Burger King Ethics: What’s Unethical About Burger King’s “Tax Inversion” (And It’s Not Burger King) According to the company, Burger King was started in 1954 by James W. McLamore and Edgerton in Miami. Other sources,however, trace Burger King back to insta- Burger King,a venture founded in Jacksonville, Florida,by Keith Kramer and Matthew Burns in 1953. McLamore and Edgerton sold their first franchises in 1959, and Burger king soon became a national chain. ...