timing application. There's a scoreboard visible from inside the work area that ranks all the local stores in terms of drive-thru speed and service time. They've gamified the system.

Well, the article kind of summed up BK's history in one line:

"He’s Burger King’s 21st CEO since the company was founded in 1954"

That's literally a new CEO every 36 months since the company was started sixty years ago. That's just boggling.

...and inside UK hospitals - there's a BK inside the entrance to Southampton General; that really is taking the piss.

Nope, the last time I went to one, it was just closer to my house, and more convenient than McD's. Just luck of real estate really. Their claim of 'flame broiled whopper' just doesn't make me want to go there. Who cares if it's flame broiled or cooked on a stove, it's a burger. And if you can't cook the onions before you put them on the burger then you're just lazy.

I did see them in Russia, several places, and the only thing they had going for them was that there was no waiting. Because nobody EVER went there, that I could recall.

While I agree that was the case for a rather long time, I have recently been surprised to see a marked improvement in Burger King's offering (in the UK at least). The stores are clean, the food is better - to the point where it was actually much nicer than McDonalds.

I only noticed maybe seven or eight months ago when it was the only place available for a quick meal, but I've been back once since, at the other end of the country, and it was also good.

I suspect these things are a bit cyclical.

McD and BK seem to be all over the place in Germany. I live in a small-ish city (~50k residents) and we have 2 McD and one BK here. BK has a location advantage though, as they are in the rail station / shopping mall complex (rail is an important mean of travel here). None of the establishments is ever empty, though McD is more frequently choke full.

No. In California, in particular, fast food competition is fierce and very few people seem to choose Burger King.

They're most notable for their advertising campaign featuring the King mascot. It was entertaining in a creepy/surreal way but didn't make me want to eat their hamburgers.

In Thailand, it's the opposite: Burger Kings are most likely to be in upscale restaurants and have far more "classy" dining rooms than McDonalds. Feels very strange, to be honest, and they still don't get much business.

Very much so, yes.