Burger King part of North Franklin's plan to beef up its business district

January 3, 2019

Rick Shrum
Observer Reporter

We’re not telling a whopper. Burger King appears to be heading for North Franklin Township.

Carrols Restaurant Group, franchisee for the 65-year-old restaurant chain, “intends to construct” a Burger King restaurant at 1150 W. Chestnut St., according to a legal advertisement in Monday’s Observer-Reporter. The fast-food location would be on the site of the former Martin’s Supply, which shut down years ago.

Syracuse, N.Y.-based Carrols is the world’s largest Burger King franchisee. Two years ago, BK said it had more than 15,000 locations in 100 countries.

Burger King, headquartered in Miami, has a menu featuring hamburger, chicken and breakfast sandwiches, salads and desserts among its offerings. Its signature item is the Whopper, a large, single patty with cheese, lettuce, tomato and other items piled high.

The introduction of a BK could provoke a mini “Burger War,” a competitive scenario reminiscent of the large-scale “Cola Wars” of the late 1980s. The new BK would go up near a McDonald’s restaurant on West Chestnut.

Burger King has two other locations in Washington County: Jefferson Avenue, Washington, and Meadowlands Boulevard, North Strabane Township. It has one in Greene, on Roy Furman Highway in Franklin Township.

Construction, however, is not imminent. At a public hearing Jan. 15, the township supervisors will consider conditional-use requests for a drive-through for the proposed Burger King. The 4 p.m. meeting will be in the municipal building, 620 Franklin Farms Road.

“This has been in the works,” Bob Sabot, a North Franklin supervisor, said Wednesday morning. “We’re kind of excited about it.”

He added that business owners along the township stretch of West Chestnut “are still working” on resolving flooding issues that have been prevalent near the intersection with Franklin Farms Road. He added that because Chestnut is a state-maintained road, North Franklin – Route 40 – is not financially responsible for repairs there. “But we want to get that fixed because it’s affecting business owners.

Alison Brod Marketing and Communications, a public relations company representing Burger King, did not immediately return a phone call to the New York City firm’s offices.