Local Burger Kings get new owners

Burger King restaurants in Columbia Falls and Kalispell have new owners.

Meridian Restaurants of Ogden, Utah, purchased nine Montana Burger King restaurants in a deal that closed Monday morning.

In addition to the Flathead Valley restaurants, Meridian owners David and Blayne Harper bought four Burger Kings in Billings, one in Lockwood and two in Missoula.

Remodeling the older-style Burger Kings into the chain’s latest prototype will start this year, Blayne Harper said, although she declined to give a date for finishing the remakes.

“We’re going to be putting a lot of resources into them. We’ll be adding some inside playgrounds,” she said.

The Harpers spent Monday in Columbia Falls visiting that restaurant and then headed to Billings.

This is the first business venture in Montana for the Harpers, who have been in the restaurant business for 30 years and now own 38 Burger Kings in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

“We’re extremely happy to be in Montana. We’re anxious to show how Burger Kings should look and how business should be done and to treat the customers right,” she said.

David Harper lived in Cody, Wyo., for three years during his teens.

“Montana is like coming home for me. We used to come to Billings all the time when we lived in Cody because there wasn’t an airport there yet,” he said.

Meridian Restaurants bought the Montana properties from King Of The Mountain LLC, a Scottsdale, Ariz., company that also is privately owned. The Arizona company owned the nine Burger Kings for about seven years, Blayne Harper said.  

David Harper said the previous owner just decided to move on to other business ventures.

Negotiating the deal in Montana took about nine months, he said. No price was disclosed, but Blayne Harper said it was in the millions.

“It’s not cheap to own a national franchise, much less nine of them,” she said. “The remodels themselves will cost a lot, along with the training.”

About 300 employees work at the nine restaurants. They have been rehired with their current pay and benefits continued, Blayne Harper said.

The purchase does not include the newest Burger King at 1438 Grand Ave. in Billings. That restaurant, which opened in January, is owned by former Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg, his wife, Jan Rehberg, and another relative. The Rehbergs said they plan to build three more Burger Kings in Montana this year.

The chain that started selling Whoppers 58 years ago now operates more than 13,000 restaurants in 97 countries and territories. Last year, the Home of the Whopper opened 408 more restaurants worldwide and almost all are independently owned, according to company financial statements.

Distributed by MCT Information Services