Big King

The Big King sandwich is one of the major hamburger products sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King, and was part of its menu for more than twenty years. As of March 2019, it is sold in the United States under its 1997 Big King XL formulation. During its testing phase in 1996–1997, it was originally called the Double Supreme and was configured similarly to the McDonald's Big Mac—including a three-piece roll. It was later reformulated as a more standard double burger during the latter part of product testing in 1997. It was given its current name when the product was formally introduced in September 1997, but maintained the more conventional double cheeseburger format.

The product was renamed King Supreme in 2001 when it was slightly reformulated as part of a menu restructuring during a period of corporate decline. A later restructuring eliminated the King Supreme in favor of its new BK Stacker line of sandwiches. When the Stacker line was discontinued in the United States shortly after, the Big King returned in November 2013 as a permanent product.

Despite being off the menu in the United States for several years, the product was still sold in several other countries under several names during the interim of its unavailability in the United States. One such example sold by BK's European arm of the company is a larger version of the sandwich called the Big King XXL, based on the company's Whopper sandwich. The Big King XXL is part of a line of larger double cheeseburgers known as the BK XXL line; the XXL line was the center of controversy over product health standards and advertising in Spain when first introduced.

There was a chicken variant of the sandwich in the United States and Canada. To promote continuing interest in the product, Burger King occasionally releases limited-time variants on the Big King.

The burger was introduced by Australian Burger King franchise Hungry Jack's in 2020 under the name Big Jack, with a slightly altered recipe and a controversial marketing campaign that highlighted its similarity to the Big Mac, leading to a trademark infringement lawsuit being filed by McDonalds.[1]

History

Initial product run

The sandwich that would eventually become the Big King was preceded by a similar sandwich called the Double Supreme cheeseburger.[2] Burger King's take on rival McDonald's well-known Big Mac sandwich was released as a test product in January 1996 when McDonald's was having difficulties within the American market.[2][3] Hoping to build on improving sales of Burger King and take advantage of perceived market weakness of McDonald's, the chain introduced the Double Supreme as part of an advertising blitz against its competitor. Originally, the burger had a look and composition that resembled the Big Mac: it had two beef patties, "King" sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a three-part sesame seed bun. Because its patties are flame-broiled and larger than McDonald's

Product description

The Big King is a hamburger, consisting of two 2 oz grilled beef patties, sesame seed bun, King Sauce (a Thousand Island dressing variant), iceberg lettuce, onions, pickles and American cheese.[46][47] When first reintroduced in 2013, the sandwich was made with two of the company's 1.7 oz hamburger patties, but was modified in February 2014 to use two of the larger 2.0 oz Whopper Jr. patties.[48]

Notable variants

The Chicken Big King was added April 2014. This new variation on the original Big King sandwich was part of a corporate menu restructuring that began the previous year. This was part of Burger King CEO Alex Macedo's plan to introduce simpler products that require few or no new ingredients in order to simplify operations. This new sandwich uses the company's existing Crispy Chicken Jr patty in place of the beef and adds an extra layer of King sauce to ensure that the product stays moist.[33]

Advertising

Double Supreme

The Double Supreme was promoted in a series of advertisements created by the New York firm of Ammirati Puris Lintas (APL). The first ad compared the Double Supreme cheeseburger to the Big Mac, with one 30-second television spot touting the Burger King product contained 75% more beef than the McDonald's one and asked the viewer if Big Mac lovers were "ready for a new relationship?" A second advertisement featured actors playing McDonald's employees going to Burger King to get the new sandwich because they had realized that they preferred the Burger King product over the sandwich they normally sold. The attack ads were the result of the comparatively strong sales year for Burger King in 1996 coupled with domestic sales problems for McDonald's, leaving BK acting in a "cocky" manner towards its main rival.[54][55]

While Burger King's advertising programs were highly focused on its new product, most of the company's sales gains were the result of aggressive price cutting by Burger King, specifically pricing its signature Whopper sandwich at 99¢, according to analysts at Salomon Brothers. The price-cutting promotions by Burger King, and number-three chain Wendy's, forced McDonald's into its own price-cutting program.

Naming and trademarks

The name Big King was originally a registered trademark of Burger King Brands, Inc., and displayed with the "circle-R" (®) symbol in its home market; however, the federal trademark registration was cancelled in 2005 due to failure to file the required 5-year declaration of use. It was reassigned in 2014 to a California-based ice cream manufacturer. As of February 2015, the name is displayed with the lesser raised "TM" symbol.[46] In most other markets in which the sandwich is sold, it is designated as a registered mark. The names King Supreme and Double Supreme were formerly registered trademarks in the US, while the King Supreme is still registered in Canada in both English and French spellings.

External links

References

Michaela Whitbourn. McDonald's moves to supersize lawsuit against Hungry Jack's The Sydney Morning Herald, 2020-10-02, retrieved 2020-10-25^
Bill McDowell. Burger King Ads Take Slap at MCD: it's Double Supreme vs. Big Mac while Price Positioning Continues Advertising Age, 10 February 1997, retrieved 23 February 2015^
Burger King Plans Its Version Of Big Mac New Burger Is Designed To Steal Market Share From Mcdonald's

BK Stackers

Burger King changed ownership in 2002 when Diageo sold its interest in the company to a group of investment firms led by TPG Capital. After assuming ownership, TPG's newly appointed management team began focusing menu development and advertising on a very narrow demographic group, young men aged 20–34 who routinely ate at fast food restaurants several times per month which the chain identified as the "super fan".[16][17] Amid this new super-fan focused menu expansion the chain introduced its new BK Stacker sandwich in late 2006, a family of sandwiches featuring the same set of toppings served as a single, double, triple or quadruple hamburger. The Stacker line was part of a series of larger, more calorie-laden products introduced by the company to entice the super-fan into the chain's restaurants. These new additions helped propel same store profits for more than sixteen quarters.[18]

The Stacker consisted of anywhere from one to four 1.7 oz beef patties, American cheese, bacon and a Thousand-Island dressing variant called Stacker sauce served on a sesame seed bun.[16][17][19][20] The new sandwiches had a muted reaction in several reviews—Chowhound.com readers rated the Quad Stacker as one of the most over-the-top gluttonous burgers in a poll,[21] while the Impulsive Buy stated that the sandwich was much like any other bacon cheeseburger but meatier.[20] Despite its lukewarm reception, an internet meme relating to the sandwich developed rather quickly. Customers would create an "Octo-Stacker" sandwich by purchasing two quad Stackers and mashing the two together sandwiches to create a sandwich with eight patties, eight slices of cheese and sixteen half pieces of bacon. They would then film themselves trying to eat the 1 lbs sandwich in under five minutes.[22]

With the onset of the Great Recession in 2008–2009, this narrowly defined demographic-based sales plan faltered and sales and profits for the chain declined; Burger King's same-store comparable sales in the United States and Canada declined 4.6% in the three months ended September 30, while McDonald's posted same-store comparable sales growth of 2.5% within the United States.[23] The Stacker line underwent a minor reformulation in 2011 that involved deleting the top layer of cheese and changing the amount of bacon in the sandwiches, and moving the sandwiches from the core section of its menu to the company's value menu.[24] The changed ingredient list and pricing structure created a situation such that the distribution of ingredients did not scale at the same rate as increasing numbers of burger patties. Consumer Reports' blog The Consumerist noted that two single Stackers at $1.00 included more cheese and more bacon than one double Stacker for $2.00. Three single Stackers had 50% more cheese and double the bacon of one triple Stacker.[25] The Stacker line and other related calorie-heavy menu items were dropped in 2012 when 3G Capital of Brazil bought the company and initiated a menu restructuring focusing on a broader demographic base.[26]

Reintroduction

The TPG-led group of owners divested itself of Burger King in 2012 when the chain was sold to 3G Capital of Brazil. After 3G purchased Burger King, its new management team refocused on a broader menu strategy to lure a more diverse customer base. The first major change to the product base was a reformulation and name change of the company's chicken nuggets in January 2013. Along with other new products such as smoothies, wraps and chicken strips that broadly copied McDonald's menu once again, the chain reintroduced the Big King as a permanent menu item in November of the same year.[29][30]

The new version of the sandwich was originally made with two of the chain's 1.7 oz hamburger patties, but after negative consumer response regarding the size of the patties the sandwich was reformulated to use two 2 oz Whopper Jr. patties instead.[31] A chicken variant was introduced in May 2014.[32] The new chicken variant swapped out the burger patties with two chicken patties used for the chain's value menu chicken sandwiches and added a third layer of sauce to increase the moisture content of the sandwich. The sandwich was introduced nationwide in the U.S. after a period of testing in Indiana. While the chicken version of the sandwich was new to Burger King, it again copied a product from McDonald's—in the Middle East the competing chain offers a Chicken Big Mac sandwich.[33]

A primary reason the product was brought back was because of a new approach the company was taking regarding new and limited-time offering (LTO) products. Instead of putting out large numbers of products that may only appeal to a small audience, it would only add a smaller amount of products that have broader market appeal.[33][34] Along with its BK Chicken Fries product, the Big King was part of that goal, with the reintroduction utilizing a three-prong approach: its stated intention to introduce products to those that will have most impact, a bid to appeal to Millennials utilizing social media focused campaigns, and to utilize a former product from its portfolio that the company probably should have thought about before discontinuing.[35] The idea of reintroducing older, possibly discontinued products is appealing to companies such as Burger King and McDonald's because it is operationally easier than launching a completely new product. In many cases the reintroduction allows these companies to utilize older advertising along with its existing supply chain which is already established to deliver the product ingredients while catering to the public's feelings of nostalgia for these products. The limited-time offers allow chains to bring "new" products to the menu without adding permanent complexity to their kitchen operations.[36] The Chicken Big King was introduced because of an increased spike in demand for chicken-based products, coupled with the success of the Big King's reintroduction.

Burger King partially credited reintroduction of the Big King with a limited regain of domestic same-store comparable sales of 0.1% in 2014 over a 0.9% loss the previous fiscal year.[37] At the same time the company's total sales were up 2%, with adjusted earnings per share increasing 19.7% to $0.20 per share. This contrasted with main competitor McDonald's only reporting a 3% increase in global system-wide sales, a 0.5% rise in same-store sales, and a 1.7% decrease in same-store sales in the U.S. and Canada which the competitor attributed to "challenging industry dynamics and severe winter weather".[38]

History

Initial product run

Product description

Notable variants

Advertising

Double Supreme

Naming and trademarks

See also

External links

References

BK Stackers

BK Toppers

Reintroduction

Competitive products

1997 Big King

King Supreme

2014 Big King

BK XXL

Controversies