Burger King plans to introduce a giant hamburger shaped and flavored like a pizza to its new Whopper Bar in New York City, adding to the growing list of extreme sandwiches at restaurant chains.
The NY Pizza Burger is made with four quarter-pound Whopper patties, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce and a pesto-flavored but nut-free “Tuscan Herb Mayo.” They are placed on a 9.5-inch bun, which is sliced into six wedges and offered for $12.99.
Officials from Miami-based Burger King said the pizza burger, which is intended to be shared, would likely be introduced next week, with an official rollout the following week. Each wedge is about 400 calories, they said.
The NY Pizza Burger is currently planned just for the New York City Whopper Bar location, which opened July 31 near Times Square.
The pizza burger will join the Meat Beast Whopper, which is also exclusive to the New York City Whopper Bar. The Meat Beast is a Whopper topped with pepperoni and bacon and sold for $6.99.
The NY Pizza Burger is one of a series of “bar favorites” on the Whopper Bar menu, including the Bourbon Whopper with Cheddar, bacon, onion rings and Bourbon-flavored sauce, and the California Whopper with guacamole, bacon and Swiss cheese. Both are priced at $6.99 each. All of the burgers are customizable, with 18 different toppings, some for free, some for a 50-cent surcharge.
The California Whopper is currently the best-selling specialty Whopper at the New York location, said John Schaufelberger, Burger King's vice president of global product marketing and innovation.
Several restaurant chains have launched over-the-top sandwiches this year, most recently Denny's with its fried cheese melt, made with four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese grilled between two slices of sourdough bread.
Carl’s Jr. started testing a foot-long cheeseburger in Southern California that consists of three beef patties on a 12-inch hoagie-like bun, and Friendly’s recently introduced a Grilled Cheese Burger Melt, which is a hamburger between two grilled cheese sandwiches.
Those items follow the headline-grabbing debut of KFC’s Double Down, featuring two grilled or fried chicken breasts with bacon, cheese and sauce sandwiched between them.
Burger King debuted its Whopper Bar concept in Orlando, Fla., in March 2009 and has since opened locations in Miami and Memphis, Tenn., as well as Singapore, Venezuela and Spain. The company also is considering Whopper Bar locations in Philadelphia and Las Vegas, Schaufelberger said.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
