Meat Industry INSIGHTS Newsletter

970908 New BIG KING Sandwich Breaks All Sales Records

September 8, 1997

MIAMI - The new BIG KING sandwich has been selling in Burger King restaurants throughout the country barely a week, and has already taken its rightful place as the bigger, better BIG MAC.

In fact, the BIG KING is outperforming sales projections so much that the company announced Monday that restaurants in some parts of the country experienced a shortage of BIG KING sandwiches over the weekend.

"We are seeing unprecedented sales results, and want to thank our customers for giving our BIG KING sandwich such an enthusiastic welcome and apologize to any of those consumers who, due to the overwhelming popularity of the sandwich, were unable to purchase a BIG KING. Be assured that we are working closely with our suppliers to meet the demand for this new product," said Jim Watkins, senior vice president, North America Marketing for Burger King Corp.

Burger King restaurants report selling nearly 70 percent more BIG KING sandwiches than initially projected. The original projection was 1.8 million sandwiches a day. Actual sales are nearly three million sandwiches a day. Some restaurants reported running low on BIG KING beef patties and "King Sauce" over the weekend. WHOPPER beef patties were not affected since they are a different size.

Burger King Corp. launched advertising for the new BIG KING sandwich last Monday to go head-to-head against McDonald's flagship sandwich the BIG MAC. The new BIG KING sandwich has 75 percent more beef and less bread than the BIG MAC and is stacked high with two hamburger patties, two slices of cheese, lettuce, onions and pickles topped with the sandwich's own "King Sauce." Recent BIG MAC eaters participating in consumer preference testing say the like the taste of the flame-broiled BIG KING better.

Burger King Corp. and its franchisees operate more than 9,000 restaurants in all 50 states and 56 countries around the world. In fiscal year 1996, Burger King had systemwide sales of $9 billion. Burger King Corp. is a subsidiary of Grand Metropolitan, PLC, one of the world's leading branded consumer products businesses. Its major businesses, International Distillers and Vintners, Pillsbury and Burger King, all increased market share in the previous year. GrandMet's portfolio of international food and drink brands includes Pillsbury, Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Progresso, Burger King, Smirnoff Vodka, Bailey's Original Irish Cream and J&B Rare Scotch Whisky.

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