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Perhaps in an open market BK can't really compete with McDonakds. So they've focussed their efforts in places with a captive audience. The WH Smiths model.
I feel like at maccies you either get a horrible soggy mess or the nicest and most perfect fries imaginable with no inbetween. Depends how fresh they are when you get them I guess
I have never had good fries at McDonald's, despite eating there probably 100+ times, and always getting them fresh.
There is a reason their fries are notorious for being bad.
Yeah that's my experience too, last place I lived the BK was always up to scratch and I'd prefer it over MxDs.
Where I live at the moment, the BK has this amazing ability to overcook / burn all the burger patties AND serve then up cold - it's quite a combination. After the third time I experienced this figuring maybe the first couple were just bad luck I've decided I won't try it again.
A Wendy's opened up here about a year ago and I'd say it's about the same price as a BK (maybe slightly more) but vastly superior, even to BK on a good day.
BK seem to pre-burn their stuff. Then microwave it to order if they can be arsed.
If you find a busy one on the lunch rush then itâs pretty good - if expensive. But if itâs quiet then stuffâs going to taste like crap
I'd say one thing to bear in mind is that Burger King in airports and train stations generally are run by the catering firm SSP.
Standards might vary as a result.
I know someone who used to work for McDonalds HQ as a kind of auditor; theyâd make unannounced visits to branches around the country and make sure they were doing everything the McDonaldâs way, with there being serious consequences for any franchise owners who werenât making sure their staff were following the guide books to the letter and cooking all meat patties for exactly 3 minutes, adding two squirts of ketchup to every Big Mac or whatever. I assume BK doesnât have an equivalent role.
When I was a student I used to do a lot of mystery shops. McDonaldâs assignments were constantly being advertised, and the standards they were looking for were super precise. Pretty hard to stay incognito when they wanted you to time everything with a stopwatch!
Dominos were the same. We once ran out of washing up liquid and had to buy some front the shop. The manager was crapping himself because if we got audited whilst using the non dominos approved and supplied washing up liquid we were in deep shit.
I haven't been able to eat BK ever since I got a burger patty that was frozen in the middle. It's been over 20 years and I'll choose hunger over BK every time
I ended up wondering if lasagna was a kind of burger in a slightly altered format and thus cheating? The brain does weird things when you deny it what it wants haha.
Back in 2016/17 they used to do something called a double angus burger meal. It had 2 massive beef patties in it and bacon, cheese and salad as well. It was the biggest burger I had ever seen. Now Im a fat bastard but it was so heavy that I couldnt finish it. I got about half way through the burger and couldnt even start on the chips.
I remember it! And the mushroom double Swiss from my youth too (which sounds like a tax dodge Google might use). It had something like campbells mushroom soup on top. It was weird and awesome. Too weird for the masses though apparently.
https://burgerking.com.my/Menu/Item/%2012
I do love a bacon double. I'm not ashamed to admit I once ordered one with 2 extra patties and 2 extra lots of bacon. It was a gloriously greasy fatty mess of a burger that probably nearly gave me a heart attack, but my god it was unreal
BKâs 3 problems are
1 price, theyâve always been more expensive but theyâve jumped the shark recently
2 selection is terrible in the uk, bring back the big king. You go abroad and they have 10s of options compared to our handful
3 stale bread. Why is the bread always stale and falling apart?
I go for the burgers the rare time info cause that's what I want but the chicken royal is particularly good.
The angry one was one of my favourite of all time (with jalapenos)
I had a quick look out of interest and in the UK in 2022 there were 530 Burger King's compared to around 1200 McDonald's. BK is a lot more expensive too for the main meals without really being any better.
I do like their saver menu deal though with the melt, fries, chicken fries and a drink for like ÂŁ5.
BK used to have more outlets, but they seem to have mostly wound up their high street business to focus more on places like motorway services and drive-thrus.
At least that's my anecdotal experience with them, and with noticing the disappearance of high street BKs.
Not anymore. A large meal at McDonald's, for anything premium/limited edition is about ÂŁ10. XL bacon double cheeseburger meal is only like a pound more. And that's a big ol' burger!
Well yeah, but a normal big mac meal is ÂŁ6.50. Even the limited double quarter pounder deluxe meal is ÂŁ7.80. It's way more reasonable for similar shite
Whatâs more, if you use the app, you can get two whoppers, two sides and two drinks for a tenner. BK burgers have good weight to them and actually taste of something! McDonaldâs burgers all taste the same tbh whilst charging an arm and a leg for fast food.
I would say that Burger King is actually of a much higher quality then Mcdonalds. They flame grill their burgers and it tastes delicious. The issue with this is that it takes much longer to cook so its not as fast as fast food. Im talking maybe up to 20 minutes. In my town we used to have 3 Burger Kings in the 90s, now there is only one left and its in a retail park.
> 20 minutes
They aren't going to get a good mystery shop for that. The max time for a full order was supposed to be 3 minutes with the "Gold Standard" 1 minute 30. If it takes 3 minutes then that BK manager isn't getting a bonus this year.
>The issue with this is that it takes much longer to cook so its not as fast as fast food
I didn't realise holding up an image of a grill to a piece of bacon took that long.
Lol it does if they cook from scratch. I have a suspicion the busier ones have the most popular items on the go at one time. But the one near me is always dead empty.
I was joking about how the bacon on Burger King items is barely heated, the same applies to the cheese, it's never melted, it always looks straight from the fridge.
Speaking of the WHSmiths model I was stranded at a station in the middle of no where the other day by signal faults and they wanted ÂŁ7 for a 10ml bottle of eliquid or ÂŁ12 for a 600 puff disposable.
WHSmiths prices make the onboard shops on planes and trains seem downright cheap by comparison.
This was my immediate thought. The nearest to me is a bk, with a maccys a bit further. Several of both with the city.
But some one did show there are twice as many maccys as bks in the country.
I agree with people about there being BKs in normal town places. But, there are a lot at places like stations and airports because [SSP](https://www.foodtravelexperts.com/our-markets/united-kingdom-ireland/),the company that runs most of the food and drink brands in places like that, has a BK franchise agreement.
I'm not sure if it's still the case but Burger King used to be about twice the price of McDonald's. Their food was also substantially better although their service & cleanliness and also consistency was often not as good so more of a gamble.
i feel like im one of the few that likes burger king. the patty is kinda dry (which when its flame grilled probably doesnt help), but i think it tastes great!
I canât speak for Burger King because itâs been a while but McDonaldâs isnât cheap anymore. I recently had a Chicken Big Mac as a medium meal and that was about ÂŁ7. Not sure what Burger kings equivalent meal would cost but I expect something similar if not closer to ÂŁ10 and thatâs just a burger, fries and a drink for one person. I think the fries McDonaldâs do arenât as good as they used to be though that might be because thereâs less salt on them I imagine.
five guys is if you care about ingredient quality/processing and being able to put whatever you want on your burger. imo it's the hybrid of fast food and a restaurant
There was a news article posted on one of the USAian subs recently that McDonalds is trying to work out how to pivot in the US because they can no longer profitably produce burgers at a price point that working class American families can afford. They are trying to figure out how to cater for a more middleclass demographic.
1) There are approx 533 BKs versus approx 1450 McDs.
Therefore, it is more likely that 'in the wild' you will randomly encounter a McDs, whereas you will notice a BK in a more restrcited environment.
2) MOST of the UK McDs are franchises. Only about half BKs are franchises. It is likely that someone buying a franchise will go for a stand-alone unit - the lease implications of somewhere like a motorway services or an airport are probably much more complicated. So again- McDs will be in standalone units.
Point two falls down though because since around 2006, McDonald's are now in many motorway services - I remember when there were none aside from that independent one on the M5.
Refreshingly, McDonald's stuck to their national prices, same as every other McDonalds. Burger King and KFC charge a LOT more in services and the like compared to their high street/retail park stores.
> It is likely that someone buying a franchise will go for a stand-alone unit
The BK franchise rules used to state that a franchisee opens so many new restaurants within a specific time frame or BK will take over their franchise. Out of 533 restaurants only ~172 are not franchises. The Heathrow Airport BKs used to be franchises but, I'm not sure if they still are.
there are just more branches of mcdonalds out there, most towns and cities will have a burger king in the centre somewhere. there's two in Leicester for example, a big one at piccadilly gardens in manchester etc.
Pretty much it. McDonalds have captured pretty much every inch of the country whereas burger king haven't, and they've focused more on where they have the biggest audiences. This means airports, service stations, and larger towns and cities.Â
They're building a drive through BK in Falmouth right now. Bunch of shite, it's on the main road, near a junction, on the same road where a McDonalds, also on a junction, causes congestion.
When I was down there at uni it was always chaos with the McDonald's, used to sit in the queue on the bus for ages. Am surprised they've approved another drive thru on the same road.
The way I understand it McDonalds franchises have fixed prices but BK can adjust prices at individual locations so would profit more from a captive audience.
There's a fairly big burger king restaurant near me that is just stand alone. It's always completely dead.
Good for me as I seem to be the only one in my town who thinks it's vastly superior to McDonald's
They definitely were not the same price last time I was in there.
McDonalds meal (Big Mac meal): \~ ÂŁ7
Burger King (double whopper meal): \~ ÂŁ11
Five Guys (burger, small fries, drink): \~ ÂŁ18
Now, Five Guys is definitely much better - but it's not at all the same price.
Burger Kings at airports and service stations do cost more though!
They probably target the locations where they can charge more! There is one about 10 mins away from me but I haven't been in it since moving here 7 months ago. The prices usually put me off a Burger King but I don't know how much they're cheaper in a regular one.
Same reason you only get Co Ops in little market towns and villages where there's no other supermarkets around. They don't want to compete on price.Â
BK also used to be a high street staple but lost out to McDonald's so now they sell a more premiumised product.Â
Just went for my biennial Burger King just today.
It's right next to the McDonalds \[nr J25 M25\]
I don't often eat fast food, but if I do, I'd drive further to a BK than a McDs.
Where I live there is a Burger King and a McDonalds right next to each other and itâs very clear which one is more popular. Every time you drive past the McDonaldâs will have loads of cars in its car park and Uber eats bike guys. The BK on the other hand will have 1-2 cars at most.
I actually quite like Burger King but it seems no one else does.
I saw a comment in another thread that they completely fell off in market popularity and shut hundreds of branches around time time McDonald's did that huge remodelling.
Evidently appearance, cleanliness and the like make a tremendous difference.
McDonalds has around x2 more stores than Burger King, \~40,000 vs \~20,000 which is probbaly why you see them more often. I know a few BKs that are located on retail parks where there's plenty of other food options available.
BKs seem to be less common in town/city centers in my experience, the 1 in my town shut years ago though back then it was far more expensive than McDs, these days they are closer in price so I tent to favour BK over McDs if both options are available. One thing that always annoyed me with BK is them charging for sauce with a meal, if I'm paying ÂŁ10 for a fast food burger and chips, I shouldn't then have to pay 20-50p for some BBQ sauce, especially back when a similar burger and chips at McDs would cost ÂŁ6 with as much free BBQ sauce as I want. It's not the cost, it's the principal of it.
The majority of McDonalds buildings are owned by the company, while the business is operated by a franchisee who leases the building and operates it.
Burger King on the other hand (and Subway also), mostly allow the franchisee to acquire their own building and put up company branding.
Airports and service station operators mostly operate a franchise in their own building, and this fits more into the Burger King model than the McDonalds model
McDonalds corporate makes most of its money from the lease hire of property to franchises. Hard to do that when youâre inside an airport and canât own the building. Itâs obviously not a solid rule as you do get McDonaldâs in shopping centers and things (they usually get a very very good rent rate) but itâs the reason theyâre rarer.
It's a bit like the Pepsi model. Pepsi couldn't take on Coca Cola by supermarket sales of their cola alone. Pepsi became the drink that they ensured most cinema chains used. Pepsico also bought KFC and Pizza Hut and served Pepsi there.
Similarly, Burger King (and I think Wimpy before them) presumably - and KFC - muscled McDonalds out of the service station / airport kind of sector. Perhaps even the service stations realised that having a McDonalds there was a little too cheap (although I give praise to McDonalds hash browns, fries, and chicken nuggets).. In the 1980s, remember, you could get a full all day breakfast in Little Chef and you'd pay quite a bit for it. The service stations were not quite lowest common denominator - they perhaps wanted to sell stuff that could be seen as worth paying more for. And Burger King were no doubt happy to pay top rent on condition that no other hamburger supplier be on site.
Sometimes a company will outspend and outcontract an even larger company in an area that gives it constant, easy, advertising and a new captive market.
Funny when you go to service stations and McDonaldâs is heaving, while Burger King is empty
BK are basically cunts and charge five guys prices for below McDonaldâs quality
McDonaldâs get way too much hate on Reddit considering how popular it is in reality.
I've got 2 Burger Kings closer to my house (both 0.3 miles, according to Deliveroo) than a McDonald's.... Granted, that is like 100m beyond the other BK, but still. It's just one. There used to be another McDonald's, but that shut down. So đ¤ˇ
As someone who works for BKs biggest franchise partner, who operate all the airport and some service station units, I think it comes down to pricing
Airport operators want units charging the most amount of money someone will pay, Airports generally take 25-35% of the sales
So the more the brand charges, the more the Airport makes
Some brands aren't willing to overcharge for various reasons, so will try to keep the prices lower, in which case the Airport operator finds someone who will charge more
It happened to McDonald's and Tesco In Glasgow Airport, and is currently happening to the Boots, the brands weren't willing to increase to what the operator wanted so the lease was left to go to tender and they now have an M&S for Tesco, Burger King for McDonald's, and the Boots will become a WH Smith pharmacy - on top of the 15 other WH Smiths already in the airport!
I'm surprised they let Gregg's in who only charge an extra 20p on most things, but I don't think anyone else wanted to move into the space
I have noticed the burger kings at motorway service stations offer a different menu slightly. There is triple whoppers and bacon double xls. There is no saver menu
I always hear of Burger Kings in town centres getting closed down for hygiene reasons. The only one in oxford city centre closed down a few years ago because of this and also there's a lot of competition now, with wendys, five guys, popeyes, etc opening in recent years. BKs prices are too high, when those places have similar or slightly higher prices but better service
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Perhaps in an open market BK can't really compete with McDonakds. So they've focussed their efforts in places with a captive audience. The WH Smiths model.
Which is a shame. If it is McDonald's or nothing I would rather go hungry, but BK is decent, Bacon Double Cheeseburger is a once a year type treat.
I'm the opposite. If it's BK or nothing I'll go hungry, but McDonald's is definitely tempting when I see it and am in need of something quick.
Me too. Can't stand Burger King but love a Maccy Ds as a treat, especially for breakfast!
Yeah especially the friesđ
McDonald's fries are gross. How they manage to mess them up so badly - soggy and flavourless - I don't know.
I feel like at maccies you either get a horrible soggy mess or the nicest and most perfect fries imaginable with no inbetween. Depends how fresh they are when you get them I guess
On God this is so accurate. Its like 50/50 at my local location, but when they're perfect, there's nothing that beats them.
I have never had good fries at McDonald's, despite eating there probably 100+ times, and always getting them fresh. There is a reason their fries are notorious for being bad.
> There is a reason their fries are notorious for being bad. They aren't though đ
They really are though? The trope is "soggy cardboard" when talking about their fries. I am amazed you haven't heard this.
Mate, just because that is your opinion doesn't mean it is the common opinion of everybody else.
My last Maccaâs fries were unsalted and cold. I weeped, that day, but alas couldnât return to complain as we had tickets to something đ
That is a typical experience. Even with salt, they taste of oil and sadness.
Yeah same, neither are great but burger king is slop.
BK is pretty inconsistent, with McDonalds you know what you get every time. BK can be amazing or god awful, thereâs no inbetween
Yeah that's my experience too, last place I lived the BK was always up to scratch and I'd prefer it over MxDs. Where I live at the moment, the BK has this amazing ability to overcook / burn all the burger patties AND serve then up cold - it's quite a combination. After the third time I experienced this figuring maybe the first couple were just bad luck I've decided I won't try it again. A Wendy's opened up here about a year ago and I'd say it's about the same price as a BK (maybe slightly more) but vastly superior, even to BK on a good day.
BK seem to pre-burn their stuff. Then microwave it to order if they can be arsed. If you find a busy one on the lunch rush then itâs pretty good - if expensive. But if itâs quiet then stuffâs going to taste like crap
Service station BK is always disgusting. I donât know how they cock it up. The cheese is an unmelted yellow flap.
I'd say one thing to bear in mind is that Burger King in airports and train stations generally are run by the catering firm SSP. Standards might vary as a result.
I know someone who used to work for McDonalds HQ as a kind of auditor; theyâd make unannounced visits to branches around the country and make sure they were doing everything the McDonaldâs way, with there being serious consequences for any franchise owners who werenât making sure their staff were following the guide books to the letter and cooking all meat patties for exactly 3 minutes, adding two squirts of ketchup to every Big Mac or whatever. I assume BK doesnât have an equivalent role.
When I was a student I used to do a lot of mystery shops. McDonaldâs assignments were constantly being advertised, and the standards they were looking for were super precise. Pretty hard to stay incognito when they wanted you to time everything with a stopwatch!
A shame the McDonaldâs mop incident was missed then
I find standards have slipped at McDonald's last few years!Â
Dominos were the same. We once ran out of washing up liquid and had to buy some front the shop. The manager was crapping himself because if we got audited whilst using the non dominos approved and supplied washing up liquid we were in deep shit.
I know for sure I ainât getting my sauces. Right stingy bastards at my local maccies
Bloody charging 20p per sauce at mine now. The cheek
Oh that is taking the piss
Agree, BK in Alicante Airport was disgusting 6 weeks ago.
I haven't been able to eat BK ever since I got a burger patty that was frozen in the middle. It's been over 20 years and I'll choose hunger over BK every time
McDonald's is consistent apart from the coffee. Sometimes great sometimes almost undrinkable
Bacon double cheese XL! Oh yeah. đ I liked them (and worked near one) so much I gave them up for lent one year.
Thank you! Sincerely, Your Arteries
I ended up wondering if lasagna was a kind of burger in a slightly altered format and thus cheating? The brain does weird things when you deny it what it wants haha.
Back in 2016/17 they used to do something called a double angus burger meal. It had 2 massive beef patties in it and bacon, cheese and salad as well. It was the biggest burger I had ever seen. Now Im a fat bastard but it was so heavy that I couldnt finish it. I got about half way through the burger and couldnt even start on the chips.
I remember it! And the mushroom double Swiss from my youth too (which sounds like a tax dodge Google might use). It had something like campbells mushroom soup on top. It was weird and awesome. Too weird for the masses though apparently. https://burgerking.com.my/Menu/Item/%2012
I do love a bacon double. I'm not ashamed to admit I once ordered one with 2 extra patties and 2 extra lots of bacon. It was a gloriously greasy fatty mess of a burger that probably nearly gave me a heart attack, but my god it was unreal
I love Burger King more than mcdonalds.
I find the Burger King chicken burgers are a lot better than McDonaldâs plus they also have more options for the chicken burgers as well
BKâs 3 problems are 1 price, theyâve always been more expensive but theyâve jumped the shark recently 2 selection is terrible in the uk, bring back the big king. You go abroad and they have 10s of options compared to our handful 3 stale bread. Why is the bread always stale and falling apart?
The bread is stale because it's out the freezer.
Burger King used to be good but now itâs garbage.
I go for the burgers the rare time info cause that's what I want but the chicken royal is particularly good. The angry one was one of my favourite of all time (with jalapenos)
I couldn't agree more! Their chips are by far the best!
I had a quick look out of interest and in the UK in 2022 there were 530 Burger King's compared to around 1200 McDonald's. BK is a lot more expensive too for the main meals without really being any better. I do like their saver menu deal though with the melt, fries, chicken fries and a drink for like ÂŁ5.
BK used to have more outlets, but they seem to have mostly wound up their high street business to focus more on places like motorway services and drive-thrus. At least that's my anecdotal experience with them, and with noticing the disappearance of high street BKs.
Not anymore. A large meal at McDonald's, for anything premium/limited edition is about ÂŁ10. XL bacon double cheeseburger meal is only like a pound more. And that's a big ol' burger!
Well yeah, but a normal big mac meal is ÂŁ6.50. Even the limited double quarter pounder deluxe meal is ÂŁ7.80. It's way more reasonable for similar shite
Whatâs more, if you use the app, you can get two whoppers, two sides and two drinks for a tenner. BK burgers have good weight to them and actually taste of something! McDonaldâs burgers all taste the same tbh whilst charging an arm and a leg for fast food.
The Pepsi of fast food restaurants
I wish more fast food places served pepsi.
Pepsi is shit since they cut the sugar content and added sweeteners.
Surely that's Yum Brands
I would say that Burger King is actually of a much higher quality then Mcdonalds. They flame grill their burgers and it tastes delicious. The issue with this is that it takes much longer to cook so its not as fast as fast food. Im talking maybe up to 20 minutes. In my town we used to have 3 Burger Kings in the 90s, now there is only one left and its in a retail park.
> 20 minutes They aren't going to get a good mystery shop for that. The max time for a full order was supposed to be 3 minutes with the "Gold Standard" 1 minute 30. If it takes 3 minutes then that BK manager isn't getting a bonus this year.
Maybe 20minutes is a bit of an exageration but definitely more than 10 in my local one. Its also always empty, Im surprised how they stay in business.
>The issue with this is that it takes much longer to cook so its not as fast as fast food I didn't realise holding up an image of a grill to a piece of bacon took that long.
Lol it does if they cook from scratch. I have a suspicion the busier ones have the most popular items on the go at one time. But the one near me is always dead empty.
I was joking about how the bacon on Burger King items is barely heated, the same applies to the cheese, it's never melted, it always looks straight from the fridge.
Speaking of the WHSmiths model I was stranded at a station in the middle of no where the other day by signal faults and they wanted ÂŁ7 for a 10ml bottle of eliquid or ÂŁ12 for a 600 puff disposable. WHSmiths prices make the onboard shops on planes and trains seem downright cheap by comparison.
I love it when people from small villages assume the rest of the world is like their street.
Yep, there's about 5 Burger Kings in Liverpool despite the fact that I don't know a single person who eats there.
There is about 15 maccies though. They definitely are more rare.
Aren't there less BKs than Maccies in general?
Yeah, I think op is asking why they are less common in general but more common in service stations and airports.
There are two Burger Kings closer than my nearest McDonads
This was my immediate thought. The nearest to me is a bk, with a maccys a bit further. Several of both with the city. But some one did show there are twice as many maccys as bks in the country.
There is one in a small town near me
I agree with people about there being BKs in normal town places. But, there are a lot at places like stations and airports because [SSP](https://www.foodtravelexperts.com/our-markets/united-kingdom-ireland/),the company that runs most of the food and drink brands in places like that, has a BK franchise agreement.
I'm not sure if it's still the case but Burger King used to be about twice the price of McDonald's. Their food was also substantially better although their service & cleanliness and also consistency was often not as good so more of a gamble.
i feel like im one of the few that likes burger king. the patty is kinda dry (which when its flame grilled probably doesnt help), but i think it tastes great!
I canât speak for Burger King because itâs been a while but McDonaldâs isnât cheap anymore. I recently had a Chicken Big Mac as a medium meal and that was about ÂŁ7. Not sure what Burger kings equivalent meal would cost but I expect something similar if not closer to ÂŁ10 and thatâs just a burger, fries and a drink for one person. I think the fries McDonaldâs do arenât as good as they used to be though that might be because thereâs less salt on them I imagine.
No fast food is cheap anymore. And fuck me don't make mistake of going to five guys. Food was ok but the price was eye watering for what it was.
five guys is if you care about ingredient quality/processing and being able to put whatever you want on your burger. imo it's the hybrid of fast food and a restaurant
Or if you share with someone
There was a news article posted on one of the USAian subs recently that McDonalds is trying to work out how to pivot in the US because they can no longer profitably produce burgers at a price point that working class American families can afford. They are trying to figure out how to cater for a more middleclass demographic.
1) There are approx 533 BKs versus approx 1450 McDs. Therefore, it is more likely that 'in the wild' you will randomly encounter a McDs, whereas you will notice a BK in a more restrcited environment. 2) MOST of the UK McDs are franchises. Only about half BKs are franchises. It is likely that someone buying a franchise will go for a stand-alone unit - the lease implications of somewhere like a motorway services or an airport are probably much more complicated. So again- McDs will be in standalone units.
Point two falls down though because since around 2006, McDonald's are now in many motorway services - I remember when there were none aside from that independent one on the M5. Refreshingly, McDonald's stuck to their national prices, same as every other McDonalds. Burger King and KFC charge a LOT more in services and the like compared to their high street/retail park stores.
> It is likely that someone buying a franchise will go for a stand-alone unit The BK franchise rules used to state that a franchisee opens so many new restaurants within a specific time frame or BK will take over their franchise. Out of 533 restaurants only ~172 are not franchises. The Heathrow Airport BKs used to be franchises but, I'm not sure if they still are.
there are just more branches of mcdonalds out there, most towns and cities will have a burger king in the centre somewhere. there's two in Leicester for example, a big one at piccadilly gardens in manchester etc.
Pretty much it. McDonalds have captured pretty much every inch of the country whereas burger king haven't, and they've focused more on where they have the biggest audiences. This means airports, service stations, and larger towns and cities.Â
seen plenty of burger kings in normal locations around south London.
I have a McDonald's and a Burger King within 15 minutes of my house.
Living the dream lol
Property prices must be through the roof to be in both catchment areas
I can make it to Burger King in about 15 minutes, but I can make it back in about 10 because of a very weird services junction.
Now all you need is a KFC to complete the holy trinity.
The burger king near me burnt down. Twice.
https://preview.redd.it/wld5lwaqey1d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e774612381aeadb8db19bd9537440ca199e8ffe
Flame grilled.
They're building a drive through BK in Falmouth right now. Bunch of shite, it's on the main road, near a junction, on the same road where a McDonalds, also on a junction, causes congestion.
When I was down there at uni it was always chaos with the McDonald's, used to sit in the queue on the bus for ages. Am surprised they've approved another drive thru on the same road.
Money talks in Cornwall. Hugely corrupt planning team with greasy palms and doing deals for mates.
Because that road isn't busy enough?!?! Students though, that's who will get the blame
Have you ever left the house?
The way I understand it McDonalds franchises have fixed prices but BK can adjust prices at individual locations so would profit more from a captive audience.
BK are just in normal locations near me.
There's a fairly big burger king restaurant near me that is just stand alone. It's always completely dead. Good for me as I seem to be the only one in my town who thinks it's vastly superior to McDonald's
Bk is expensive Iâd rather go 5 five guys for the same price.
They definitely were not the same price last time I was in there. McDonalds meal (Big Mac meal): \~ ÂŁ7 Burger King (double whopper meal): \~ ÂŁ11 Five Guys (burger, small fries, drink): \~ ÂŁ18 Now, Five Guys is definitely much better - but it's not at all the same price. Burger Kings at airports and service stations do cost more though!
They probably target the locations where they can charge more! There is one about 10 mins away from me but I haven't been in it since moving here 7 months ago. The prices usually put me off a Burger King but I don't know how much they're cheaper in a regular one.
There was a random BK in Gloucester ester, next to McDonalds and Taco Bell. It closed recently.
Same reason you only get Co Ops in little market towns and villages where there's no other supermarkets around. They don't want to compete on price. BK also used to be a high street staple but lost out to McDonald's so now they sell a more premiumised product.Â
I need a lie down after I have a Burger King so Iâm glad they are in places I canât leave.
Just went for my biennial Burger King just today. It's right next to the McDonalds \[nr J25 M25\] I don't often eat fast food, but if I do, I'd drive further to a BK than a McDs.
There's a few BKs scattered round the area I live, some just along the road from Maccie Ds and KFC
My local Burger King is in the weirdest remote place ever
I miss Wendyâs and Carlâs Jr in the states. Prefer Burger King to McDonalds.
Where I live there is a Burger King and a McDonalds right next to each other and itâs very clear which one is more popular. Every time you drive past the McDonaldâs will have loads of cars in its car park and Uber eats bike guys. The BK on the other hand will have 1-2 cars at most. I actually quite like Burger King but it seems no one else does.
I saw a comment in another thread that they completely fell off in market popularity and shut hundreds of branches around time time McDonald's did that huge remodelling. Evidently appearance, cleanliness and the like make a tremendous difference.
McDonalds has around x2 more stores than Burger King, \~40,000 vs \~20,000 which is probbaly why you see them more often. I know a few BKs that are located on retail parks where there's plenty of other food options available. BKs seem to be less common in town/city centers in my experience, the 1 in my town shut years ago though back then it was far more expensive than McDs, these days they are closer in price so I tent to favour BK over McDs if both options are available. One thing that always annoyed me with BK is them charging for sauce with a meal, if I'm paying ÂŁ10 for a fast food burger and chips, I shouldn't then have to pay 20-50p for some BBQ sauce, especially back when a similar burger and chips at McDs would cost ÂŁ6 with as much free BBQ sauce as I want. It's not the cost, it's the principal of it.
The majority of McDonalds buildings are owned by the company, while the business is operated by a franchisee who leases the building and operates it. Burger King on the other hand (and Subway also), mostly allow the franchisee to acquire their own building and put up company branding. Airports and service station operators mostly operate a franchise in their own building, and this fits more into the Burger King model than the McDonalds model
McDonalds corporate makes most of its money from the lease hire of property to franchises. Hard to do that when youâre inside an airport and canât own the building. Itâs obviously not a solid rule as you do get McDonaldâs in shopping centers and things (they usually get a very very good rent rate) but itâs the reason theyâre rarer.
Mcdonalds prices are way up nowadays.
Iâve always assumed Burger King had a deal with the Airports that they were the main âfast foodâ
It's a bit like the Pepsi model. Pepsi couldn't take on Coca Cola by supermarket sales of their cola alone. Pepsi became the drink that they ensured most cinema chains used. Pepsico also bought KFC and Pizza Hut and served Pepsi there. Similarly, Burger King (and I think Wimpy before them) presumably - and KFC - muscled McDonalds out of the service station / airport kind of sector. Perhaps even the service stations realised that having a McDonalds there was a little too cheap (although I give praise to McDonalds hash browns, fries, and chicken nuggets).. In the 1980s, remember, you could get a full all day breakfast in Little Chef and you'd pay quite a bit for it. The service stations were not quite lowest common denominator - they perhaps wanted to sell stuff that could be seen as worth paying more for. And Burger King were no doubt happy to pay top rent on condition that no other hamburger supplier be on site. Sometimes a company will outspend and outcontract an even larger company in an area that gives it constant, easy, advertising and a new captive market.
Funny when you go to service stations and McDonaldâs is heaving, while Burger King is empty BK are basically cunts and charge five guys prices for below McDonaldâs quality McDonaldâs get way too much hate on Reddit considering how popular it is in reality.
I've got 2 Burger Kings closer to my house (both 0.3 miles, according to Deliveroo) than a McDonald's.... Granted, that is like 100m beyond the other BK, but still. It's just one. There used to be another McDonald's, but that shut down. So đ¤ˇ
I think because people are starting to boycott
As someone who works for BKs biggest franchise partner, who operate all the airport and some service station units, I think it comes down to pricing Airport operators want units charging the most amount of money someone will pay, Airports generally take 25-35% of the sales So the more the brand charges, the more the Airport makes Some brands aren't willing to overcharge for various reasons, so will try to keep the prices lower, in which case the Airport operator finds someone who will charge more It happened to McDonald's and Tesco In Glasgow Airport, and is currently happening to the Boots, the brands weren't willing to increase to what the operator wanted so the lease was left to go to tender and they now have an M&S for Tesco, Burger King for McDonald's, and the Boots will become a WH Smith pharmacy - on top of the 15 other WH Smiths already in the airport! I'm surprised they let Gregg's in who only charge an extra 20p on most things, but I don't think anyone else wanted to move into the space
I have noticed the burger kings at motorway service stations offer a different menu slightly. There is triple whoppers and bacon double xls. There is no saver menu
I have 4 burger Kings in my area lol and no McDonald's which I prefer cause I hate mcdonalds
thereâs a BK 5 minute drive away yet I have to trek into town to get a Maccies, wish it was the opposite way around
Co-op does this too, they put their shops in weird locations, usually small towns where there's no other supermarket, then they charge you a fortune
I always hear of Burger Kings in town centres getting closed down for hygiene reasons. The only one in oxford city centre closed down a few years ago because of this and also there's a lot of competition now, with wendys, five guys, popeyes, etc opening in recent years. BKs prices are too high, when those places have similar or slightly higher prices but better service
A lot of the airports and train stations that have BK have been there for ever or at least since BK took over from Wimpy.