Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) is again selling its chicken nuggets for 15 cents a piece, in a sales promo where customers can buy 10 nuggets for the price of only $1.49, about 50 percent off the regular price of $2.99 The promo, which the Ontario, Canada-based burger restaurant chain has initially rolled out earlier in October up to November of last year, is a direct threat to McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which has been reeling from its worst performance in the past successive quarters.
While Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) chicken nuggets costs 15 cents under the promo, that of McDonald’s will cost customers about 20 cents a piece, in a package sold for $9.99 containing 50 pieces of McNuggets. In an email to Bloomberg, spokeswoman Lisa McComb of McDonald’s said that the 50 pieces McNuggets promo is an option for local franchisees, who can also determine when to offer them. She noted that the franchisees who will offer the promo may do so as a Super Bowl promotion.
Fast food chains are generally working to boost foot traffic at their stores by offering discounts and freebies, and as people are making plans in time for the Super Bowl, last year’s chicken nugget pricing being revived by Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) threatens McDonald’s chicken nugget promo. CNBC, reflecting on Burger King’s statement last year that it would conclude the 15 cents chicken nugget promo, noted that the burger chain’s current promo “undercuts” that of McDonald’s. CNBC further argued that the current statement from Burger King regarding “unprecedented demand,” which it offered as a reason for bringing back the promo, is in discrepancy with its earlier statement in mid-November of last year, when the chain indicated ending the promo after performance that is “in line with expectations.”
Darren Tristano, executive vice president of research firm Technomic Inc. in Chicago, told Bloomberg that Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) is “competing aggressively with McDonald’s.” The chicken nugget promo is a factor in Burger King’s 3.6 percent growth in same-store sales within the U.S. and Canada the previous year, even while McDonald’s suffered a 3.3 percent decrease in its U.S. sales for the same period.
This article has been written by Nonito Guntan.
Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW) Opens in India, Tweaks Menus
