Why is (U.S.) Burger King so terrible?

[SamSpade]

BK had a somewhat exciting promotion going on right now with the upcoming Spiderverse sequel (Miles Morales/animated storyline). I got pulled in and decided to try the Whopper. Ordered online, arrived in store to find that they had no more buns.

I generally have terrible experiences with BK (bitter lettuce, cool beef patties, unpleasant bun flavor). It does not surprise me to see they've lost so much ground on other chains.

When I was a child, my parents had some weird rule where they could justify us going to BK (I think it was partially the large playground outside) but not McDonalds. So I am very familiar with the chain over the years. I did used to really like the chicken fingers dipped in honey as a kid.

[Alpha8472]

I too wanted to try the Red Spider-verse Whopper. However, the price was outrageous. I settled for the Spider-Verse Sundae for $2.99. It had some kind of colored crunchy popping sprinkles.

The sprinkles tasted similar to rice crispies. The flavor was so bland.

I knew Burger King would run out of their promotional items. They were supposed to have new Spider-Man BK paper crowns available. I didn't see any left when I got to the restaurant.

[storewanderer]

The spider Whopper is 7.39 in Reno (normal one is 6.59).

So basically they got the bun supplier to add some red coloring to the buns and then got some black sesame seeds to put on it? I wonder how many of these buns went to each store.

I don't know enough about Burger King to know if their buns come in fresh or are frozen buns.

[bryceleinan]

The spider Whopper is 7.39 in Reno (normal one is 6.59).

So basically they got the bun supplier to add some red coloring to the buns and then got some black sesame seeds to put on it? I wonder how many of these buns went to each store.

I don't know enough about Burger King to know if their buns come in fresh or are frozen buns.

At least the one in Carson City gets theirs from Bimbo Bakeries, from the couple of times I have seen the bread truck there.

[storewanderer]

The spider Whopper is 7.39 in Reno (normal one is 6.59).

So basically they got the bun supplier to add some red coloring to the buns and then got some black sesame seeds to put on it? I wonder how many of these buns went to each store.

I don't know enough about Burger King to know if their buns come in fresh or are frozen buns.

At least the one in Carson City gets theirs from Bimbo Bakeries, from the couple of times I have seen the bread truck there.

Interesting. So the supplier probably did a really limited size special run of these buns for Burger King and each location got a small allocation.

[Romr123]

I'd say likely not; these would be the perfect item to be frozen and shipped through the frozen channel (in whatever quantities) to each store.

[Alpha8472]

The problem is that the Spider Verse Whopper bun is smaller than the regular Whopper bun. The patty needs to be smaller. The buns are not interchangeable. You would have a huge white bun on a smaller patty.

[Alpha8472]

There is a deal on the app for a $5 Spider Verse Whopper on Mondays and a different deal each day.

I got the Spider Verse Whopper today and I was not disappointed. It tasted like a regular Whopper with a red bun and black sesame seeds. It also had Swiss style melted cheese.

The bun is smaller than a regular Whopper but the patty seems thicker and the sandwich is taller.

[buckguy]

BK had a somewhat exciting promotion going on right now with the upcoming Spiderverse sequel (Miles Morales/animated storyline). I got pulled in and decided to try the Whopper. Ordered online, arrived in store to find that they had no more buns.

I generally have terrible experiences with BK (bitter lettuce, cool beef patties, unpleasant bun flavor). It does not surprise me to see they've lost so much ground on other chains.

When I was a child, my parents had some weird rule where they could justify us going to BK (I think it was partially the large playground outside) but not McDonalds. So I am very familiar with the chain over the years. I did used to really like the chicken fingers dipped in honey as a kid.

The operative question is how have they remained in business?

Besides being bought and sold numerous times, they've had problems getting along with their franchieses for decades and the franchises are an odd bunch--bankruptcies, carcasses of old chains like Horn and Hardart and because of various changes over time in their business model including master/sub-franchise agreements, they have difficulty providing a consistently good product.

Their "innovations" always seem to get them in trouble---having large indoor seating meant they were a little too popular with teenagers and other chains looked for ways to avoid that when they added seating; the customizable menu meant their stores were more complicated to run; and the Whopper seemed like a messy version of the Big Boy which was part of a much larger menu. They went overseas earlier than everyone except McDonald's and usually have one master franchise which is able to maintain consistency and make successful local adapatations.

Unlike Wendy's, which targeted a more adult audience, they never really stakedout a distinct clientele and they never had the menu efficiences of Wendy's (square burgers, recycling burgers into chili) or McDonald's. Unlike Burger Chef and Red Barn, they managed to get competitive locations in their initial growth which probably enabled them to stick around long after other chains had folded.

[storewanderer]

The operative question is how have they remained in business?
Unlike Burger Chef and Red Barn, they managed to get competitive locations in their initial growth which probably enabled them to stick around long after other chains had folded.

All of that- is perfect analysis.

Sometimes the best chain doesn't win. And this is one of those cases.

What I find interesting is how they have been able to STAY in business over the years. They have had franchisee issues/medium/large size franchisees going bust at a higher rate than various other concepts. Back in the 90's they lost Sacramento as the franchisee had some kind of problem (IRS or something maybe) and many of the locations ended up going to competing concepts, some even ended up as McDonalds. Sacramento was obviously not a market you wanted to be absent from so Burger King corporate went in there and opened up a couple dozen new build corporate units throughout the area to save the market (those units have since been refranchises). I suspect this pattern has been repeated across multiple markets over the years to save the chain and keep it as one with a national presence.