Burger King has long been a brand people love to complain about. Cold fries, soggy Whoppers, dirty restaurants, and a feeling that nobody at the top was paying attention.

This year, however, something shifted.

Tom Curtis, Burger King’s President, started showing up on TikTok. Not in a polished “brand content” way, but with a visible commitment to fixing things. He shared his personal phone number and invited people to text in with their feedback, visited stores in person, and responded to comments directly.

The audience noticed immediately, and the reaction was telling: people were not only impressed by the gesture, but actually started engaging with the brand again.

We ran 77,000 comments across 32 TikTok posts through Siftsy to see what the data shows about how the turnaround is landing.

Here’s what stood out to us.

Tom is the dominant conversation-driver across Burger King’s comment sections - more than the menu, the food, or any specific campaign. His phone line stunt and store visits are being read as proof that someone at the top is genuinely listening, and comments are linking his visibility directly to renewed interest in the brand.

Customers have been requesting specific items, fixes and even memories. The nostalgia for 90s fries and crown nuggets runs through thousands of comments, and Burger King has been visibly responding to those asks. The comment section flagged what people wanted, and the brand followed through - this feedback loop is exactly what’s driving the perception that the turnaround is real.

6.6% of all comments referenced McDonald’s, turning a competitor’s viral misstep into momentum for Burger King. The comment section became a stage for audiences to compare, poke fun, and switch allegiance. Burger King’s social team moved quickly, and the audience rewarded them for it.

Alongside the enthusiasm, dirty stores and inconsistent service keep surfacing across the data. The turnaround is real in the marketing - the comment section is making clear that the operational side still needs to catch up. It’s not a damning verdict, but it is an honest one. And it’s exactly the kind of signal a brand needs to hear.

The story comments are telling is broadly positive - a brand that started listening, an audience that started responding, and a cultural moment that arrived at exactly the right time.

Whether that translates into a sustained recovery depends on what happens in the restaurants as much as what happens on TikTok.

Ever wondered what it looks like when a brand catches a signal in the comment section and actually…does something with it?

Dr Pepper’s agency, Social Element, spotted an unsponsored TikTok jingle by creator @romeosshow. Within 24 hours they had commented, and within weeks the audio was airing during the College Football Playoff National Championship - unchanged from the original. The campaign hit 65 million views.

What makes this worth studying is the infrastructure behind the moment: a team permanently embedded in the comments, a clear escalation process, and brand principles that allowed action without every decision needing senior sign-off.

As Lindsay Burstein at Keurig Dr Pepper puts it: "It's not a question of do we take action, but what kind of action do we take?"

What the Siftsy team has been reading, saving, and talking about this week.