Burger King Sues Burger King for $1
Selling cheeseburgers for $1 sounds like a good idea, especially for the consumer! After all, maintaining giant thunder-thighs isn't cheap.
So no doubt, in the eyes of the customer, cheaper is better. But Burger King's $1 double cheeseburger is no good for Burger King franchises.
That's why the franchises are now suing their corporate overlord, claiming the $1 special is forcing them to sell cheeseburgers at a loss.
One franchisee said double cheeseburgers usually cost $1.10. The meat, cheese, bun, and condiments costs $0.55, and the other $0.55 covers rent, royalties, and paying employees, so losing that $0.10 mucks up the system.
The corporation pushed the discount cheeseburger, which went on sale last month, after being rejected by franchise owners twice, to help boost sales and increase restaurant visits. The bigwigs expect a 20% jump in patronage.
Burger King has 12,000 locations worldwide and 90% are owned by franchisees, so you'd think the business gurus would have been more sensitive before dumping this marketing strategy, err, expense onto them.
I guess the thinking is cheaper food will mean more customers buying more food, but how long will that work? You can only eat some much in one day! It's not like a "can-can" sale. Fast food burgers don't last forever, or do they?
Via the Associated Press.
"After all, maintaining giant thunder thighs isn't cheap"?
Really, you can do better than that right? How about "clogged arteries"?
ReplyWith a woman who had her face and hands ripped off by a chimpanzee and a teen who's friends set him on fire recently in the news. I think the cosmetics affects of a burger are the least of peoples problems.
a chimp ripped off a woman's face for a cheeseburger?
ReplyI've been working on a cocktail called grounds for divorce....wooo oooo ooooooooooo oooo oooo oooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
ReplyThis is actually called "Diet Blog"... not Newsweek, The Economist, or World Net Daily... don't read it if you're feeling so melancholy.
ReplyI remember after 9/11 thinking how we no longer had the luxury to be concerned with diets and appearance, but then I read of one of the survivors accounts. She said that had she not just lost 80 lbs, she would never have been able to make it down those World Trade Center steps. (ie. her arteries wouldn't have mattered right then, but her thunder thighs sure would have.)
I know exactly what it is. A place where people are suppose to get healthy eating information. Not see someone take cheap shots at others appearances.
Maybe there is a "thunder thighs" that came here on their journey to a healthy lifestyle.
The truth is the author thought he was in safe company here to express his prejudices, when he could have stuck to internal health benefits that are more important.
I am just reminding him that there are a variety of ways to loose those hot looks that even he might not be safe from. Which is something to think about if he is going to go after other peoples looks.
Replyhey keep it down over there donut butt.
ReplyI guess that franchisee's don't understand a "loss leader" and how to recoup the 0.10 and make a profit despite the seeming "loss".
ReplyIf $0.55 pays rent, royalties, and employee salaries, which are set costs regardless of how many burgers they sell in a day, then having only $0.45 to go towards those expenses but selling significantly more burgers would actually help them in the long run. It's not hard to figure out that $0.55 for 100 burgers is $55, but $0.45 for 125 burgers is $56.25. If dropping the cost can help them sell 25% more, then the franchises win.
ReplyI don't eat fast food so this $1 thing does not hurt me but I suppose they would be selling more food to make up for that & that was figured in by the Corporate finace gurus. Hmmm, that makes me think right there! :-)
ReplySo the whole theory behind making money on things like burgers is to sell people a burger for $1 and hope they buy a fries and a beverage to go with it. Fries and sodas are the highest profit-margin items they sell, so they recoup the loss on the burger with the sides. So unless people get smart and buy only $1 double cheeseburgers and no fries or drinks, BK should still make plenty of money.
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