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From Burger King, which earlier gave us Chicken Fries, comes Mac 鈥檔 Cheetos, fried macaroni-and-cheese bites coated with that day-glo orange cheese-flavored powder that makes Cheetos addictive.

Served five to a box, Mac 鈥檔 Cheetos are priced at $2.49 for this summer-long LTO. Combo meals with Bk burgers will be offered. Larger serving sizes aren鈥檛 contemplated now, Burger King North America President Alex Macedo told BurgerBusiness.com in an interview, because the chain wanted this, like Chicken Fries, to be a portable snack.

Mac 鈥榥 Cheetos are fried in-store using a dedicated fryer so that the cheese coating won鈥檛 migrate to other fried foods.

Macedo said Mac 鈥榥 Cheetos is a continuation of a strategy the chain has followed for several years. 鈥淲hen we started turning the Burger King brand around we decided to focus on innovation and on fewer, more impactful launches of products that were very similar to our brand. So we鈥檝e done products that are fun and extroverted and not afraid of a challenge.鈥�

Marketing support begins Monday, June 27, through social and digital media only. Yes, expect to see Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah in some marketing executions.

A Pepsico client for soft drinks, Burger King has worked with Pepsico subsidiary Frito-Lay over the years, so the snack-food company understands the burger chain鈥檚 interest in innovation, he said. 鈥淭hey presented us with this fun, delicious product idea and then we started working together to [bring it out]. I think it鈥檚 going to be talked about a lot and consumed a lot this summer,鈥� said Macedo.

He added that he expects 鈥渁 significant amount of sales will be add-on business. People will come in for Whopper meal and add the Mac鈥檔 Cheetos because it鈥檚 new.鈥�

Marissa Solis, Frito-Lay VP- Foodservice Innovation, told BurgerBusiness.com, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got amazing brands with appeal across the market that everyone know about. So we felt it was time to get 鈥榦utside the bag.鈥� We want to stretch our brands into new spaces.鈥� This is the Cheetos brand鈥檚 first foray into restaurant menu items.

But Frito-Lay has worked with other QSR brands, of course. Several Taco Bell menu items鈥攕uch as Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos and Fiery Doritos Locos Tacos and Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch鈥攁re tie-ins with Frito-Lay鈥檚 Doritos brand.

That鈥檚 one reason why some of the media coverage given Mac 鈥榥 Cheetos has been so curious. Jack in the Box introduced Cheesy Macaroni Bites back in 2008. Chains from Romano鈥檚 Macaroni Grill to Denny鈥檚 have done fried mac 鈥榥 cheese appetizers. McDonald鈥檚 introduced Cheesy Macaroni Snacks in Australia last year. So Burger King鈥檚 product is not wholly new or unusual. But you wouldn鈥檛 know that from some of the coverage the product immediately received.

Wrote TheStreet, 鈥淭he weird experiments at Burger King seem to know no bounds.鈥� That鈥檚 cute and sensationalist and all, but you can buy frozen mac 鈥榥 cheese bites as any grocery store. This isn鈥檛 weird science. The Motley Fool claims that Mac 鈥榥 Cheetos is 鈥渘ot all that different from the fried mac and cheese that appears on many casual sit-down restaurant menus,鈥� but it proceeds to say that it 鈥渟eems like a publicity stunt.鈥� Which is it?

Macedo said Mac 鈥榥 Cheetos will be Burger King鈥檚 only new-product launch for the summer. The current burger marketplace is a difficult place to build sales, as recent quarterly reports attest (Sonic reports today), so there鈥檚 a lot riding on this product for Burger King.

This article first appeared in BurgerBusiness.聽