What's wrong with Burger King? (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Slate raised the question and I have to ask as well:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2102906

I eat out for lunch most days, and admittedly, I eat mostly Salads.. I will tell you, for fast food Salad, BK just slaughters everyone else local.. fresher vegetables, more there, better meat..

I tried their Angus Bacon the other day, and far better sandwich then McD's or Wendy's put out..

Now that isn't everything, I'd put Wendy's way above McD's, primarily because McD's is terrible :frowning: (IMHO) in that it tastes so.. not like meat, just processed something (and their fish sandwich is terrible)

So, what's wrong with BK? Wendy's seems to be a fast growing franchise, and McD's keeps breaking records.

This is just a business question, but what is it literally, that continue to boost the market share of McD's over BK or other competitors (I mean, hell, in the midwest, you can't find a Roy Rogers to save your life, and Jack-N-The-Box is non-existant)

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I eat NOTHING but fast food salads 90% off the time, and I think WENDY'S is the best, hands down. Might just be in my area, who knows.

-V

 

[Kwang Suh]

Apparently, Burger King has been slowly decreasing the quality of their burgers over the years.

Thinner, less ripe tomatoes. Thinner, cheaper pickles. Less meat. Less lettuce. Etc...

Their new CEO is supposed to be turning things around, as it were.

 

[Joseph S]

It's those awful french fries. They should have never changed the fries.

 

[Chris]

Wendy's does have a better salad then McD's, which has the worst salad immaginable.

I may be alone, but I hate everyone's fries (can't eat any of them anymore anyway) but I always love the really thick potato-wedge Kentucky FRIED Chicken fries

(yes, FRIED CHICKEN, darnit.. luckily, there is a store still near us that has the sign up that has the word FRIED in it.. I'm sick of "Kitchen Fresh Chicken" no, no no.. we know what the col. was all about, baby, don't be tricking me with some Kitchen Fresh crap.. it's all about Kentucky Fried.. if I represented the state of Kentucky, I'd be asking the big question: "Col. Sanders, how has thust forsaken me?")

 

[GordonL]

Yeah, I like Wendy's salads best, especially the Spinach Chicken Salad. BK's Fire Grilled Chicken Salad is a rip-off by comparison - you get this big pouch that contains a couple slivers of chicken. Nothing like how it looks on their website. Maybe that's just the one near me.

As for fries, my favorite in order is Checkers, Arby's curly fries, with McD's and BK tied for third. Wendy's and KFC are my least favorite.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I don't eat fast food that often but I always find BK to be overpriced and to not actually taste much better than McD. In fact BK's fries are horrible and massively too expensive.

Fries from all the outlets though are a 100% rip-off. Go to just about any fish and chip shop in the UK and for £1 you'll get a decent size bag of freshly cooked chips that fills you up.

 

[Eric_L]

BK has not marketed themselves. Do you remember the last BK commercial you saw?

MC D's markets regularly, particularly to children. It is the primairy reason for their growth (but not only - they have tweaked their menu often - BK does not do so nearly as often)

Wendy's meanwhile has marketed like nuts and also has improved their food/serivce quality dramatically.

Sad to say, but it is not enough to have good product, you have to sell it via marketing.

I personally prefer BK - especially the Western Bacon Cheeseburger/Whopper. (drool) Their fries are marginal, agreed.

 

[Mark Shannon]

Whenever I have a choice b/n McD, Wendy's, and BK, I'll always choose Wendy's. Why?

Taste of the Food - My hamburgers at Wendy's actually taste like... hamburgers. They're never greasy, and always have ample toppings. They even use REAL onions instead of those nasty rehydrated onions bits you get at McD's (trust me, I've worked at one, I know)

Price - $1.39 CDN for a Junior Hamburger Deluxe, that can at times be as filling as a Big Mac (priced at $3.00 CDN). Thanks, but I can get two burgers at Wendy's when I'd get one for the same price at McD's.

The Fries - Admitedly, BK does have the best fries. But seeing how there isn't one in my area, and there are several Wendy's, I consider Wendy's to have the best fries. McDonald's is just dead last, no matter what you throw into the equation. Sorry, but I just don't like the fact that my toungue curls up like a snail with agorophobia every time I eat one of their fries. Yeah, salt's a good condoment, but there comes a point where it's too much. No wonder the majority of these fast food lawsuits are towards McDonald's.

Yeah

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/burgerking.html

 

[Blu]

In my town BK and McD's are real close together so I usually get a Whopper and then go to McD's for the fries and drink.

I don't know what it is about BK but it just seems like it just isn't the same since they got rid of their theme song from the 70's.....

 

[Josh Dial]

While I have all but given up fast food lately, when I have a choice, Dairy Queen makes the best burgers, hands down.

They have that bbq taste like burger king, but it's something about the quality of meat DQ uses that make 'em better. If the burgers weren't priced WAY over the competition, and if there was one close by (I live in a city of a million people and I have to drive a long way for some reason) I would hit them up more often. As it stands DQ is more of a treat for me, when I want good, fast food.

Wendy's is the old standby for me and my roomates, since they are close, have very good prices, and the quality of food is good. If I were to rate based on overall value and quality of menu, Wendy's would be no.1.

Lately i've been giving Harvey's a shot (not sure if harvey's is canadian only). The strange thing about harvey's, is that while you are eating the burger, it tastes like it's the best thing ever, but about an hour later, I often feel ill. Someone said it was the amount of cereal Harvey's uses in the burgers. They also tend to have the worst line-ups, bad even for a burger joint. Often times it's 10 minutes or more til you get your order.

The biggest fast-food crime ever was KFC eliminating the slicked-up, soggy, greasy fries, amd moving to the boring, crisp fries. Those old fries, coupled with the best gravy in the business, was truly a food marvel. I hear there are some small town KFCs that still make the old style fries, but i'm not sure if this is simply a rumor.

cheers!

Josh

 

[Chris]

Some still do.. there is one not far from us that still makes the old style fries.. and they still keep the "Fried" above thier building

Most of BK's stuff is lacking, but their Angus burger is very, very good.

My wife & I enjoy Wendy's far more then McD's, if only for the value.. the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is cheap and decent, they have better chicken sandwiches then any of the alternatives.. and where else can you get chili?

 

[Bob Graz]

Add me to the Wendy's list. For the occasional fast food burger, they can't be beat. Salads are the best too.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I have no trouble remembering the recent Burger King ads.

 

[Brian Johnson]

Add me to the list that eats a lot of fast food (3-4x/week).
Wendy's Taco salad is THE best salad on the market (imo). This has been my dinner many,many nights
McD's Taco salad is pretty nasty (mystery meat). But I do like their grilled chicken/bacon salad.

On a side note: The new Taco Bell carmel apple empanada is mouth watering,vein clogginlin' good. Just don't look at the nutritional value.

 

[Francois Caron]

My biggest "beef" (pun intended) is with those horrendous crispy fries. I've never tasted anything so disgusting in all my life! And I come from a province that dumps gravy and cheese curds on their overly greasy fries!

Harvey's is well known to add the most cereals and fillers in their meat than anyone else; somewhere around 25% to 30% of the beef pattie is filler. And it's too bad too. The concept of having the burger dressed the way you like it right in front of you is great. But the meat really stinks! The fries can be improved as well.

McDonald's Big Macs now give me the kind of almost uncontrollable diarrhea as if there was Olestra added in their secret sauce. However, the McXtra is all right. The fries are so-so.

Burger King did have decent burgers when I used to work at one of their outlets many years ago, but today the burgers are no where near as good. And the fries stink. Another case where they didn't leave well enough alone.

At KFC, I still like the chicken very much, but their fries are bad as well. And they used to be pretty good even if they weren't all that firm.

Wendy's is still the best among the major fast food outlets available around here today. The burgers taste like burgers, and the fries taste like fries. Neither one is necessarily the best in their class, but they're high enough that I don't have to shop for a burger in one place, and fries in another (now possible in many food courts).

As for the local chains, they've also declined over the years. They're mostly mock-ups of their former glory. As for the places that advertise "old fashioned hamburgers", why are the buns always so huge? To coin a phrase, "Where's the beef?"

 

[Steve_Tk]

The last few times I've been there they have screwed up my order. Not a problem, happens everywhere, but everytime I give it a second chance they screw me again.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I've only ever eaten at BK twice..once year ago and I hated it and once more recently and it wasn't any better Still I try to avoid burger joints now and stick to Subway's instead

 

[Chris]

I totally gave up on Subway a while back.. though I do like Mr. Goodcents, who has a much better meatball sandwich.

 

[Malcolm R]

The problem with comparing big chains like these is that the quality will vary wildly from restaurant to restaurant.

McDonald's comes across as a lot more kid-friendly than the others, so from their earliest age kids are ingrained with the McD's habit. I do like their fries the best.

I find Burger King is very expensive, especially if you try and "customize" your burger. Every bit of extra lettuce, tomato or cheese will add another 20 to 50 cents to the price of your burger. But I do like their burgers better, and think their quality actually increased a bit a few years back (their basic single patty was "beefed up" a bit, so to speak). Plus Burger King offers Onion Rings which I love and usually get instead of their fries.

I just read somewhere recently that McDonald's and Burger King each use the same supplier for their french fries, but each are made by a different process.

Wendy's is OK. We don't have many around here, but I will stop at one occasionally if I see one in my travels. But I don't think their burgers are all they're cracked up to be. Most of the patties I've ever got I swear would be transparent if you held them up to the light. Hardly the big, beefy squares as shown in their advertising. Plus, it's been my experience they're even more expensive than Burger King.

As others have said, I think it all comes down to marketing. McDonald's markets incessantly, and much of their marketing is aimed at kids who they know will whine and scream and throw tantrums until Mommy and Daddy give in and take them to the golden arches.