βurgerβusiness

It’s all about market share, says McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, and the chain plans to improve share by emphasizing the “entry level” Dollar Menu, Daily Double and Bacon McDouble burgers while encouraging trade-up to premium-price items such as its new pair of CBO (Cheddar Bacon Onion) Angus and chicken sandwiches. Thompson promised that the CBO [...]

[Update: In New Zealand,McDonald's adds a Moroccan Lamb Burger on Sept. 26.] Last month, McDonald’s introduced its Serious Lamb Burger to consumers in Australia. Now it’s going back to its beef roots: This week (9/26) the chain unveils a new Serious Angus Burger as a limited-time offering there, according to sources. This member of the [...]

What happens when you follow conventional wisdom but your customers don’t? When Everest Burger opened a year ago in Glencoe, Ill., an affluent northern Chicago suburb, it had all the 21st-century burger-restaurant earmarks: upscale grass-fed-beef specialty burgers and a fast-casual service model. Owners Mark and Margarita Challenger weren’t novices: They own the successful Guanajuato Mexican [...]

Ah, chains can menu chicken if they must but they can’t stop trying to perfect better burgers, can they? Wendy’s can’t. GrubGrade reports that in Wichita, Kan., the chain is testing yet another premium burger line that it’s calling Black Label Hamburgers, a name reminiscent of top-shelf spirits. This is the same chain that shocked [...]

McDonald’s continues to experiment with its ingredient pantry, mixing and matching patties, proteins and buns to create new sandwiches. Its latest idea, now in test, is the Zesty BBQ Crunch, a premium sandwich with a twist: it’s available as either an Angus or chicken burger.  The Zesty BBQ Crunch calls in peppered bacon, barbecue sauce [...]

Ted’s Montana Grill reasserts its status as an innovative burger chain with the addition of five thick new burgers, including two egg-topped builds and interesting toppings such as house-made tomato jam. As with its other burgers, the new items can be ordered with either Angus beef ($13) or bison patty ($16). Under President-COO Kristi Nyhof, the [...]

The burger battle in Australia is the most interesting faceoff outside the U.S. One reason is that McDonald’s has some real competition in Hungry Jack’s, the name under which Burger King operates there. Also making the tug of war between them engrossing is the continuous one-upmanship in burgers and bravado as the chains try to [...]

The hottest culinary trend is locally sourced meats and seafood, according to the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot in 2011” chefs survey. Never one to shun a trend, McDonald’s is showing that burger chains as well as fine-dining restaurants can source locally.  The chain today introduced in Canada the Angus Third Pounder burger line that [...]

When it created the “M Selections by McDonald’s” menu in Australia in 2009, the strategy was to set apart the chain’s premium-price items, including the Mighty Angus and Grand Angus burgers that had recently been introduced. As advertising explained, these menu items are “A little bit fancy.” Now Macca’s, as the chain is colloquially called [...]

Tom Galis loves burgers but the burger business itself is starting to leave him a little cold. Galis (officially Gialamboukis, but no one calls him that) operates the six Goodburger locations in New York City, and he readily concedes that his restaurants’ are like reliable Toyota Corollas parked among amenity-laden BMWs. It may not be flashy, [...]

Angus Third Pounder Deluxe [1/28 Update: Wendy's says it will roll out the Asiago Chicken Club nationally in February.]  [Update: Also testing is a $1.99 Chipotle BBQ Bacon Angus Snack Wrap.] Top chains aren’t acting like they believe their menus are overstuffed. McDonald’s has at least one new variety of its Angus Third Pounder (and [...]

Reporting negative sales for the third quarter, Wendy’s/Arby’s Group put on a smile and bravely looked to the future in today’s quarterly analyst call. That future will include more premium-price products and selective price increases. It also finally will include the much-anticipated introduction of breakfast in 2011′s second half. The Q3 numbers were stark. Wendy’s [...]

Burger King has introduced a new “King’s Collection” of fancier foods (aïoli!) in New Zealand, thereby continuing a charming game of one-upmanship over burgers and condiments that it and McDonald’s have been playing down under. Marketed by the chain as “even better burgers with even better ingredients, like extra thick Angus beef, divine relishes & [...]

There’s no need for panic. You needn’t edge your way toward the exit. But there’s something unsettling about Smashburger’s decision this week to significantly expand its menu with seven chicken entreés but not a single new burger. After all, Smashburger not only uses “burger” in its name, it also is one of the pioneering fast-casual concepts [...]

McDonald’s is playing a fancy new tune in counterpoint to Hungry Jack’s (Burger King’s) introduction of the jazzy Bourbon Whopper in Australia. New at the Golden Arches is “Angus the Third,” a variation on the upscale Grand Angus and Mighty Angus burgers it introduced a year ago. The differentiator is a sauce, described as “tomato chili [...]