Tom Curtis is so intent on making more improvements at Burger King that he is publishing his phone number and taking calls from customers, which prompted this question from an inquiring business journalist:
Is he crazy?
“Pretty much,” Curtis, who heads Burger King in the U.S. and Canada, said in an interview. “My wife was like, ‘What happens at 2 a.m. when the phone rings?’”
He assured us that he has both a work phone and a personal phone. The number being given out is his work phone. “The work phone will stay downstairs on the kitchen counter until at least 5 in the morning,” he said.
But this is, indeed, a real thing, a broadening of Burger King’s customer engagement efforts that until now has involved giving customers the ability to create Whoppers that end up on the chain’s menu.
In this case, Curtis will be taking customer feedback for at least four hours every day. “All I’m going to do is listen to guests and talk to guests,” Curtis said. “And they can call and talk about anything they want to. They can talk about their little dog, Hazel, and what she did today. I’d rather hear a little bit about what they see when they go to the brand.
“My wife was not pleased.”
Burger King has generated some momentum of late under Curtis, and with a substantial financial infusion from parent company Restaurant Brands International.
The company has focused on operations, worked with operators to remodel stores, and hired a new marketing chief in Joel Yashinsky. The chain has outperformed the broader fast-food sector for nine of the past 12 quarters, including the fourth quarter of last year when its U.S. same-store sales rose 2.6%.
Many chief executives and top company officials routinely visit stores as part of their job and talk with customers. But, suffice it to say, it’s rare for them to publish their phone number and invite customers to text.
Some of the feedback will be used in digital marketing. The calls will be recorded for two weeks. But Curtis promised that he will continue to take calls after that, when the cameras are not on.
The goal is to find out where the company needs to make the most effort in its restaurants this year.
“It’s a catalyst for us to find out where the most effort is needed,” Curtis said. “We’ve got to be working on our restaurant experience. We’ve got to be working on technology for our team members, technology that’s seamless for our guests. We’ve got to work on restaurant image. We’ve got to work on consistency and accuracy. We’ve got to get our marketing voice right.
“If you’re taking that volume of incoming [calls] and collecting it and you’re assimilating it, you’re going to see the trends where you need to lean in most.”
It also gives Curtis the ability to see a much broader group of restaurants than he can physically get to at any one point. “You know, there’s 7,000 restaurants out there, and I know this is going to shock you, but I don’t get to 7,000 restaurants in a year,” he said. “It’s just not practical. I’m going to get people. Calling me from who knows where, York, Pennsylvania, Tucson, Arizona, and they’re going to talk with me about their specific experiences.”
Burger King has said that this will be a year of “elevation” as it works to take its turnaround efforts to another level. The company has brought on former Popeyes head chef Amy Alarcon—creator of The Chicken Sandwich—to take the same position, with the promise to upgrade the food. The engagement campaign is another part of that strategy.
Still, this is 2026, and as the saying goes, never read the comments. Having customers from everywhere calling a top executive seems to be an invitation for a lot of negativity. But Curtis himself is hopeful that a lot of the calls will be good.
“It’ll be all over the map,” he said. “We’re going to gather a pretty significant database, and from that, we’ll see the trends we need to address. And you know, I’m also hopeful I get some great calls of how much they love Burger King, because that happens as well, and I’m sure we’ll get some of those.”
As long as they don’t come at 2 a.m. But here’s the number: (305) 874-0520.
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