Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
A burger and fries is synonymous with American culture. Bruce Daniels has purchased both the Sylva and Bryson City locations.
Mike Lackey, who sold the franchises, built his career in burger and fries. With two business partners, he opened the first Burger King west of Asheville in WNC that opened in Cherokee in 1985.
He was the operating partner. In 1987, they opened the Sylva location and sold the Cherokee store the next year. He bought his partners out in 1989 and opened the Bryson City Burger King in August 2000.
Over the years, he’s witnessed plenty of changes. “The menu has gotten a lot bigger. It started with just whopper or burger and fries,” Lackey said. “I have watched the evolution of breakfast. They brought croissants in and that became the biggest breakfast sandwich. It’s just so much as far as the company and the way we do things. It’s been an evolution to meet consumer demands.
“We had one chicken sandwich when we opened and when we started out breakfast was just biscuits and French toast. The menu has really evolved over the years.”
Now, Burger King has gotten a lot of attention for its introduction of the impossible whopper, a plant based burger that tastes like meat.
Everything has also changed as far as the equipment and even the staffing is different, he said.
“It’s a lot more difficult to find staffing now than it was in 1985,” Lackey said.
He recalls when he first opened Burger King in Bryson City that he had 150 applications. In the early years, the location was extremely busy too and was the highest grossing franchise in the state.
“When we opened, a whopper was $1.75,” he said. He remembers working 12-16 hour days in those early years.
Business has continued to be good over the years. Lackey said this past year was the best yet.
“I enjoyed it, I really did. It’s provided me with a good income to raise a family and send my kids to college,” Lackey said.
Now, facing retirement after selling the franchises, he said he has six grandchildren he hopes to spend a lot of time with and he and his wife, who is a retired schoolteacher, hope to do some traveling.
“I’d like to thank all of the people of Swain County for all their support over the years and all the employees over they years that made it possible because this is a people driven business without that team, you have nothing,” Lackey concluded. “A big shout out to all the people who have made this successful.”