Remembering Bob Fur man: BURGER KING’s Longest Franchisee

Robert “Bob” Furman was truly a cornerstone of the BURGER KING® brand. Together, with his father Royal Furman, they opened BURGER KING No. 12 in 1959 in Miami, Florida, making the Furmans one of the first franchisees of the concept. Bob will be remembered for his devotion to the system and his contributions that forever shaped the BURGER KING business.

A Chicago native, Bob was born in 1930. After serving in the 10th Mountain Division during his years in the army, Bob returned to Illinois. Royal, a retired postal worker, was looking for a business opportunity and stumbled across a small, three-line ad in The Chicago Tribune. The ad was posted by James McLamore and David Edgerton themselves, looking to franchise their burger restaurant. Royal filled out the form and mailed it off to Miami. Little did he know that he and his son would be instrumental in building BURGER KING into the international success it is today.

McLamore answered the Furmans’ postcard, inviting them to speak with him and Edgerton in Miami. In the Fall 1996 issue of Flame, Bob recalled meeting with the founders, saying, “We met him at the restaurant, and while we were talking, Jim chopped lettuce and onions. Around 11 a.m., he suggested lunch and excused himself as he and Dave had to go to work. We went to the counter, and there he was working the cash register while Dave worked the fries.”

After their meeting, the Furmans decided to buy into BURGER KING. Bob returned to Chicago, and Royal stayed in Florida to run their new restaurant. A couple of weeks later, McLamore reached out to Bob directly, asking him to relocate to Miami to help his father. Bob decided to leave his current position in the insurance business behind and joined his father.

“We still have the telegram my grandfather wrote to my father on the first day of business,”

Jennifer Fairly, daughter of Bob, said. “They couldn’t just pick up a cell phone and call each other. It’s a testament to how different things were back then.”

Bob also reflected on this time in a 2013 edition of Flame, saying, “We only had a few items on the menu. If you compare that to today, the business was easier to run, and the service was much faster.”

After moving to Miami to work with his father, Bob realized how successful the BURGER KING concept was and decided to bring it to Chicago in the 60s. He also started a commissary for BK® in Chicago where operators could come and pack their own meat, grab their own vegetables and get other products in bulk that were needed to run their restaurants. Bob even hand-prepared the patties in the basement of his restaurant each day.

The 1970s ushered in a new prospect for Bob. He got another opportunity to move back to Florida to continue his work with BURGER KING. This time, he had his wife and children to take with him. They settled on the west coast of Florida to further expand the market.

“His entire life’s work was building these stores,” Jennifer said. “There were no assets or acquisitions because there were no restaurants to acquire. He had to find the land, have utilities installed and literally build these BURGER KINGs from the ground up.”

“In the beginning, we didn’t have contractors,” she said. “My dad would go and build these stores himself with the help of a small crew. He really enjoyed that aspect of it. Installing the floors, the seating, the fryers … he did it all.”

As they grew up, Jennifer and her sister Kimberly were fully immersed in BURGER KING.

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Bob Furman

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She recalled, “My dad started in BURGER KING before our family had even started, so that really is all we’ve ever done. In the early days, all the franchisees were very connected, working towards a common purpose.”

“He ended up having a close relationship with McLamore and Edgerton until they both passed away,” Jennifer commented. “Every vacation we took was with other franchisees and even all the families became very close. This really has been my whole life.” She laughed, “All of my birthday parties growing up had a Whopper Hopper and paper crowns.”

Without Bob and other early franchisees, BURGER KING certainly could not have become the big name it is today.

“All of his friendships were these franchises doing the same work as him,” she continued. “They put every penny and every minute they had into building this brand. It wasn’t like they had a foundation to build upon — they literally took it from the ground up. It was a community effort.”

By the 1980s, multiple acquisitions of BURGER KING had already begun. Most notably was the Grand Met acquisition of Pillsbury in 1988 that spurred the founding National Franchisee Association (NFA) members to act.

“My father was very interested in the association early on,” Jennifer said. “As business grew larger, it was important to get like-minded people together who cared about the same goals, so work could be done with the franchisor.”

She continued, “He was very instrumental in taking the NFA across the country and getting the Florida-Caribbean association off the ground. He really enjoyed the networking opportunities; he gave so much council and free advice because he wanted to help others.”

Bob knew that the franchisees were the backbone of the business. He truly wanted his community to succeed, along with BURGER KING.

“Over the years, he served on probably every NFA committee he could. He was very engaged with the work. He was a true owner/operator,” she said.

The Furmans are a multi-generational franchisee family with Jennifer having worked alongside Bob for a number of years as vice president of Furman’s Inc., following in his footsteps.

Jennifer concluded, “It’s been a fabulous ride with the greatest people. He will be missed in a king-sized way in our BURGER KING family.”

In 2013, late founder David Edgerton commented on Bob’s entrepreneurship, saying, “Bob Furman was an excellent operator and managed the restaurants 100% like Jim and I would have wanted him to. He paid attention to every detail, really took care of his restaurants and became one of the best operators in the system.”

Bob was a visionary who knew that hard work and dedication would shape BURGER KING into the success he thought it could become. He will be sorely missed by the entire franchisee community who will work to carry on his legacy every day. n