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Burger King to open first "Whopper Bar" - selling burgers & beer.
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It's an interesting idea. I guess I have multiple feelings -- my favorite coffee shops are relatively active, vivacious places, where people are talking and having fun -- I guess, like a bar, but not quite so packed, and much less dirty.
My pet peeve for coffee shops is people who go there to spend five hours playing network video games on the WiFi or watching video on their laptop. Usually kills the internet connection for everyone else, and they're usually these grubby, unbathed people wearing parkas indoors and grandpa/grandma jeans.
That, and what I find with Starbucks too often now (I've been to some ones that aren't like this) is that they have this annoying sense of false urgency...like the person at the counter asks for my order, and the barista isn't listening, so I have to repeat it a second time (or a third, because the person at the counter, who asked, is also not listening
), or else vice versa, because the barista asks me when I'm five people back in line (and then makes the wrong thing anyways). With Burger King, I actually think the Whopper is pretty tasty, at least I did when I was eating meat. If they used better bread and thicker burgers and things, it wouldn't be hard for them to go more gourmet.
But I think, in Starbuck's case, they're targeting the avant garde coffee shops of Seattle. Burger King is targeting Chilli's and TGIF's too directly. They should be studying what really great burger bars in the US are doing (say, Kuma's Corner). Otherwise, they're just fighting for the same tourists and so on, and they're really not a very lucrative market in the sense of growth potential, because they have no taste.
Given how cheap beer is by the keg and the expectation for fast food joints to be cheap I think this is too overpriced. They should be selling the beers in all the restaurants and ruining them like sodas in the giant 64oz paper cups with straws and ice. Though I suppose they would have to drop the all you can drink tap in the restaurant.
More seriously though I do not see why I would go for a Whopper and Bud when I could go to Chili's and get a Blue Cheese Burger and a good beer, wine or mixed drink.
. Though I suppose they would have to drop the all you can drink tap in the restaurant.More seriously though I do not see why I would go for a Whopper and Bud when I could go to Chili's and get a Blue Cheese Burger and a good beer, wine or mixed drink.
BK has discovered a way to make their food even less healthy!
A super sized beer is way healthier than the same size Coke.
It's an interesting idea. I guess I have multiple feelings -- my favorite coffee shops are relatively active, vivacious places, where people are talking and having fun -- I guess, like a bar, but not quite so packed, and much less dirty.
I didn't mean that I thought a Starbucks with a liquor licence was a good idea because everyone wants to drink in a library.
I like places with a lively atmosphere, but the only way to branch out would be to aim for a slightly more mature crowd. This would also mean that the type of people who goes there is there to socialize, not to use up the free WiFi for gaming. I was envisioning it as an alternative to a bar or pub, and a highschool-free atmosphere during the day. And with regards to BK, I think some people are missing the point of it all. Yes, there are plenty of places to grab a burger and beer. Every pub and most restaurants offer both items on their menu. What BK is hoping to do is create a boutique burger place that feels more like the neighbourhood hangout rather than a walk-in fast-food place that you'd treat as a pitstop. Like mkrishnan said though, you can't really do that successfully when you call yourself 'Whopper Bar', because if all you're going to do is serve me a Whopper on a proper plate, I'd rather go somewhere more genuine.
Novel idea in concept, disgusting once brought to life. It will sell but it is better suited for those touristy areas where drinking is allowed anyways. Drunks have to eat too...
I'd rather eat a Burger King burger and watery domestic beer than anything from Chili's...
The crappy selection of beer is well matched to their crappy selection of hamburgers.
This is great news IMHO; I have often wondered why the refreshment menu of fast food restaurants is geared for youth (soda, etc.) with no beer offered for adults; Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, etc. all lacking beer or wine or spirits. While acquiring a liquor license might be a long pole in the tent of such a fast food operation, the payoff would be better community relations and adult patronage; perhaps a whole new customer demographic to investigate and expand... Most of the fast food principle is geared to quick service with little thought of customer needs or wants in terms of beer or wine; adding said beer or wine might be something that turns profitable for Burger King...I hope the idea catches on...
The drinks are geared towards children because fast food is junk food for children. The convenience of the drive thru is to draw the hurried parent. Adults who choose to eat that way are simply making immature and lazy decisions about their nutrition.
BK with beer sounds good to me. I just hope they expand on their beer selection. Of course it might be a while until one is close enough for it to even matter.
I hear you there, I went to Chili's one time and ordered the chicken tacos they brought them out ice cold. The cheese wasn't melted or anything, I swear they didn't even cook it. Never going back.
I hear you there, I went to Chili's one time and ordered the chicken tacos they brought them out ice cold. The cheese wasn't melted or anything, I swear they didn't even cook it. Never going back.
...My pet peeve for coffee shops is people who go there to spend five hours playing network video games on the WiFi or watching video on their laptop. ......and they're usually these grubby, unbathed people wearing parkas indoors and grandpa/grandma jeans.
That, and ...like the person at the counter asks for my order, and the barista isn't listening...
I have always wondered how they could drink 10 cups of coffee and just be inert for hours.
When is the crack-head hoodie and hide your weapon saggy pants thing going to be over? It has been years now.
They aren't listening because they are just too cool and like laid back and just chillin to actually work.