Burger King, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Burger King began in Miami, Florida, and the corporate headquarters is there today, but it is truly an international chain with restaurants in many parts of the world. In fact, for a few years the company was owned by a British conglomerate.

Fast food eaters everywhere owe a debt of gratitude to Burger King, even if they don't know it. At one time the fast food giants served burgers only one way - their way - and you could take it or leave it. Then Burger King began advertising that at their restaurants you could "Have it your way." Other fast food franchises had to change in order to compete, and now virtually all of them allow special orders.

For a short period of time in my life I was the store manager of a Burger King restaurant. Let me tell you now, it's HARD work. The corporate office says in their jingle that "Special ordrers don't upset us." But when the line is out the door, and three of your kitchen help don't show up for work, and the rest of your staff speak four different languages, and the soda machine starts spewing like Old Faithful, and you run out of cheeze, and the cash register goes haywire, and the bread man delivers the wrong kind of buns, and the toilet in the men's room overflows, and the lady from the health department shows up wearing a stern expression and a complaint in her hand - all at the same time - special orders can sure confuse the hell out of us.

Ever since working at a Burger King, I have been MUCH more patient and appreciative of the value and good food they offer. If you only knew of what sometimes goes on behind the scenes at a Burger King you would realize that every time you get your order delivered fresh and correctly it's a small miracle- and they do it thousands of times a day.

Burger King, like most all the other burger joints, has an ever changing menu, with new feature items being offered every few weeks. However, day in and day out, their signature sandwich, the Whopper, is my favorite fast food burger. Add cheeze and bacon and it's even better.