BK Lounge (Burger King nickname)

Burger King is a fast food chain restaurant that began in 1953. The nickname “BK Lounge” (a jocular use. giving the restaurant an illusion of class) has been cited in print since at least 1985.
   
De La Soul’s album De La Soul is dead (1991) included the song “Bitties in the BK Lounge.” Comedian Dane Cook used “BK Lounge” in his routine, but he didn’t coin the nickname.
 
 
Wikipedia: Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1955, its two Miami-based franchisees, David Edgerton and James McLamore, purchased the company and renamed it Burger King. Over the next half century the company would change hands four times, with its third set of owners, a partnership of TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, taking it public in 2002. In late 2010 3G Capital of Brazil acquired a majority stake in BK in a deal valued at $3.26 billion (USD).
 
At the end of fiscal year 2010, Burger King reported it had more than 12,200 outlets in 73 countries; of these, 66 percent are in the United States and 90 percent are privately owned and operated.
 
Urban Dictionary
BK Lounge
burger king. this name has been around since the mid 80’s and was in use by my friends in racine, wi, BEFORE de la soul or dane cook ever used it…
(the BK Lounge was popular with us because it had free refills)
Q: so what should we do tonite?
A: let’s go to the BK Lounge and hang out…
by turkeyfunk Sep 8, 2008
 
Google Books
The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
By Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor
New York, NY: Routledge
2008
Pg. 60:
BK Lounge noun a Burger King fast food restaurant. Mocking attribution of class. US 1985
     
7 September 1985, Charlotte (NC) Observer, “The Malt Shop of the ‘80s: Southeast Charlotte Flock to Sharon Road Burger King,” Metro, pg. 1:
Some know it only as the Home of the Whopper. But the Burger King at Sharon and Fairview roads is more. It`s “The B.K. Lounge,” an affectionately-dubbed teenage hangout.
 
23 July 1988, Atlanta (GA) Journal and Constitution, “After Dark: Local Bars Left Out in Cold by Democratic Hoopla,” pg. L13: 
Instead, they stopped at Burger King (they now affectionately refer to it as ” The BK Lounge”), where the limo broke down again.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
De La Soul is dead
Author: Paul, Prince.; De La Soul (Musical group)
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Tommy Boy, 1991.
Edition/Format:  Music CD : CD audio : Popular music : English
Contents:
(...)
9 Bitties in the BK Lounge Huston/Isley/Isley/ 5:40
 
Google Books
How to Talk American
A guide to our native tongues
By Jim Crotty
Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin
1997
Pg. 383:
the BK Lounge: Burger King