The pandemic caused a lot of fast-food chains to drop menu items in the name of simplification. Yum Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell had to get rid of its beloved Mexican pizza due to how complicated it was to make and its less-than-efficient packaging. (It's being brought back.)
McDonald's (MCD) dropped its all-day breakfast menu for similar reasons despite customers loving it. As consumers moved from dine-in to delivery and drive-through, chains made changes designed to make the process more efficient, not necessarily to give consumers more of what they wanted.
Dropping things your customers like because it makes your restaurant more efficient comes with real risks. McDonald's might lose the late sleeper who wants an afternoon McMuffin and Taco Bell might have seen Mexican-pizza lovers choose to eat elsewhere.
Now, Restaurant Brands International's (QSR) Burger King has a plan to simplify and streamline its menu. That's a recipe that could see well-loved, or at least well-liked, items disappear.
Naomi Baker/Getty Images
What's Happening to the Burger King Menu?
Burger King began taking steps to simplify its menu in late 2021. That involved streamlining how it builds its menu items.
Burger King President Tom Curtis, the man charged with fixing the chain's business in the U.S., explained what's happening during RBI's fourth-quarter earnings call, QSR Magazine reported.
“These measures and the renewed focus on operations are welcomed by franchisees and starting to drive progress in several key operational metrics, including order accuracy and overall satisfaction,” Curtis said.
Curtis sees the changes as a back-to-basics approach, a focus on what the fast-food giant built its reputation on.
"We're excited to work on that brand positioning and defining our brand essence going forward. I think we'll be focusing on our core, on the Whopper, flame grilling, ‘Having it Your Way.’ Those are really the things that made us great and the things that will make us great going forward,” he said.
So far, these changes have not caused any noticeable disturbance to the menu, but as it did at Taco Bell and McDonald's, that could happen.
Curtis says the key to improving sales comes with fixing operations, and that could mean eliminating menu items that either don't sell well or don't sell well enough to justify the effort it takes to make them.
Burger King Expects More Whoppers
Burger King has not been shy when it comes to using the name of its most-famous sandwich to launch new product offerings. It's currently doing that with its Whopper Melt sandwiches, which are getting a huge national push. The chain's president said to expect more of that.
“The Whopper is a multibillion-dollar brand, and we need to treat it as such,” Curtis said. “… While we always strive to provide excellent value for money on a full-menu basis, going forward we will be purposeful and targeted when we choose to promote this iconic asset.”
Burger King also wants to become more thoughtful about its menu and what it introduces.
“We are implementing better testing protocols to ensure our advertising and our initiatives are well-chosen and more impactful,” Curtis said. \
“And given the increased rigor of our new processes, it’s fair to expect more of an impact from our initiatives in the back half of 2022.”
The fast-food chain has become known for innovation and has regularly tried new versions of its classic Whopper both in the U.S. and around the world. It has also been willing to try something in one global market before bringing it to others.
