Burger King adds hot dogs to the menu
Burger King will introduce a two-item line of grilled hot dogs in more than 7,000 U.S. stores on February 23, a move that President of Burger King North America Alex Macedo told BurgerBusiness.com is 鈥渁s big and important a leap as bringing chicken into the stores in the 鈥�70s was.鈥�
The Grilled Dogs line of 100% beef hot dogs, which the chain聽聽in five markets last spring, includes a聽Classic Grilled Dog聽topped with ketchup, mustard, chopped onion and relish. It鈥檚 priced at $1.99 or $4.49 as part of a fries-and-small-drink combo. The聽Chili Cheese Grilled Dog聽gets warm chili and shredded Cheddar and is priced at $2.29 alone or $4.79 as a combo.
One of several unexpected wrinkles about the launch is that the chili鈥攊n Burger King stores for the first time鈥攚on鈥檛 be sold as a side item. 鈥淭his chili is specifically made to be served on hot dogs,鈥� Macedo said in an exclusive interview. 鈥淥ur franchisees ask if it can be served standalone and we tell them no, this chili is served only on hot dogs.鈥�
Also interesting is that Grilled Dogs arrive as a new permanent menu time: no limited-time testing needed. Macedo said the chain鈥檚 confidence comes not just from positive feedback in tests but also the natural fit of hot dogs with burgers. 鈥淚f you ask me why we didn鈥檛 do this before, to be frank I don鈥檛 know the answer. It鈥檚 that obvious; it鈥檚 right in front of us,鈥� said Macedo. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see this as a product launch; we see it as tapping into a whole category that鈥檚 under-distributed and that we haven鈥檛 been a part of.
鈥淲e see a lot of players in our category trying to be something different, going away from the basics of the category. I think for Burger King to come out with hot dogs goes to the root of the category,鈥� Macedo added. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be unique, too; the only [national chain] to offer flame-grilled hot dogs.鈥� Sonic Drive-Ins has a broad line of hot dogs but does not open-flame-grill them.
Another surprising aspect is that Burger King doesn鈥檛 plan to make the Grilled Dogs part of the 鈥�2 for $5鈥� or 鈥�4 for $5鈥� value meals, which have been successful for the chain. 鈥淔or the time being, no, it鈥檚 going to live alone,鈥� Macedo said. But he promised some future surprises in the line, which could include the Corndogs that it also tested (at $1.49) but chose not to bring out nationally now.
Deciding how to dress the hot dogs proved a thorny problem. 鈥淲e did research across the country to find the preference for condiments on a hot dog. There was no one build that had more than a 20% preference. People like hot dogs their own way,鈥� said Macedo. The decision was made to go with relish, chopped onion, mustard and ketchup. Informed that Chicagoans consider it a sin to let ketchup come near a hot dog, Macedo responded, 鈥榃ell, you can have it your way!鈥�
Macedo said he believes the hot dogs will provide incremental sales and not cannibalize sales of higher-price burgers. 鈥淭here will be a big overlap of our existing customers who also will eat hot dogs. But the big success is if you can draw people who wouldn鈥檛 come to Burger King otherwise or wouldn鈥檛 come as frequently. From what we saw in market tests, this product has the potential to do that.鈥�
To impress the importance of this new line on crews, Snoop Dogg and Charo were hired to star in English and Spanish in-store training films, respectively (including a different way to chop onions for use on the hot dogs). But neither one will appear in broadcast or digital advertising for the hot dogs. Macedo said the line will get 鈥渢he biggest [marketing] push we鈥檝e had at least in the five years I鈥檝e been here.鈥�
Macedo says Burger King becomes the biggest seller鈥攊n terms of number of restaurants鈥攐f hot dogs in America. Sonic Chairman-CEO Cliff Hudson聽聽last fall, 鈥淥ne out of every seven hot dogs eaten outside the home is eaten in Sonic,鈥� but Burger King solidly outnumbers his chain.
Independent burger bars have been adding hot dogs to their menus over the past several years, as I outlined in a聽聽last summer. At that time, a survey of 100 top burger bars found at least one hot dog on the menus at 35% of them.
Hot dogs are a popular way to bring something different to burger bar menus, and they often appear as monthly specials. For example this month鈥檚 menu special at Chef Tim Love鈥檚 Love Shack burger joint in Fort Worth, Texas, is The Slaw Dog (a hot dog topped with house Love Sauce, diced onion, bread & butter slaw and cilantro).
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