All Hail the King — Burger King introduces The Whopper Bar.

No, this is not misplaced among the bar articles…this IS a bar article. Yes, Beer. Hard to imagine a fast food hamburger place as your local bar…but that is the niche market that Burger King is making. 

Yes, this takes that familiar moniker “Have it Your Way” to the extreme. 

Once upon a time, in a faraway land (translation: Germany, about two years. Burger King executives stumbled upon a train station location in Germany that was little more than a walk-up window serving Whoppers. The experience provided inspiration for the world’s first Whopper Bar, which opened March 10 in Orlando.

“In a lot of the research we've seen, the Whopper is equally known with Burger King,” says Julio Ramirez, EVP of Burger King's Global Operations. “We're really trying to play to our strength, which is flame broiling. That's what really differentiates our brand from our competitors.”

The Whopper Bar concept is designed to work in nontraditional venues with captive audiences such as airports and sports arenas. Accordingly, the first store is located in Universal Studios' CityWalk concourse.

Customers walk up to the counter and choose each component of their Whoppers, a la Subway or Chipotle. Burgers are crafted from a variety of breads and meats and topped with the customer’s favorite condiments; 22 choices are available from the “Whopper Topper”. A menu of “Bar Favorites” offers some familiar options—such as the Angry Whopper—and a few new ones. Whopperistas assemble the product in front of customers.

“It's simple, and yet it gives you a huge variety and focus on what the customer wants,” Ramirez says.

The store design also is focused on creating a premium customer experience. The interior of the Whopper Bar features curved counters, flame images, and a palette of dark red, black, and gray. Digital menu boards and POS units add to the sleek look.

“These are going to look like a place you'd want to go and have a drink,” Ramirez says.

Eventually, customers might be able to do just that. Ramirez says Burger King is considering selling beer and other alcoholic beverages at future Whopper Bars.

We're certainly a cooler brand than we were many years ago. It's nice to see the evolution of a brand.”

Burger King plans to expand the Whopper Bar globally in the coming year and to make the concept available to franchisees. The next store is scheduled to open in Munich early this summer, and restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, and Singapore are also in the works.

For 25-year Burger King veteran Ramirez, the trendy concept is a refreshing new phase in the quick-serve's development.

“We're certainly a cooler brand than we were many years ago,” he says. “It's nice to see the evolution of a brand.”

The Whopper Bar is a concept from the company that upends its traditional fast food operations with a newer high end concept designed to compete with fast casual and casual dining restaurants. The new format is described by the company as a more "playful" variation on the standard Burger King location. The locations feature an open kitchen with a semi-circular metal counter top. The exposed kitchen concept allows customers to view the preparation of their foods. Decoration of the new locations is limited to plasma televisions playing looped videos of open flames. The concept is similar to the McCafe concept from rival McDonald's, and like the McCafe locations they are designed to go into malls, airports and casinos and other areas with limited amounts of space.

Menu

Whopper Bars are kiosk-type stores with a menu limited to the company's Whopper, TenderCrisp and Angus sandwiches; drinks; and desserts. The menu features higher-end ingredients and variants not sold in the normal Burger King locations.

While international locations sold beer at the Whopper Bar locations, the company originally stated that it did not intend to do so at its North American locations. That company changed its mind with the opening of its second Whopper Bar location in the South Beach section of the company's home town of Miami; Burger King reported that it would be the only current American, national fast food chain selling beer in its home territory.

In markets where alcohol can be sold at fast food restaurants, the company will be selling products from SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch including Budweiser, Bud Light and Miller Lite in aluminum bottles designed to maintain temperature. The move, designed to target the important 30-and-under demographic, has been called “risky” by industry analysts because of the company is known as a fast food purveyor and not as an alcoholic beverages seller. Other industry consultants have disagreed with the assessment, believing that the move is a practical one because the company is “growing with it's aging customers.” 

If the consultants simply get out of the Ivory Tower and go among the real people and actually visit one of these new concept locations, they will probably find that all ages are still eating there, whether or not they imbibe. And no, Burger King will always be a burger place…with a little something extra that give it the edge over McDonalds.