"Big King" at Burger King

I mentioned this sandwich to a co-worker and he thought I was crazy.
This was s short-lived Big Mac-esque burger that Burger King had in the '90s.

Yup, IIRC the Big King came out in the fall of 1997. It had no center bun. Back then, there was a lot of head-to-head competition with Mc Donald's. McDonald's even had a burger once designed to compete with the Whopper. It was sold in a double chamber styrofoam container with the lettuce, etc in a separate chamber to avoid getting steamed.

It was just d/ced a year or so ago.

The McD item that much resembled the Whopper was/is the Big N Tasty.Its still listed at their website.
The burger they had in the late 80s with the 2-sided packaging was the McDLT.As I recall it got huge press coverage but the wackos nagged the company so much about all the styrofoam that they killed it off,even though it was a pretty good concept in theory.
This is why I hate doing business with McD's,they are always so attempting to please everybody and offend nobody.They should grow a pair and take a lesson from BK and their over the top,nose thumbing marketing.The wacky King puppet,edgy TV ads,humor on the packaging,hilariously large sandwiches,when added to the slightly better quality food (overall) win my consumer dollars vs McD's,and I wont own any McD's stock either,even tho it's stock has been pretty consistent yet unspectacular.

I had always heard that the Big n Tasty was created for the California market to compete with In n Out. I had a friend from LA in the late 90s who'd grown up with them and was shocked that he couldn't get a BnT outside of Cali. A few years ago, (maybe 2001-02?) when they were promoting the dollar menu they added the BnT in other markets. For a buck it was pretty good, but closer to a Whopper Jr. than a Whopper. They pulled it off the dollar menu, then it started disappearing in this area.

I heard on our local news this morning that McD's is testing a 1/3 pound Angus burger in California. Guess they're going after the Carls Junior/Hardees monsters and the BK Angus, but who knows?

What about the Arch Deluxe? What did McDonald's create that in response to? I remember liking it, despite the nappy hair that was in one of the Arch Deluxes I had.

McDonalds was founded on the "offend nobody" principle. Visit their "campus" in Illinois (outside Chicago). It is a surreal place. Complete with a resort hotel.

Arch Deluxe was marketed toward "grown-up" tastes. Wikipedia has a pretty interesting article and links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Deluxe

Maybe their ad campaign offended children.

The Big n Tasty is still on the menu in the Louisville area. Priced about the same as a quarter-pounder.

I do remember a period of time in my second bachelor days when I would stop on my way to school at our local Burger King. At the time the Whoppers were on a special for 99cents! Since a double Whopper was $2.29, it made sense (pun intended) to buy 2 singles rather than a double. This was normally about 6:30am. The window person got used to my order each morning.

Then a couple of the football players in my first period class caught on to what I was bringing in and started asking for one (or more) to start their day. When I finally called a halt to the early morning breakfast stop I was buying 8 or 10 Whoppers and having these guys, who had just practiced from 5:00am to 6:45 before heading for a 7:15 class, who would mow their way thru the burgers like a cloud of locusts!. They did pay for what they ate... but I have never seen anyone, anywhere else eat a Whopper in ONE BITE, like some of these kids would do.

I'm pretty sure that the Big N' Tasty is still on McD's menus around here (central MA).

Does anyone remmeber McD's very first attempt at a burger to compete with the Whopper? It was in the mid to late 70's just after the Quarter Pounder was introduced and it was called the QLT - Quality Lettuce Tomato burger. I don't recall it lasting very long.

I have always wondered WHY McD's always flounders when it tries to introduce a burger with lettuce and tomato. Seems like they have all flopped.

And while we are at it, does anyone remember the Big Plain from Burger King (again mid 70's) - it was a 1/3 pound burger with only the minimal toppings - ketchup, mustard, pickle....no lettuce romato or onion, IIRC.

Oh well. As a former GM with Wendy's (years ago) I was once or three+ called upon the carpet for buying fresh produce that was either too ripe (tomatoes), too large (raw potatoes), or too expensive (romaine lettuce). I was also ripped quite often concerning the price of the raw veggies on my salad bar, as I actually threw away bad product(s). Go figure.

P.S. Most of you folks would have liked my product. My motto to my employee's was to not serve anything to the customer that you or YOUR mother would not eat.