Whopper Bar? Bourbon Whoppers? Burger King Expands Customer Choice

Anyone with a fast-food or casual dining franchise business, take note: Burger King is making some big changes. The Whopper Bar—the first of hundreds planned—lets customers order burgers choose any combination of over twenty toppings with the help of an on-the-spot personal Whopper Bar-tender. The move takes a page from the sushi restaurant business. In the same way that sushi chefs prepare meals according to a customer’s directions right before their eyes, so the Whopper Bar-tender builds a burger exactly to each customer’s preference in a face-to-face scenario. BK also plans else to introduce burger flavors—such as a Bourbon Whopper and a Pepper-Bacon Steakhouse XT. The story below might generate some ideas on how to expand your menu and enhance customer experience.

Peter Casey, Financial Consultant

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BK unveils long-awaited Whopper Bar

By Ron  Ruggless

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 10, 2009) Burger King Corp. on Tuesday unveiled its first, long-planned Whopper Bar at Universal CityWalk here.

Customers will be able to customize their Whoppers, Double Whoppers or Steakhouse XT burgers with 22 toppings, including smoked bacon and guacamole.

Whopper Bar-tenders will add the toppings in front of customers, much like sushi chefs prepare food for their guests. The nation’s No. 2 burger chain also plans to add burger flavors, such as a Bourbon Whopper and a pepper-bacon Steakhouse XT.

The new unit, located within the 30-acre CityWalk, part of the Universal Orlando Resort, is smaller than a traditional Burger King unit and offers an open kitchen and rounded countertop. It also features design colors in red, black and gray rather than BK’s traditional orange-and-red decor.

Burger King had announced plans for the Whopper Bar concept last year, and it says another is planned for the city of Munich, with perhaps six to a dozen to open by year’s end.

Russ Klein, president of global marketing, strategy and innovation, told the Associated Press: “Our vision is that this could be a 300- to 500-unit part of our overall portfolio if our thesis is right about the ability to position this as the vanguard of Burger King restaurants.”

The company foresees the brand-extension units going into sports stadiums, casinos and cruise ships.