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While the lawyers work out details of its buyout by 3G Capital, Burger King has launched its augmented breakfast menu. And it’s serving up smack talk on the side. “We’re ready to compete to be America’s wake-up call with our new BK Breakfast Menu,” according to a quote attributed to Mike Kappitt, North American CMO, [...]

There always has been unintended irony in the choice of “Taste is King” as the positioning slogan Burger King uses in Europe. The company no doubt sees it as a salute to what it believes to be its superior food. But a recent history of snickering, sophomoric marketing and advertising gambits (see the SpongeBob kids [...]

If 3G Capital completes its $4 billion acquisition of Burger King this fall, its challenge is this: Burger King could sell McDonald’s food at McDonald’s prices and still sit in second place among burger chains. McDonald’s has worked on elevating its brand while Burger King has focused on improving operations.  In terms of brand value, [...]

The four-patty NY Pizza Burger is available only at Burger King’s new Whopper Bar location in New York City, but the chain appears serious about exploring multi-patty burgers as sales builders. In Austria, the chain offers the X-tra Long Chili Cheese (left) with three patties lined up horizontally on a long sesame-seed bun. On top [...]

Steve Easterbrook, who joined McDonald’s Corp. in 1993 after a career as a PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant, was today named to the new position of Executive Vice President and Global Chief Brand Officer. Overseeing marketing, menu innovation and consumers insights, he takes on responsibilities previously held by Mary Dillon, who resigned as global chief marketing officer in [...]

Ξ Burger King is testing consumer response to the idea of rotating low-price specials through the week. In a variation of the daily King Deals it has offered in Canada, the chain in select U.S. markets is offering $1.69 sandwich specials on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In southern Wisconsin that means original Chicken Sandwiches are [...]

In March, BurgerBusiness.com reported that Jack in the Box was testing Breakfast Pita Pocket sandwiches in line with its commitment to remake its morning menu. Four months later, the chain has decided the product has passed its test (market) and is ready for a call-up to big league QSR menu competition. Priced at $2.69 (up [...]

Ξ Don’t cry for Argentina. You can buy a Big Mac there for the equivalent of $1.78, compared with the U.S. average of $3.73, according to the latest Big Mac Index from The Economist. But Argentina isn’t the only country getting away cheaply. In Hong Kong, the Big Mac is $1.90; in the rest of China [...]

When quick-service restaurant chains talk about the weather, it’s usually to claim stormy skies as a reason why sales declined. But a new McDonald’s commercial airing in the United Kingdom brings up the weather as a way to discuss the chain’s reliance on the products of local farmers. The commercial is the work of Leo [...]

Big Boy, the iconic American burger concept that looks retro but really just dates to 1936, is recognizing that tastes, times and business models have changed. In mid-July, Big Boy will open @burger, an upscale fast-casual burger concept with beer and wine in Ann Arbor, Mich., with intentions of opening more. That doesn’t mean the [...]

At McDonald’s Corp. it’s often said of long-time executives that they have ketchup in their veins. So it’s not surprising that Ed Rensi is returning to flipping burgers 13 years after stepping down as president-CEO of McDonald’s USA. Rensi and Tom Dentice, who was an executive vice president at McDonald’s when he, too, chose to [...]

Rare Bar & Grill is serving up a bit of history to honor National Hamburger Day. Today, customers at its new location in New York City’s Fashion 26 Wyndham hotel on West 26th Street can get the famous “Louis Lunch” burger or Rare’s signature cheeseburger with fries and a beer for $20.10. After that, Rare [...]

That Burger King’s $1  ¼-lb. Double Cheeseburger promotion sold a lot of burgers is both the good and the bad news, executives for Syracuse, N.Y.-based Carrols Restaurant Group, operator of 311 Burger Kings, told analysts this week. They explained why the promotion became a profit-margin meltdown. For the first fiscal quarter, ended April 4, same-store [...]

One big problem with dollar menus is people like me, but Jack in the Box thinks it may have found a way around me with its new “Pick 3 for $3″ customizable value menu. I’ve been known to hit the drive-thru at McDonald’s for a $1 Sausage Burrito in the morning, but I don’t get [...]

On March 10, Alan Gaylin and partners Glynn and Jean Roberts opened BRGR Kitchen + Bar in Prairie Village, Kan., a Kansas City suburb. Gaylin brings decades of restaurant-industry experience, having served during his career as SVP-business development for Metromedia Restaurant Group (Bennigan’s, Steak and Ale), SVP-operations for Houlihan’s and as operations director at T.G.I. [...]