I haven’t had Burger King in quite some time but today decided I really fancied it. Drove to the closest one, and to my surprise the car park is empty (maybe 4 or 5 cars, in a car park that could easily have 50).
Inside there was nobody waiting to be served. 3-4 staff members just stood around in the cooking area talking amongst themselves. Maybe 1-2 people sat eating.
Enjoyed my meal but I’m surprised at just how quiet it is (especially since it’s a Saturday and quite hot where I am).
For comparison, I drive past the local McDonalds and it’s very busy.
Anyone else notice Burger King seems to be dying out?
Edit: changed ‘parking lot’ to ‘car park’ as it seems a lot of people get offended by making such a mistake. Let’s calm down lol
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Compared to the other places it is dead, my local burger King is never busy meanwhile McDonald’s, KFC, even a new Tim Hortons is busier
The thing about BK is they are really expensive if you don’t use the app.
So more people go to MacDo coz it’s cheaper.
Also, JustEat etc provide a lot of their business so won’t see many direct in customers.
I’ve had a cold drink or desert but it’s been years since I had hot food from there.
McDonald’s had started doing the only thing I would get from bk. Chilli cheese bites lol stopped again but that made a difference for me.
The one near me is never that busy but I think the burgers are the best by far compered to other fast food places, it is a bit more expensive than McDonald’s right? Maybe that’s why
I noticed quite a while ago. Maybe more than 2 years ago.
There’s none near me. I only see them at service stations.
I think they tried to position themselves as being higher quality than McDonald’s, not realising that people don’t grab fast food for its *quality* but its price and convenience.
Parking lot?
What’s a ‘parking lot’?
There are 2 in my town and tend to have a steady stream of customers but my goodness the food takes forever to be made. Went to one this week, one person taking orders and 2 in the kitchen.
What is dead may never die
I used to work for the local bk (around 10 years ago) and the only times it ever got anywhere near busy was when the local rugby team were playing or around Christmas time. While I was there Burger King UK sold (or franchised) most of their restaurants to a company called Karali, I think the only ones actually owned by bk now are like three restaurants in London.
Of course the first thing Karali did when they took over was raise the prices and now my local burger king is even more dead than before. So to answer your question, Burger King have been dying for the last decade at least, it’s just that you’ve only just started noticing it. It’s a shame really as some of their food is pretty decent.
Motorway service ones always seem to be busy
Definitely got caught out last time I wanted one – spur of the moment trip down to my nearest branch (last year when it looked like we might have a covid-free summer for that 3 or 4 weeks) and it looked like it had been abandoned for years. McDs literally across the street got my business that day, although annoyingly it was the ice-cream/milkshake shortage time on top of that.
They don’t have the brand recognition or loyalty that McDs have, and without vouchers or the app they are more expensive.
Five Guys is more expensive but you get fresh food (fresh bread, fresh-cut potatoes, fresh meat patties). Plus the range of veg & salad toppings means it’s catering to quality and individuality. BK & McD is factory-made long-life pseudo-food designed for 20th century palates.
So BK is stuck in a market where there are far more choices today apart from burgers, and for burgers choose mostly McDonalds or high end.
I only ever use(d) them at motorway services when there was no other choice, but I wouldn’t even do that now. The service was always abysmally slow, to the point where I once thought I might actually be on a hidden camera prank show to see how long they could make me wait without serving me, and the food is far too expensive.
I’ve not been to one in years, but not because I don’t like it. I actually prefer it to McDonald’s. It might be the fact that it’s more expensive (I didn’t know about the offers on the app). There was one in the town centre, but that closed year ago. We have a drive thru, but there was a fire there last year and it’s been closed since then. But during the repairs, they have put a ‘drive thru pod’ in the car park, a cool self contained unit with a drive thru window, small kitchen inside, and a pick up window. I guess they wouldn’t have put it there if they didn’t think the restaurant was under used.
I think BK are trying to make a come back. They’ve built at least 2 stores near me with a drive thru. Think for so long they were confined to towns & service stations that they weren’t handy for people.
Made me think- last time I went in one was at Malaga airport and it was fucking rammed! Other than that in the U.K. probably 20 years ago when I worked on a retail park with one and it was always busy at lunch times. Might nip over now for dinner, an app you say?
Since they started microwaving the burgers instead of flame grilling fresh it isn’t worth the price difference at all.
I’m in London and they always seem pretty busy to me. Much less than maccies though.
I don’t know how theyve survived this long, there’s a McDonald’s and burger king near my house and the McDonald’s is always rammed while the burger king is ghost town, I won’t be going to BK any more because last time I went they told me they weren’t doing the savers menu so I got a burger meal and it cost me nearly £8! Could have got the same at McDonald’s for over half that probably
We have a McDonald’s and a Burger King right next door to each other, they’re both in the Tesco’s car park.
If you go to the McDonald’s drive through, even if there’s a huge queue, you wait about 5 -10 minutes. If you go to BK, even if you’re the only one there, it’s 25-35 minutes at least. That’s why I never go there, they take the absolute piss.