Whopper

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This article is about the hamburger. For the candy, see Whoppers. For other uses, see Whopper (disambiguation).
Whopper
Burger king whopper.jpg
A Burger King Whopper sandwich
Nutritional value per serving
Serving size 1 sandwich (290 g)
Energy 670 kcal (2,800 kJ)
Carbohydrates 51 g
- Sugars 11 g
- Dietary fiber 3 g
Fat 50 g
- saturated 11 g
- trans 1.5 g
Protein 28 g
Sodium 1020 mg (68%)
Energy from fat 350 kcal (1,500 kJ)
Cholesterol 115 mg
Percentages are relative to
US recommendations for adults.
Source: www.BK.com (PDF)
Whopper Jr.
Nutritional value per serving
Serving size 1 sandwich (158 g)
Energy 370 kcal (1,500 kJ)
Carbohydrates 31 g
- Sugars 6 g
- Dietary fiber 2 g
Fat 21 g
- saturated 7 g
- trans 0.5 g
Protein 15 g
Sodium 570 mg (38%)
Energy from fat 190 kcal (790 kJ)
Cholesterol 50 mg
Percentages are relative to
US recommendations for adults.
Source: www.BK.com (PDF)

The Whopper sandwich is the signature hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, it has undergone several reformulations including resizing and bread changes. The burger is one of the best known products in the fast food industry; it is so well known that Burger King bills itself as the Home of the Whopper in its advertising and signage.

The company markets several variants of the burger as well as other variants that are specifically tailored to meet local taste preferences or customs of the various regions and countries in which it does business. To promote continuing interest in the product, Burger King occasionally releases limited-time variants on the Whopper.

Contents

History [edit]

A meal including a Whopper, Jr., fries and a drink.

The Whopper was created in 1957 by Burger King founder James McLamore and sold for 37 cents.[1]

In 1985, the weight of the Whopper was increased to 1/3 lb. The bun was also replaced by a Kaiser roll.[2] The Whopper reverted to the original formulation in late-1990. The "Third Pound Whopper" made a return in the early 2000s, but has since been discontinued again.

The packaging has undergone many changes since its inception. Unlike McDonald's, the company never used the clamshell style box made of Styrofoam, so when the environmental concerns over Styrofoam came to a head in the late 1980s, the company was able to tout its use of paperboard boxes for its sandwiches.[3] To cut back on the amount of paper that the company used, the paperboard box was fully eliminated in 1991 and was replaced with waxed paper.[4] For a short time after BK began moving to a fresh made model (certain sandwiches are made only after being ordered instead of being pre-made ahead of time), BK used an aluminum foil wrapping similar to Wendy's sandwich packaging.

Product description [edit]

The Whopper is a hamburger, consisting of a flame grilled quarter-pound (113.4 g) beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion. Optional ingredients such as processed cheese, bacon (With the exception of South Africa), mustard, guacamole or jalapeño peppers may be added upon request. Regional and international condiments include BBQ sauce and salsa. Burger King will also add any condiment it sells, including tartar sauce, honey mustard, steak sauce and hot sauce[citation needed]. It is available with one, two or three beef patties and in a smaller version called the Whopper Jr, or without meat in a version called the Veggie Whopper. Additionally, Burger King has sold several different promotional varieties throughout the years as limited time offerings.

Notable variants [edit]

Windows 7 Whopper

The Windows 7 Whopper was sold in Japan for the promotion of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. The hamburger contained seven stacked beef patties and measures 13 cm (5 inches) high.[5] It was originally planned to be available for only 7 days starting on October 22, 2009.[5] Due to their success in selling 6,000 sandwiches within the first 4 days, Burger King decided to extend the promotion period to 16 days, ending on November 6.[6]

The campaign was met with unexpected popularity in Japan, sparking multiple YouTube videos and blog posts about the burger.[6] However, the promotional effort received strong criticism from business and tech journalists. Computerworld blogger Preston Gralla claimed that it "could be one of Microsoft's worst promotional ideas ever."[5][7]

The Pizza Burger is a burger sold exclusively at the BK Whopper Bar location in Times Square, New York City that was introduced in September 2010. It consists of four Whopper patties on a 9.5 inch sesame bun,[8] sliced into six pieces and is topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, Tuscan pesto and marinara sauce.[9] The whole burger contains more than the recommended daily allowance of calories for men at 2520 calories, with 144 grams of fat, 59g of which is saturated, and 3,780 mg of sodium, more than double the recommended daily allowance for adults.[8][10] However, according to Burger King's vice president of global marketing, John Schaufelberger, the burger is not intended to feed just one person.[11] Each slice has 420 calories, 24 g fat (10 g saturated), and 630 mg sodium.

The Angry Whopper swaps jalapeños, "Angry Sauce" and "Angry Onions" for the pickles, ketchup and raw onions while adding pepper jack cheese and bacon.[12] The sandwich, originally released in Europe, made its way to the United States in 2008. The sandwich was released with a viral marketing push created by Burger King's advertising agency at the time, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The two tiered program, designed to create a word-of-mouth marketing push, featured a webpage that allowed consumers to create an "Angry-gram" that could be emailed to other individuals. The form letter format page would send an insulting email to a recipient of choice from the sender. The second part consisted of a Facebook-oriented program where the company would issue a coupon for a free sandwich if the consumer would de-friend 10 people on their Facebook page.[13]

Discontinued variants [edit]

See also: BK grilled chicken sandwiches

As part of the forty-fifth anniversary of the Whopper sandwich in 2002, BK introduced a grilled chicken version of the sandwich called the Chicken Whopper and added a smaller Chicken Whopper Jr. sandwich along with a new Caesar salad sandwich topped with a Chicken Whopper patty.[14][15][16] The introduction of the Chicken Whopper represented the company's first move to extend the Whopper brand name beyond beef based sandwiches since the original Whopper's introduction in the 1950s.[17] The sandwiches featured a whole chicken breast filet, weighing either 4.7 oz (130 g) for the larger sandwich and a 3.1 oz (88 g) for the Jr., mayonnaise lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed roll.[18] A newly reformulated low fat mayonnaise was introduced in conjunction with the new sandwiches.[19] Along with the company's new BK Veggie sandwich, The Chicken Whopper Jr. version of the sandwich was lauded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest as being one of the best nutritionally sound products sold by a fast food chain. Conversely, the CSPI decried the rest of the Burger King menu as being vastly unhealthy.[20]

Development of the sandwich began in 2001 in response to several major factors.[16][21] After an overall sales decline of 17% coupled with a profit decline of 29%, Burger King held a series of consumer tests that showed the company's customer base was looking for a wider variety of options when making purchases.[16][19] Additional survey results revealed that a lack of newer products was discouraging consumers from visiting the chain.[21] Furthermore, the company was seeking to counter the threat to its sales by newer fast casual restaurants that had begun to bite into sales.[16] By July 2002, the chain had sold nearly fifty million of the sandwiches, eventually displacing the BK Broiler's initial launch figures as the company's best selling product introduction.[21][22] The successful introduction of the Chicken Whopper was one of the few noted positive highlights of the company during negotiations for the sale of Burger King by its then owner Diageo to a group of investors lead by the TPG Capital; Chicago-based consulting firm Technomic Inc. president Ron Paul was quoted that he was encouraged by recent product changes at Burger King such as the new Chicken Whopper, but he said it's too early to tell whether the changes have been successful.[23] Despite the Chicken Whopper's initial success, just over a year after the Chicken Whopper's introduction enthusiasm for the product was waning; Burger King's largest franchisee, Carrols Corporation, was complaining that the product line was a failure, describing the sandwich as a pedestrian product with a great name.[17]

The Quarter pound cheeseburger – A copy of the Quarter Pounder with ketchup, onions, pickle and mustard.

Advertising [edit]

One of the original slogans of the Whopper advertised by Burger King was There are 1024 ways to have a Whopper;[24] the claim is based on an exponential function of whether the sandwich has the ingredient or not. Represented by a binary number of 0 or 1, raised to the power of number of possible ingredients at the time, ten, thus 210 =1,024. This claim was later expanded to There are 221,184 possible ways for a customer to order a Whopper sandwich.[25] Other slogans include It takes two hands to handle the Whopper and Burger King: Home of the Whopper.[26]

A 2007 advertising campaign celebrating the golden anniversary of the Whopper showed real customers in Las Vegas reacting to the false news the Whopper has been discontinued. While it was not permanently discontinued, the ad claims it was discontinued for one day. Later versions of the ads had customers receiving a Big Mac or Wendy's Single and their reactions to the sandwich. In-store ads, such as posters and tray-liners, attack the size and quality of the Big Mac.[27][28] The campaign won the 2009 Effie Award as one of the best restaurant advertising promotions for 2007–2008.[29]

In December 2008, Burger King purchased the rights to an advertising campaign that centered on a taste-test marketing campaign, dubbed "Whopper Virgins". The test claimed to target participants who were unaware of the existence of Burger King or McDonald's, and had never eaten a hamburger. Three remote areas of the world—Baan Khun Chang Kiean, Thailand; Kulusuk, Greenland; and Budeşti, Romania—were targeted. In the test, the "virgins" were asked to try both the McDonald's Big Mac and the Burger King Whopper, and give their preference, if any. According to the advertisements and accompanying mini-documentary, the Whopper was the most popular sandwich among the test subjects.[30][31]

Tie-ins [edit]

The 2008 movie releases of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saw a promotional tie-in with the new Indy Whopper and the The Incredible Hulk with the Angry Whopper.[12]

Competitive products [edit]

Because of the wide knowledge of the Whopper in the public marketplace, competitors such as McDonald's and Wendy's have attempted to create a corresponding Whopper-style burger, often nicknamed a Whopper Stopper.[32] Wendy's created the Big Classic with similar toppings but served on a bulkie roll, while McDonald's has created at least six different versions, including the McDLT,[33] the McLean Deluxe, the Big Xtra and the Big N' Tasty.[34]

Nutritional comparison [edit]

The Whopper (670 kcal) has more calories than McDonald's Big Mac (540 kcal), but is larger – 290 g vs. 214 g. Therefore, the Whopper contains fewer calories per gram than the Big Mac. The Whopper contains 231 kcal per 100 g and the Big Mac contains 252 kcal per 100 g.[35][36] Cheese comes standard on the Big Mac, but is optional on the Whopper.

200 kJ (48 kcal)

Comparisons of the Whopper nutritional values in different countries (% = % of recommended daily allowance)
Country Energy Carbohydrates Protein Fat (total)' Dietary fiber Sodium, Salt Serving
size
(weight)		 Reference
 Australia 2,882 kJ (689 kcal) (33%) 49 g (16%) 29.8 g (60%) 40.7 g (48%) 941 mg (41%) 280 g .au
 Denmark 2,509 kJ (600 kcal) 44.4 g 26.5 g 34.4 g 2.7 g .dk
 United States 670 kcal (2,803 kJ) 51 g 29 g 40 g 3 g 980 mg (43%) 290 g .us

Trademarks [edit]

The name Whopper is a registered trademark of Burger King Holdings and is displayed with the ®-symbol in all markets it is sold. The name Whopper Jr. is a registered trademark in the US, Canada and Europe.

When Burger King expanded into the San Antonio area, it was prevented from utilizing the name Whopper in its local advertising and stores due to a prior state registered service mark owned by a local chain known as Whopper Burger.[37] The chain, owned by Frank and Barbara Bates, prevented the company from using the name in Bexar County for several years until Mrs. Bates, the CEO of Whopper Burger after the death of her husband in 1983, retired and sold the chain with its related trademarks to then-corporate parent Pillsbury in the mid-1980s.[38]

See also [edit]

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Similar sandwiches by other fast food restaurant vendors

References [edit]

  1. ^ BKC (February 8, 2002). "Burger King Celebrates As The WHOPPER Turns 45". BizJournals on Bison.com. Retrieved 2007-10-22. 
  2. ^ Romero, Peter (December 19, 1998). "Burger King shifts marketing chiefs: irate franchisees spark latest upheaval". Nation's Restaurant News (Findarticles.com). Retrieved November 1, 2010. 
  3. ^ Holusha, Joshua (November 18, 1990). "A Setback for Polystyrene". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
  4. ^ "BK replaces boxes with recyclables, rolls curly fries, barbecue sandwich". Nation's Restaurant News. September 9, 1991. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
  5. ^ a b c "Big in Japan: Burger King Sells Windows 7 Whopper". Fox News. October 23, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
  6. ^ a b "Burger King Gives Japan a Seven-Patty Challenge". TIME. October 31, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
  7. ^ Gralla, Preston (October 22, 2009). "Microsoft's Windows 7 'Whopper' campaign: The worst promotion ever?". Computerworld.com blog. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
  8. ^ a b "The Pizza Burger: A 2,500-Calorie 'Fat Bomb'". Sky News. August 25, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
  9. ^ "Burger King introduces the 2500 Pizza Burger". The Daily Telegraph. August 25, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
  10. ^ Freeman, Sophie (August 24, 2010). "Have it BOTH ways: Burger King's 2,500 calorie answer to that age-old take-away dilemma – pizza or burgers?". Daily Mail. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
  11. ^ Thorn, Bret (August 17, 2010). "BK to offer shareable Pizza Burger". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 7, 2011. 
  12. ^ a b AP Wire (February 27, 2008). "Burger King discusses new items for 2008, growth strategies". the International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-01. "The new items discussed Wednesday include an Angry Bacon and Cheese Whopper with spicy, crispy onions, and the Indy Whopper, which will have bacon and pepper jack cheese and will be promoted together with the new Indiana Jones movie this summer." 
  13. ^ Terrazas, Brent (January 9, 2009). "Burger King's Angry Whopper & Facebook Debauchery". http://www.brentter.com/. Retrieved June 7, 2011. 
  14. ^ Allen, Robin Lee, ed. (March 18, 2002). "Crown jewels: New marketing, product rollouts energize BK journey back to fast-food royalty". Nation's Restaurant News. 
  15. ^ "Burger King Sells 40 Millionth Chicken Whopper" (Press release). Burger King Corporation. May 23, 2003. 
  16. ^ a b c d Rector, Sylvia (November 6, 2002). "Chicken rules fast-food roost". Chicago Tribune. Knight Ridder/Tribune. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
  17. ^ a b "Carrols: Chicken Whopper Is A Bust". All Business. Dunn & Bradstreet. March 2003. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
  18. ^ Hoffman, Ken (April 12, 2002). "Chicken sandwich grows up to be a Whopper". Huston Chronicle. p. 5. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
  19. ^ a b Wahlgren, Eric (April 9, 2002). "Burger Makers' Not-So-Meaty Prospects". Business Week. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 
  20. ^ "CSPI Picks the Best and Worst Fast Foods" (Press release). Center for Science in the Public Interest. August 21, 2002. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 
  21. ^ a b c Horovitz, Bruce (July 3, 2007). "Fast-food giants always trying new tastes". USA Today. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 
  22. ^ "50 Millionth Chicken Whopper Sandwich Will Be Sold Today" (Press release). Burger King Corporation. July 1, 2002. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
  23. ^ Colliver, Victoria (July 26, 2002). "Whopper of a Deal". San Francisco Chronicle. p. 2. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 
  24. ^ BKC Canada (April 5, 2004). "BURGER KING Canada introduces a WHOPPER of a Canadian burger (Press release)" (PDF). openface.ca. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
  25. ^ BKC. "BK Domestic and Global Facts". Burger King. Retrieved 2007-10-24. [dead link]
  26. ^ BKC. "BK Marketing and Advertising History". Burger King. Archived from the original on May 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
  27. ^ Theresa Howard (December 9, 2007). "BK's telling a Whopper". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-01-12. "Suppose you went to Burger King, (BKC) ordered a Whopper and were told it was discontinued." 
  28. ^ BK Holdings web site. "Whopper Freakout". Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. 
  29. ^ "2009 Grand Effie – Restaurants". Effie International. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 
  30. ^ "WhopperVirgins.com". Burger King Brands. November 2008. 
  31. ^ "WhopperVirgins.com". Advertising Age. 
  32. ^ Shannon, Stevens (1998). "McDonald's woos franchisees with $25k store-update funding promise". Brandweek (1998-03-23: Findarticles.com). Retrieved 2009-10-02. "The MBX must deliver on value, which it does right now", said Ball, referring to the big beef, lettuce and tomato sandwich now in test, dubbed the latest "Whopper Stopper." 
  33. ^ David Zuckerman (November 18, 1985). "Burger giants launch new product assaults; McD speeds rollout of McDLT sandwich — McDonald's". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 2007-10-23. 
  34. ^ AP Newswire (July 2, 1997). "McDonald's hoping new burger a Whopper stopper". The Augusta Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-23. 
  35. ^ Burger King Nutrition Guide Whopper serving size 290 g, 670 kcal
  36. ^ McDonald's Nutrition Guide Big Mac serving size 214 g, 540 kcal
  37. ^ Rupert M. Barkoff (January 25, 2005). Fundamentals of Franchising. American Bar Association. p. 23. ISBN 1-59031-409-3. 
  38. ^ "San Antonio: A Legacy Steeped in History, A Culture Rich in Diversity" (PDF) (pdf). United States General Services Administration. February 2003. "San Antonio is the original birthplace of the ‘whopper burger.’ Because of copyright laws, Burger King was unable to open restaurants in San Antonio until ‘Whopper Burger’ was bought out by the Pillsbury Company and the remainder of the restaurants closed down or were transformed into Burger Kings." 
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