Whopper

This article is about the hamburger. For the candy, see Whoppers. For other uses, see Whopper (disambiguation).

Whopper

A Burger King Whopper sandwich
Nutritional value per serving
Serving size	1 sandwich (290 g)
Energy	670 kcal (2,800 kJ)
Carbohydrates	51 g
- Sugars	11 g
- Dietary fiber	3 g
Fat	40 g
- saturated	11 g
- trans	1.5 g
Protein	28 g
Sodium	1020 mg (68%)
Energy from fat	350 kcal (1,500 kJ)
Cholesterol	115 mg
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: www.BK.com (PDF)

Whopper Jr.

Nutritional value per serving
Serving size	1 sandwich (158 g)
Energy	370 kcal (1,500 kJ)
Carbohydrates	31 g
- Sugars	6 g
- Dietary fiber	2 g
Fat	21 g
- saturated	7 g
- trans	0.5 g
Protein	15 g
Sodium	570 mg (38%)
Energy from fat	190 kcal (790 kJ)
Cholesterol	50 mg
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: www.BK.com (PDF)

The Whopper sandwich is the signature hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jacks. Introduced in 1957, it has undergone several reformulations including resizing and bread changes. The burger is one of the best known products in the fast food industry; it is so well known that Burger King bills itself as the Home of the Whopper in its advertising and signage.

The company markets several variants of the burger as well as other variants that are specifically tailored to meet local taste preferences or customs of the various regions and countries in which it does business. To promote continuing interest in the product, Burger King occasionally releases limited-time variants on the Whopper.

Product description

The Whopper is a hamburger, consisting of a flame grilled quarter-pound (113.4 g) beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion. Optional ingredients such as processed cheese, bacon, mustard, guacamole or jalapeño peppers may be added upon request. Regional and international condiments include BBQ sauce, salsa and guacamole. Burger King will also add any condiment it sells, including tartar sauce, honey mustard, steak sauce and hot sauce. It is available with one, two or three beef patties and in a smaller version called the Whopper Jr, or without meat in a version called the Veggie Whopper. Additionally, Burger King has sold several different promotional varieties throughout the years as limited time offerings.

Notable variants

Windows 7 Whopper

The Windows 7 Whopper was sold in Japan for the promotion of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. The hamburger contained seven stacked beef patties and measures 13 cm (5 inches) high.^[1] It was originally planned to be available for only 7 days starting on October 22, 2009.^[1] Due to their success in selling 6,000 sandwiches within the first 4 days, Burger King decided to extend the promotion period to 16 days, ending on November 6.^[2]

The campaign was met with unexpected popularity in Japan, sparking multiple YouTube videos and blog posts about the burger.^[2] However, the promotional effort received strong criticism from business and tech journalists. Computerworld blogger Preston Gralla claimed that it "could be one of Microsoft's worst promotional ideas ever."^[1][3]

The Pizza Burger is a burger sold exclusively at the BK Whopper Bar location in Times Square, New York City in September 2010. It consists of four Whopper patties on a 9.5 inch sesame bun,^[4] sliced into six pieces and is topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, Tuscan pesto and marinara sauce.^[5] The burger contains more than the recommended daily allowance of calories for men at 2520 calories, with 144 grams of fat, 59g of which is saturated.^[4] An average Pizza Burger contains 3,780 mg of sodium, more than double the recommended daily allowance for adults.^[4][6] However, according to Burger King's vice president of global marketing, John Schaufelberger, the burger is not intended to feed just one person.^[7]

The Angry Whopper swaps jalapeños, "Angry Sauce" and "Angry Onions" for the pickles, ketchup and raw onions while adding pepperjack cheese and bacon.^[8] The sandwich, originally released in Europe, made its way to the United states in 2010. The sandwich was released with a viral marketing push created by Burger King's advertising agency at the time, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The two tiered program, designed to create a word-of-mouth marketing push, featured a webpage that allowed consumers to create an "Angry-gram" that could be emailed to other individuals. The form letter format page would send an insulting email to a recipient of choice from the sender. The second part consisted of a Facebook-oriented program where the company would issue a coupon for a free sandwich if the consumer would de-friend 10 people on their Facebook page.^[9]

Discontinued variants

• The Chicken Whopper (mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato with a grilled chicken fillet)
• The Chicken Whopper, Jr. (smaller chicken fillet and bun, smaller amount of toppings)
• The Quarter pound cheeseburger - A copy of the Quarter Pounder with ketchup, onions, pickle and mustard.

The Chicken Whopper is still available in parts of Europe and the Middle East. In the U.S., Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy and Spain it has been replaced by the TenderGrill Chicken Sandwich.

History

A meal including a Whopper, Jr., fries and a drink.

The Whopper was created in 1957 by Burger King founder James McLamore and sold for 37 cents.^[10]

For several years in the 1980s, the weight of the Whopper was increased to 1/3 lb. The bun was also replaced by a Kaiser roll.^[11] The Whopper reverted to the original formulation a few years later. The "Third Pound Whopper" made a return in the early 2000s, but has since been discontinued again.

The packaging has undergone many changes since its inception. Unlike McDonald's, the company never used the clamshell style box made of Styrofoam, so when the environmental concerns over Styrofoam came to a head in the late 1980s, the company was able to tout its use of paperboard boxes for its sandwiches.^[12] To cut back on the amount of paper that the company used, the paperboard box was fully eliminated in 1991 and was replaced with waxed paper.^[13] For a short time after BK began moving to a fresh made model (certain sandwiches are made only after being ordered instead of being pre-made ahead of time), BK used an aluminum foil wrapping similar to Wendy's sandwich packaging.

Advertising

One of the original slogans of the Whopper advertised by Burger King was There are 1024 ways to have a Whopper;^[14] the claim is based on an exponential function of whether the sandwich has the ingredient or not. Represented by a binary number of 0 or 1, raised to the power of number of possible ingredients at the time, ten, thus 2¹⁰ =1,024. This claim was later expanded to There are 221,184 possible ways for a customer to order a Whopper sandwich.^[15] Other slogans include It takes two hands to handle the Whopper and Burger King: Home of the Whopper.^[16]

A 2007 advertising campaign celebrating the golden anniversary of the Whopper showed real customers in Las Vegas reacting to the false news the Whopper has been discontinued. While it was not permanently discontinued, the ad claims it was discontinued for one day. Later versions of the ads had customers receiving a Big Mac or Wendy's Single and their reactions to the sandwich. In-store ads, such as posters and tray-liners, attack the size and quality of the Big Mac.^[17][18] The campaign won the 2009 Effie Award as one of the best restaurant advertising promotions for 2007–2008.^[19]

The 2008 movie releases of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saw a promotional tie-in with the new Indy Whopper and the The Incredible Hulk with the Angry Whopper.^[8]

In December 2008, Burger King purchased the rights to an advertising campaign that centered on a taste-test marketing campaign, dubbed "Whopper Virgins". The test claimed to target participants who were unaware of the existence of Burger King or McDonald's, and had never eaten a hamburger. Three remote areas of the world—Baan Khun Chang Kiean, Thailand; Kulusuk, Greenland; and Budeşti, Romania—were targeted. In the test, the "virgins" were asked to try both the McDonald's Big Mac and the Burger King Whopper, and give their preference, if any. According to the advertisements and accompanying mini-documentary, the Whopper was the most popular sandwich among the test subjects.^[20][21]

Competitive products

Because of the wide knowledge of the Whopper in the public marketplace, competitors such as McDonald's and Wendy's have attempted to create a corresponding Whopper-style burger, often nicknamed a Whopper Stopper.^[22] Wendy's created the Big Classic with similar toppings but served on a bulkie roll, while McDonald's has created at least six different versions, including the McDLT,^[23] the McLean Deluxe and the Big N' Tasty.^[24]

Nutritional comparison

The Whopper (670 kcal) has more calories than McDonald's Big Mac (540 kcal), but is larger - 290 g vs. 214 g. Therefore, the Whopper contains fewer calories per gram than the Big Mac. The Whopper contains 231 kcal per 100 g and the Big Mac contains 252 kcal per 100 g.^[25][26] Cheese comes standard on the Big Mac, but is optional on the Whopper.

See also

	Florida portal
	Companies portal
	Food portal
	Drink portal

• BK XXL line
• BK Crown Jewels line

Similar sandwiches by other fast food restaurant vendors

• McDonald's Big N' Tasty
• McDonald's McLean Deluxe
• Wendy's Big Classic
• Carl's Jr.'s Six Dollar Burger
• Hardee's Monster Thickburger
• List of sandwiches

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Big in Japan: Burger King Sells Windows 7 Whopper". Fox News. October 23, 2009. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569268,00.html?test=latestnews. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Burger King Gives Japan a Seven-Patty Challenge". TIME. October 31, 2009. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1933387,00.html. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
3. ^ Gralla, Preston (October 22, 2009). "Microsoft's Windows 7 'Whopper' campaign: The worst promotion ever?". Computerworld.com blog. http://blogs.computerworld.com/14964/microsofts_windows_7_whopper_campaign_the_worst_promotion_ever. Retrieved November 3, 2009. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "The Pizza Burger: A 2,500-Calorie 'Fat Bomb'". Sky News. August 25, 2010. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Pizza-Burger-Burger-King-To-Introduce-The-2500-Calorie-Pizza-Burger-In-New-York-In-September/Article/201008415704796. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
5. ^ "Burger King introduces the 2500 Pizza Burger". The Daily Telegraph. August 25, 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7959380/Burger-King-introduces-the-2500-Pizza-Burger.html. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
6. ^ "Have it BOTH ways: Burger King's 2,500 calorie answer to that age-old take-away dilemma - pizza or burgers?". The Daily Mail. August 24, 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305042/Burger-King-pizza-burger-2-500-calorie-answer-away-dilemma.html. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
7. ^ Thorn, Bret (17 August 2010). "BK to offer shareable Pizza Burger". Nation's Restaurant News. http://www.nrn.com/article/bk-offer-shareable-pizza-burger. Retrieved 7 June 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b} AP Wire (2008-02-27). "Burger King discusses new items for 2008, growth strategies". the International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/business/NA-FIN-COM-US-Burger-King-Outlook.php. Retrieved 2008-03-01. "The new items discussed Wednesday include an Angry Bacon and Cheese Whopper with spicy, crispy onions, and the Indy Whopper, which will have bacon and pepper jack cheese and will be promoted together with the new Indiana Jones movie this summer." 
9. ^ Terrazas, Brent (9 January 2009). "Burger King's Angry Whopper & Facebook Debauchery". http://www.brentter.com/. http://www.brentter.com/burger-kings-angry-whopper-facebook-debauchery/. Retrieved 7 June 2011. 
10. ^ BKC (2002-02-08). "Burger King Celebrates As The WHOPPER Turns 45". BizJournals on Bison.com. http://bizjournals.bison.com/press/pr2-28-02bk.html. Retrieved 2007-10-22. 
11. ^ Romero, Peter (19 December 1998). "Burger King shifts marketing chiefs: irate franchisees spark latest upheaval". Nation's Restaurant News. Findarticles.com. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n51_v22/ai_6935524/. Retrieved 1 November 2010. 
12. ^ Holusha, Joshua (1990-11-18). "A Setback for Polystyrene". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/18/business/a-setback-for-polystyrene.html?scp=5&sq=Burger%20King%20Styrofoam&st=cse&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
13. ^ "BK replaces boxes with recyclables, rolls curly fries, barbecue sandwich". Nation's Restaurant News. 1991-09-09. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n35_v25/ai_11240596/. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
14. ^ BKC Canada (2004-04-05). "BURGER KING Canada introduces a WHOPPER of a Canadian burger (Press release)" (PDF). openface.ca. http://burgerking.openface.ca/imagelibrary/PRPDFs/BK%20Canadian%20Whopper%20release-FINAL.pdf. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
15. ^ BKC. "BK Domestic and Global Facts". Burger King. http://www.bk.com/companyinfo/content/corporation/facts.html. Retrieved 2007-10-24. ^{[dead link]}
16. ^ BKC. "BK Marketing and Advertising History". Burger King. Archived from the original on 2007-05-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20070525025155/http://www.bk.com/companyinfo/content/corporation/history.html. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 
17. ^ Theresa Howard (2007-12-09). "BK's telling a Whopper". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2007-12-09-ski-marketing_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-12. "Suppose you went to Burger King, (BKC) ordered a Whopper and were told it was discontinued." 
18. ^ BK Holdings web site. "Whopper Freakout". Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. http://www.whopperfreakout.com. 
19. ^ "2009 Grand Effie - Restaurants". Effie International. http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2009/3590. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 
20. ^ "WhopperVirgins.com". Burger King Brands. November 2008. http://www.whoppervirgins.com. 
21. ^ "WhopperVirgins.com". Advertising Age. http://adage.com/article?article_id=133063. 
22. ^ Shannon, Stevens (1998). "McDonald's woos franchisees with $25k store-update funding promise". Brandweek (1998-03-23: Findarticles.com). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BDW/is_n12_v39/ai_20437027/. Retrieved 2009-10-02. "The MBX must deliver on value, which it does right now", said Ball, referring to the big beef, lettuce and tomato sandwich now in test, dubbed the latest "Whopper Stopper." 
23. ^ David Zuckerman (1985-11-18). "Burger giants launch new product assaults; McD speeds rollout of McDLT sandwich — McDonald's". Nation's Restaurant News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v19/ai_4026592. Retrieved 2007-10-23. 
24. ^ AP Newswire (1997-07-02). "McDonald's hoping new burger a Whopper stopper". The Augusta Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20071030042615/http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/070297/fea_whopper.html. Retrieved 2007-10-23. 
25. ^ Burger King Nutrition Guide Whopper serving size 290 g, 670 kcal
26. ^ McDonald's Nutrition Guide Big Mac serving size 214 g, 540 kcal