The fast-food burger chain had a clear inspiration for this menu item.
Playing follow the leader lets you make moves that make sense from a business perspective, but seem a little suspicious. Dunkin’ (DNKN) – Get Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. Report, for example, just seems to wait to see what works at Starbucks (SBUX) – Get Starbucks Corporation Report before offering its variation of that success.
The second-tier coffee chain recently (Feb. 2021) added cold foam to its menu, touting it in a cringe-inducing press release that made it seem like the company invented something that Starbucks debuted in 2014.
“Dunkin’ is going bold on cold to take its premium Cold Brew to new heights. The brand is introducing Sweet Cold Foam for Cold Brew, debuting with the new Cold Brew with Sweet Cold Foam and Chocolate Stout Flavored Cold Brew with Sweet Cold Foam,” it said in a press release.
That’s a bold play for a copycat product, but that has been the Dunkin’ way and, it’s a classic follow-the-leader strategy. Restaurants Brands International’s (QSR) – Get Restaurant Brands International Inc Report Burger King hasn’t always used those tactics — it has been an innovator at times — but it followed McDonald’s (MCD) – Get McDonald’s Corporation Report lead when it came to its chicken nuggets, its fish sandwich, and the general concept of breakfast sandwiches (though the Croissan’Wich at least varied up the genre a bit).
Now, Burger King has brought back a product that’s not shy in its reverence for a classic McDonald’s burger.
Burger King
No, Really, It’s Not a Big Mac
When your rival has a signature sandwich called the Big Mac and you come out with a sandwich called the Big King, you’re not being subtle. Burger King’s variant has roughly the same ingredients as the McDonald’s sandwich that’s so famous it has a song that’s highly recognizable which lists its ingredients.
That jingle, “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun,” first aired in 1975.
Burger King’s Big King lacks a song, but it features “two flame-grilled beef patties, King Sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun.”
That’s the same recipe, as both King Sauce and special sauce are variants on Thousand Island dressing. Burger King does offer “flame-broiled” burgers, while McDonald’s cooks its patties on a grill. That’s a difference that might matter to diehard fans of the number-two burger chain.
The biggest difference between the Big King and the Big Mac appears to be that the Burger King Sandwich comes in at 1,009 calories while McDonald’s signature burger “only” has 550.
Burger King is not being shy here. The Big King is either a blatant copy or a bold challenge to its well-established rival, depending upon your perspective.
Burger King Hasn’t Always Been Number Two
The Whopper, Burger Kings’ signature sandwich, actually came out in 1957, a full decade before the Big Mac. Since then, however, the Home of the Whopper has struggled with innovation which led to its ham and cheese sandwich, a suspiciously inexpensive veal parmigiana, and oddities like the Egg-Normous Buritto.
Burger King has at least brought the Big King back for sort of innovative reasons. It’s using the burger to drive people to sign up for its Royal Perks loyalty rewards program. Members of that program get early access, via the company’s app, before it becomes available to non-members (albeit only by a few days).
Offering a Big Mac knockoff shows a lack of innovation, but as Dunkin’ has shown, embracing being number two can work. “Inventing” the Big King takes a lot less work than creating something new, and the sandwich has a built-in audience willing to sample a new take on an old classic.
