Burger King has introduced a half-pound burger clearly intended to compete with McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
In a press release on Thursday announcing the new Double Quarter Pound King Sandwich — made with two quarter-pound beef patties, American cheese, onions, pickles and ketchup on a sesame seed bun — Miami-based Burger King said “We’d like to offer our deepest condolences to all the flat-top fried double quarter pound burgers out there. We’re flame grilling the competition.”
McDonald’s burgers are griddled on flattops; Burger King’s are flame-grilled.
Burger King’s new sandwich has a recommended price of $5.39.
This isn’t the first time that Burger King has launched menu items in apparent response to its larger rival (Burger King has around 15,000 restaurants worldwide, compared to McDonald’s with around 36,000). In 2013, Burger King introduced the Big King, with two beef patties, King Sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun, including a middle bun, and so very similar to McDonald’s Big Mac.
Earlier that year Burger King launched a rib sandwich as a limited-time offer that arguably resembled the McRib.
In more recent nose-tweaks of its rival, Burger King released a video during the holidays in which the King presents McDonald’s with a flame grill to highlight the difference between the two chains’ cooking methods.
Both chains are currently enjoying good financial performance, with McDonald’s reporting third-quarter same-store sales growth of 4.1 percent, compared to 4 percent for Burger King.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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