Turnaround specialist to lead Burger King

MIAMI — Burger King Corp. named a former president of Continental Airlines Inc. and turnaround specialist to be its new chief executive Tuesday as the chain struggles to keep its No. 2 position in the fast-food industry.

Greg Brenneman, 42, is currently chairman and CEO of a Houston-based private equity firm, TurnWorks Inc. He will join Burger King on Aug. 1 and will become the chain's 10th CEO in 15 years.

Brenneman insists, like several predecessors, that the executive suite revolving door will stop with him. He replaces Brad Blum, who resigned July 2 citing differences with the board after about 18 months on the job with mostly disappointing sales.

"When I came to Continental Airlines, I was the 10th president in 10 years. And I ended up staying for six years, the airline really got turned around. I intend to do the same thing here," Brenneman told The Associated Press in an interview at Burger King's Miami headquarters.

But Brenneman has his work cut out for him.

Burger King has lost ground to the biggest fast-food chain, McDonald's Corp., and No. 3 Wendy's is fast on its trail. Disputes with franchisees, who own about 90 percent of Burger King's more than 11,200 restaurants worldwide, have reportedly helped lead to the demise of the privately held chain's past two CEOs.

Burger King's U.S. sales dropped 5 percent to $7.9 billion last year, according to research firm Technomic Inc. Its market share slid to 15.6 percent last year from 17 percent, with Wendy's inching up to 14.5 percent from 14 percent. McDonald's had 43.6 percent.

But the company has reported that U.S. comparable store sales have climbed for five straight months through June after nearly two years of declines. Analysts, and even Brenneman, acknowledge that strength is also a sign of how bad sales were in the past.

"The comp sales are off of low numbers not only last year, but the year before," he said.

But he was hopeful that certain products that Blum introduced, including a burger made of high-quality Angus beef and salads with "fire-grilled" shrimp and chicken, would continue that reversal.

"Usually when I came into tough business situations before, the platforms have been burning. That isn't the case here. The company is on a bit of a roll," he said.

Brenneman didn't have firm plans of any changes he might bring to the company but expected to focus on the chain's core burger business.