It's tough to imagine a world without Burger King, a place where you can go to satisfy
the craving for something meaty, salty, filling, and fast.
Even if you can't go a week without a Whopper, there are still probably some things you don't
know or don't remember about this American favorite.
You wouldn't think a burger joint would get very far taking the burger out of their burgers.
But in early 2019, Burger King did just that when they rolled out the Impossible Whopper
to 59 locations in the St. Louis area.
A meat-free burger substitute, the Impossible Burger proved to be a massive success, leading
Burger King to announce that they would roll out the Impossible Whopper nationwide by the
end of the year.
"this is a f------ cow!"
"no f------ cow."
Assuming their supplier, Impossible Foods, can keep up with the demand, that is: according
to CNN, Burger King has more locations than all other clients of Impossible Foods combined.
On May 22, 2019, Burger King launched one of their weirdest public relations stunts
when they tweeted fans with this question
"got student loans?
what's ur $cashtag?"
They followed up the next day with another tweet that read,
"for real tho, we're trying to pay off those loans.
introducing Whopper Loans make a purchase through the BK app for a chance to have your
student loans paid off."
"Burger King wants to eat up your student loans!"
Some critics felt dangling Whoppers as edible lottery tickets seemed a bit insensitive given
that college graduates were reportedly carrying around $1.5 trillion in debt at the time.
But hey, if they didn't win, they'd still have a Whopper, so that's not so bad.
Ever been sitting in traffic and thought, "Man, I wish I had a Whopper right now."
Well, that's very specific.
But it's also prophetic, because in 2019 they announced The Traffic Jam Whopper.
First tested in Mexico City, the Traffic Jam Whopper works like this: if you're stuck in
traffic within 1.9 miles of a Burger King, you can call them, and they'll send someone
on a motorcycle to deliver it to your car.
It sounds kind of dangerous.
But according to Nation's Restaurant News, it increased their deliveries by 63 percent,
which is why they plan on rolling it out to cities like Los Angeles in the future.
When Burger King announced they were going to be selling those Impossible Whoppers, they
did it on April Fools' Day in 2019.
Everyone thought it was a hilarious joke.
"is this a joke?
"Is what a joke?"
"you leaving me a note to meet you at a Burger King."
But the funny part is that the announcement was actually true.
That's just how next level Burger King has gotten with their April Fools' Day pranks.
Way back in 1998, the company set a new bar when they announced the Left-Handed Whopper,
which was supposedly designed to be held in the left hand with ingredients balanced to
keep from spilling out the side.
In the years since, they've also done a Chocolate Whopper and Whopper-flavored toothpaste, but
the best might be yet to come.
In 2019, they teamed up with the Clio Awards to sponsor a student April Fools prank contest.
Nice.
"MM, it smells of Whopper in here!
Did you brush your teeth?!"
Ellen DeGeneres has been around for a long time, and strangely, you can thank Burger
King for helping her get her big break.
Yes, it's true: after some friends asked her to jump on stage and, quote, "do something
funny," DeGeneres quickly concocted a routine that consisted entirely of her eating a Whopper.
Seriously.
"I had a bag with a Whopper"
"I walk on stage and I said, I am so sorry, but this is the first time I've ever been
on stage, and I'm so nervous that I didn't eat all day long.
And I gotta eat something cause I'm so hungry."
"and then I would say, 'but what I wanted to talk about was…' and then I would take
a bite."
"and I ate the entire meal, and didn't finish the sentence, and then said, 'my time is up,
I gotta go, I'm so sorry.'"
Someone in the crowd thought it was so funny they offered her a stand up gig, and the rest
is history.
In 2015, Burger King extended an olive branch to their mortal enemies at McDonald's and
suggested that the two companies team up to make the McWhopper.
Yes, it's true.
In a full page ad in the New York Times, Burger King wrote an open letter to McDonald's where
they pitched the idea of doing the special combo burger on Peace Day, which is held on
September 21.
But McDonald's wasn't having any of that.
In a Facebook post, the CEO of McDonald's rebuked Burger King, saying that
"Between us, there is simply a friendly business competition and certainly not the unequaled
circumstances of the real pain and suffering of war."
And after suggesting they team up to do something a little more productive than a media stunt,
McDonald's tweaked Burger King for their open letter, saying,
"A simple phone call will do next time."
So much for peace.
Owning your own BK franchise would be cool, right?
Just think: It's essentially unlimited fries, and you can't beat that.
But it's not cheap.
Not only does Burger King require franchisees to pay a $50,000 up front fee to the company,
but they then have to shoulder all of the start-up costs.
Depending on the situation, that could be well above $500,000.
And that's probably why they require all new franchisees to have that $500,000 available
to them in liquid assets and a complete worth of at least $1.5 million.
On second thought, it's probably easier and more cost efficient to just order some fries
through the app.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.