ANY DAY NOW, barring unforeseen calamity, Burger King will join the ranks of publicly traded corporations. It marks a first for the home of the Whopper, which since its founding in 1954 has been a private firm, a subsidiary of a big American food company, a subsidiary of a British conglomerate, a subsidiary of an even bigger British conglomerate, and most recently, the property of three private-equity firms.

Life as an independent company with a stock market listing won't be easy. Burger King is a distant No. 2 to McDonald's, with Wendy's no longer just nipping at its heels but threatening to surpass it in the slow-growth U.S. hamburger market.

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