Burger King CEO: "We're Beginning to Start a Turn" <b></b>

Miami--Pointing to what he said were 10 consecutive days of improved sales and traffic at company restaurants, some popular new products and scant discounting, Burger King Corp.'s chief executive contends that the company is beginning to start a turn. In the first of what the burger chain said would be a series of "ask the CEO" voice mails to employees and franchisees, Brad Blum said people around Burger King are becoming "cautiously optimistic." Blum pronounced the recent introduction of a "Great American Burger," a chicken Caesar salad and the start of "an everyday right pricing" program that priced the flagship Whopper at $1.99 as important early steps in the brand's turnaround. -Dow Jones