Don't let big burger fool you. Some "healthy" options are actually worse than the original, and
you may as well be throwing away money by trashing your receipt. Keep watching to find out why.
The fact that fast food is rarely healthy shouldn't stop you from paying attention to
how many calories your order has. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the
average man needs between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day, while the average woman needs between
1,600 and 2,400 calories. Consider then the Texas Double Whopper, which delivers 1,150 calories,
while a full large Texas Double Whopper meal adds up to 3,096 total calories,
and that's before you even get to dessert.
To be fair, this is an extreme example, and not just because of the calorie count,
as the Texas Double Whopper also features 51 grams of saturated fat, which is more than twice
the daily recommended amount, and more than 3,000 milligrams of sodium. But even something like the
esteemed Impossible Burger packs 626 calories, and a large meal can amount to as many as
2,133 calories. Fortunately, Burger King's website is quite helpful with the calorie counts of its
items. Again, that doesn't change how unhealthy it is, but at least it's easy to keep track of.
The concept of "healthy food" usually needs an asterisk when it comes to fast
food places. But even the biggest burger chains are subject to the whims of their customer base,
and the public's appetites in recent years have been trending toward clean,
crisp, and just generally healthful. Dealing with this shift is no easy task for any restaurant,
but you might think that the chain that rolled out the plant-based Impossible Whopper in 2019
would be well ahead of the curve when it comes to the health-conscious trend.
Unfortunately, that's not quite the case, and customers have been noticing.
As Eat This, Not That! medical expert Lyssie Lakatos put it,
"According to Statista, 39 percent of Americans look for healthy options at fast-food restaurants,
and Burger King doesn't appear to know how to cater to this population at all. Plus,
they don't have more plant-based or healthy options. And with many of their burgers containing
a day's worth of fat and sodium in one burger, as well as more than half a days' calories (and
that's before you add a soda!), it's a turn-off for the people who would like healthier options."
It's okay to indulge every once in a while, though, but it's important to keep in mind
that indulging is exactly what you're doing when you head to Burger King.
Yes, of course Burger King has an app. It is the 21st century, after all.
Do you absolutely need it to get your Whopper fix? Of course not. But should you consider
using it to make your BK experience as easy and efficient as humanly possible? Absolutely.
The Burger King app is everything you need to find your way to a delicious,
flame-grilled burger and all the sides that your stomach requires, with minimal hassle.
It helps you to find the nearest location, offers you easy access to the menu,
and even has a mobile payment possibility, should the restaurant in question accept it.
But the real kicker is that it contains each and every deal,
promotion, and discount the chain has available in a handy digital coupon form,
which can add up to some serious savings over time. App users also get a bunch of mobile-only
benefits, like secret deals and exclusive mobile coupons. And to add a cherry on top
of this sweet deal, you can use the app to order in advance to make your fast food even faster.
"I wanna go fast, I wanna go fast!"
Who wouldn't say yes to the prospect of having to pay less? A cool and fairly
new way to achieve that goal at Burger King is to participate in the Royal Perks system. The
program was launched in 2021 to reward loyal customers with great deals and free food.
As Chief Marketing Officer Ellie Doty announced in a press release,
"It feels like we've just accepted what brands have told us is possible with loyalty programs
over the years, so as we started working on Royal Perks, it was easy, let's do what
the others don't. To make sure we get it right, we're testing, learning and solving this year."
The Royal Perks reward system works by giving members 10 "Crowns" for every $1
purchase, which is doubled during your birthday month, and exchanging set amounts of Crowns for
Burger King purchases. Members also get some cool exclusive offers, such as a 2-for-$5
deal for certain menu items, such as the Whopper and the Original Chicken Sandwich.
Since the project has only just begun, it might very well be worth getting
in on the ground floor. Who knows what early adopters will reap in the future?
"We're sending you back to the future!"
Burger King is responsible for some of the most valuable fast food value meals around.
There's the well-advertised 2 for $5 Mix n' Match Deal among plenty of other value meal options,
so savvy customers can find plenty of ways to fill their bellies at a fraction of the usual cost.
Burger King has paid careful attention to the value side of their menu lately. In December 2020,
they launched the $1 Your Way dollar menu, a four-item deal that consisted of a Chicken
Jr. sandwich, a Bacon Cheeseburger, fries, and a soft drink, making for a filling and
delicious meal on the cheap. As Chief Marketing Officer Ellie Doty explained to Business Insider,
"It's important for us to be offering everyday value that's consistent and easy for the guests
to understand and that doesn't require them to jump through a lot of hoops to access it."
Burger King's $1 fare has evolved a bit since its announcement, but the chain's wider Value
Menu is at least as extensive as its main menu. So if you enter a Burger King without a very
specific idea about what you want, you should be able to discover that you're able to peruse
the Value Menu to fill your stomach in a far more cost-effective manner than you might've expected.
It can be easy to forget just how malleable the Burger King menu is if you really set your mind to
it. Basically, the rule of thumb is that if it's on one part of the menu, then you can stick it on
any other part of the menu. For example, some customers have been hacking the menu to make it
fit with their keto diet. And in 2016, the chain itself suggested adding French Toast
Sticks to the breakfast Croissan'wich in a delicious-looking Facebook post.
If you visit sites like Hack the Menu, you can find a secret menu of sorts, which includes
custom-built delicacies like the Mustard Whopper, which is a regular Whopper with the mayo replaced
with mustard. There's also the BK Ham and Cheese, which is just a ham and cheese sandwich built from
Burger King's ingredients. And then there's the BK Club, which is a Chicken Sandwich that comes
with cheese, bacon, and tomato. Mustard on a Whopper might not be everyone's must-have,
but these possibilities should give you an idea of how Burger King can fine-tune your
meal from a perfectly fine burger to a delicious custom creation made exactly how you like it.
When it comes to fast food, the "food" bit is only part of the experience. To really make the
most of your next Burger King visit, you should carefully consider your drink choices as well.
This is especially important if the BK location you're visiting has a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.
If you're unsure where to find one, the Coca-Cola Freestyle site provides a handy tracker.
Once you've found one, you're in for a world of possibilities that's nearly on
par with choosing a wine pairing for your dinner.
The whole point of the Freestyle fountain machine is the mix-and-match opportunities
it provides. But be careful. The machine's website advertises "100+ choices" of drink combinations,
so this can easily lead to random selections that may or may not work well,
and might even take away from your overall enjoyment if you start to panic. So minimize
the risks and come prepared. An integral part of the Freestyle experience is the mobile app,
which allows you to handily control the machine with your own phone, and also provides sweet
offers and all sorts of other opportunities. What's more, when you're able to create that
ultimate mix, you can just save the combination so that you won't have to wing it the next time.
"Wow, that tastes amazing!"
Unless you're the most financially fastidious person in the world,
saving fast food receipts is probably not too high on your
list of priorities. But when it comes to Burger King, it totally should be.
While it's easy to avoid looking at old receipts for fear of being reminded how much you've been
spending, it just so happens that the BK website has a "contact us" section that
gives you the opportunity to fill a short customer experience survey in exchange for some free grub.
All you need to do is punch in the restaurant number in the receipt and fill out the survey,
and then you'll be rewarded with a code that you can scribble onto the receipt.
Now that piece of paper that used to be a grim reminder of your last indulgent purchase
is transformed into a gift card that's good for a completely free Whopper,
Original Chicken Sandwich, or Croissan'wich: whichever one your heart desires!
Like most restaurant chains these days, Burger King offers vegetarian fare.
But if you want to go full vegan, your possibilities might be slightly more limited,
as one particularly unhappy customer found out in 2019 when he sued the chain for cooking their
much-touted Impossible Burgers on the same grill as their meat-based burger patties.
This incident makes it clear that you shouldn't assume that a Burger King item is automatically
devoid of animal-based ingredients just because it contains no meat. That being said, there are
ways to keep things fully vegan at BK, though you need to be a little tricky to pull it off.
The sole vegan salad option, a Garden Side Salad without cheese, is a fairly
sad thing. So you might want to stick with the deep-fried, crispy, plant-based fare from the
breakfast and daytime menus, such as French Toast Sticks and French fries. Fortunately,
the Impossible Whopper is also available fully vegan these days, though it does
require a method of preparation that bypasses the broiler as well as removing the mayonnaise.
Burger King's single most famous item is of course the Whopper. And as any BK aficionado can readily
attest, the great thing about it is that you can also order a double or triple version,
depending on how many flame-grilled patties your stomach can handle. But if you're not well-versed
in the art of patty optimization, you might end up having a less-than-amazing BK experience.
Since fast food is all about satisfaction, it's worth paying attention to your patty game.
The normal Whopper is comparatively heavy on the veggies and sauces,
which can make it a downright refreshing experience as far as fast food burgers go.
If you want to add some protein oomph, the Double Whopper's twin patties can answer the call
by delivering a satisfying meatiness in a way that doesn't drown out the other ingredients.
For the true meat eater, the Triple Whopper is the preferred game in town. Then again,
why stop there? If you want to go truly all in with your Burger King meat experience,
you might want to skip Whoppers altogether and order the secret menu item known as the
Quad Stacker. This towering burger is a glorious combo of four patties,
four cheese slices, Special Sauce, and, of course, bacon.
"I got meat! I got meat!"
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