Which came first: McDonald's or Burger King?
McDonald鈥檚 Corp. soon will celebrate the 60th 聽anniversary of Ray Kroc鈥檚 first restaurant, which opened in Des Plaines, Ill., on April 15, 1955. It鈥檚 an important date, a cornerstone of its corporate history. It鈥檚 why the chain has featured a 鈥�1955 Burger鈥� as a limited-time special across Europe since 2010. As UK ad put it, the 1955 is 鈥淎 Tribute to Where it All Began.鈥�
Except that just a few months earlier, on Dec. 4, 1954, James McLamore and David R. Edgerton opened their first Burger King on NW 36th 聽Street in Miami.
OK, four months older. Big deal? No, but it enough that Burger King has begun using a new service mark that says simply 鈥淪ince 1954.鈥� It appeared last week at the bottom of a Burger King Japan聽聽about availability of fries, hampered by聽 ongoing maritime problems. Burger King quietly trademarked 鈥淪ince 1954鈥� back in July 2014 (as well as the Spanish 鈥淒esde 1954鈥�) when attention was focused on another trademarked phrase, 鈥淏e Your Way.鈥�
I expect we鈥檒l see more the brawny burger flipped, along with a another trademarked phrase, 鈥淔lame Grilled鈥濃�攊n Burger King marketing and communications, just as I expect we鈥檒l see McDonald鈥檚 market the 1955 Burger here soon. But Burger King just wants McDonald鈥檚 to know, 鈥淗ey. Four months.鈥�
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The Best of the Bash Award that Red Robin presents has become one of the most authentic elements of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Rachael Ray鈥檚 Amstel Light Burger Bash has become so clubby and choked with sponsorships that it鈥檚 becoming irrelevant, in my opinion. Consider that just this one-evening event had聽38 sponsors. C鈥檓on. If it takes that much corporate lucre to run the thing then scale it back down to real-world size and use actual burger chefs, who would love to take part and who could use exposure than Al Roker does.
Give a look at this year鈥檚 contestants. Jennifer Reed of Sugar Monkey was one of three聽pastry-chef聽participants (including Food Network鈥檚 Duff Goldman). Iron Chefs Jose Garces and Masaharu Morimoto? Why? 鈥淐hino Latino Fusion鈥� maestro Chef Edgar Cano of Four Seasons Hotel, Mexico City? The list of Bash contestants is to the burger business what Super Bowl attendees are to real football fans.
颁丑别蹿听Josh Capon聽of Lure Fishbar in Miami Beach won the Judges Trophy, At least there鈥檚 a burger on his lunch (but not dinner) menu.聽Pincho Factory, Miami, one of the few burger bars represented, won the People鈥檚 trophy.
Yet another local restaurateur,聽Michell Sanchez聽of Miami鈥檚聽Latin Grill House聽(where the menu lists 12 burgers), won Red Robin鈥檚 award presented by Chef-personality Marc Murphy. His Madlove Champ Burger patty blends brisket, chuck and sirloin and tops it with three cheeses, applewood maple-glazed bacon, butter lettuce, plum tomatoes, avocado and candied jalapenos.聽 He gets $10,000 and the opportunity to transform his winning burger into one of Red Robin鈥檚 upper-tier Finest burgers. Watch for it on the Red Robin menu in the fall.
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Local burger joints have been pricing burgers by number of patties forever. It鈥檚 surprising so few chains do it. But in Hong Kong Burger King has introduced Asian Spicy Stacker burgers, available in 2-patty ($5.15), 3-patty ($6.44) and 4-patty ($7.73). No extra SKUs; no extra training.
