There’s been just a slight competition between the Big Mac and the Whopper. If you’ve consumed any kind of fast food, then you know that the Whopper is at the forefront of the Burger King menu. Aside from the burger being 61 years old, here are a few other fun facts to talk about while you wait in the drive-thru line.
Even though some people might prefer the Big Mac, the Whopper is a few years older. The Whopper was put on the menu in 1957. Customers had to wait until 1968 to see what the Big Mac was like. The Whopper got its name because Jim McLamore wanted the name to instill the notion that customers would get something big when they ordered the burger.
When the Whopper was first put on the menu at Burger King, it was only 37 cents. Now, you’ll usually spend around $4 on the burger. For the 55th anniversary of the Whopper in 2012, Burger King dropped the price to 55 cents for a few weeks. This price was a promotion available when you purchased a Whopper at the regular price.
When you look at the details of the Whopper, you’ll see that it has a quarter-pound patty as the base. With the lettuce and other ingredients on the Whopper, it’s a similar burger to the Big Mac from McDonald’s but with a slightly different flavor because of the sauce that is used.
There was an angry Whopper in 2009 for those who wanted a burger with an intense flavor. A spicy sauce was the base of the burger along with spicy onions and jalapenos. The angriest burger hit menu boards in 2016 with a bun infused with hot sauce because customers didn’t think the angry Whopper was spicy enough. There was also a Halloween Whopper in 2018 that featured a black bun. A1 was used to give the bun its dark color, but people started complaining because of the odd side effects that they noticed after eating the burger.
The Whopper Jr. wasn’t supposed to be a menu item. When a restaurant in Puerto Rico noticed mold on some of the buns, they used the same ingredients from the Whopper on regular buns, calling it a Jr. It’s still on Burger King menus today. There is a Whopper in Green Bay that has cheese on it that isn’t seen in many other Burger King restaurants in the country. If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll enjoy the meatless Whopper that was put on menus in 2019.
For a short time in 1983, the Whopper wasn’t called the Whopper in San Antonio. This was because another restaurant had a burger with a similar name. Burger King was finally able to open in San Antonio after a few copyright and advertising details were discussed.
Burger King decided to offer free Whoppers to people who showed that they deleted at least 10 people from their social media pages. For every 10 people over that initial number customers deleted, they would get another Whopper. A little over 230,000 people were unfriended within a few weeks just so people could get a free burger. Ellen DeGeneres started comedy routines while eating a Whopper and fries because she felt comfortable on stage with food.
