Burger King's president says the chain improved its Whopper — and calls from customers helped

Burger King President Tom Curtis said customer phone calls helped the company revamp its signature Whopper and fuel a broader turnaround at the fast-food chain. "We've been listening to our guests a lot lately," Curtis told Jim Cramer on CNBC's " Mad Money " on Friday. "I've personally taken 1,800 calls from guests, and we got over 70,000 incoming calls." Restaurant Brands International , the parent company of Burger King and Tim Hortons, reported better-than-expected results on Wednesday, fueled by another quarter of strong international growth and a successful turnaround in U.S. stores. Burger King U.S. posted 5.8% same-store sales growth in the three months ended in March, outperforming competitors that have recently warned about weaker consumer spending . That marks a clear acceleration from 1.6% same-store sales growth in 2025. According to Curtis, customer feedback has played a central role in the company's turnaround, helping shape everything down to changes to its Whopper. "What we learned is that people love the Whopper, but sometimes they think it gets smushed," he said. "Sometimes they didn't quite like the bun that it was presented on. So we knew exactly where to go." Burger King spent more than two years evaluating possible changes to the sandwich, Curtis said, but ultimately decided to make only modest adjustments after hearing consumers wanted the core product left largely intact. …