Burger King opened its first location in 1953, which means the company has given us seven decades of memories at this point.
Whether you remember the time when the restaurants looked like drive-ins instead of drive-thrus or you had your 8th birthday party there in 1996, these vintage Burger King photos are bound to bring up some seriously nostalgic feelings.
1. 18 Cents!
While those cars and the drive-in feel in this retro photo are outstanding, we’re agog at the price on the sign — and that creepy looking mascot on top of it.
2. Food Court Feast
These kids are sitting down to a veritable BK fest in a mall food court. Those paper crowns were the height of 8-year-old fashion (and, hopefully, the other kid eventually got a better haircut).
3. AM Radio
In 1983, Radio Shack made this AM radio with burger-shaped headphones for Burger King. Too bad it wasn’t a ham(burger) radio.
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4. Cool Kids
From 1990 to 1999, Burger King had a Kid’s Club, where kids who signed up would get a membership card, a free meal on their birthday, and presumably plenty of ads mailed to their house. These super cool cartoon kids with names like Kid Vid and Jaws were used on all kinds of marketing.
5. Have It Your Way
This photo is from 1984, according to the Redditor who posted it. Check out those uniforms — including a visor! — and those massive, state-of-the-art cash registers.
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6. Drive-In Delight
At least the King mascot is looking less scary in this old color photo. Who else thinks BK should bring back this vintage look for new restaurants?
7. Fine Dining
In the early 1990s, BK started experimenting with more “upscale” dining. Dinner baskets were on the menu, and employees would bring them out to your table in the evening, similar to a sit-down restaurant. Clearly, the chain went back to its fast-food roots in short order.
8. Cutting Edge
Leave it to Manhattan’s Burger King location for pulling out all the technological stops. In 1998, customers got free internet access with their meals, something new and unusual at the time.
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9. Teaching Moment
Check out that Farrah Fawcett-style hair in this 1984 photo. His style is a little more, well, unfortunate.
10. 2,500-calorie Mash Up
What do you get when you cross a pizza and a burger? BK’s Pizza Burger, of course. (You’d think they could come up with a catchier name, like Whopper of a Pizza or something.) This weird, sharable burger thing came in at 2,500 calories, but it was only offered at one New York City location. It’s probably best that it’s long gone.
11. ‘I Loved These Burger King Disney Cups’
Promotional pop culture tie-ins were huge in fast food in the ’90s. These Disney movie glasses were only 89 cents and graced many kitchen cabinets. “I wish I still had them,” said u/nyguy2452 on Reddit, and yeah, same.
12. Time Capsule
The teal! The purple shapes! The glass block partition! This is about as painfully ’90s as a fast-food restaurant can get.
13. Tailfins Galore
We can’t help but think this vintage BK looks either like an old McDonald’s or a car dealership with an exterior of all windows. We adore the playful “Whopper” font on both signs, though.
14. ‘A Burger King Express in Valdez, Alaska, in 1989’
According to the Redditor who posted this photo, it’s a BK location in Alaska in the late 1980s. If you look closely, you’ll notice it’s actually a truck. Maybe the company was way ahead of the food truck trend.
15. Fancy Pants
Plastic mauve tablecloths and shoulderpads as big as your hairdo are the epitome of style in this 1990s-era photo of the short-lived table service experiment.
16. ’50 Shades of Orange, That’s How You Know It’s the ’70’s’
We couldn’t possibly make a more 1970s photo if we tried. “They should go back to this style,” said one Redditor. “I dig it.”
17. Insta-Burger and Poodle Skirts
When BK opened in Florida in 1953, it was known as Insta-Burger King because the equipment for cooking the burgers was called the Insta-Broiler.
18. 1985 Tray Liner
Somehow, whenever you get a Croissan’wich now, it’s always smushed, unlike these breakfast beauties.
19. Drive-Thru Menu
This menu board from the ’90s is making us weep for current prices. A Whopper meal was less than $4, and a 99-cent menu still existed with 5-piece chicken tenders, jalapeno poppers, and a small shake.
20. ‘It’s a Meal-in-Itself!’
People still needed to learn what the Whopper was in the 1960s. At least that’s what this ad implies. We love the “catsup” and the fact that they’re only 39 cents!
21. Date Night
This candid photo oozes so much 1990s energy. Someone should have made it an album cover.
22. Ideal Breakfast
One of Burger King’s best discontinued breakfast items were the Cini-Minis. They were teeny cinnamon rolls that came with icing dipping cups. Whose bright idea was it to axe them?
23. Salad Bar
Yes, Burger King had a short-lived salad bar, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Wendy’s Super Bar. None of the food shown in this 1983 ad seems like you’d get it from BK.
24. ‘These Old Mall Burger King Restaurants Hit Differently’
“… And the food tasted better,” according to one Redditor. Not sure about that claim, but we do know that the stained glass sign and faux brick walls are giving us all the nostalgic feelings.
25. At Garage Sales Everywhere
Are these Burger King food toys unlocking any core memories for you? We’re guessing there’s one or two in your parents’ basement.
