BK Chicken Fries

For the generic product, see chicken fries.
BK Chicken Fries

An order of BK Chicken Fries.
Nutritional value per 9 pieces (157 g)
Energy 470 kcal (2,000 kJ)
29 g
Sugars 2 g
31 g
Saturated 6 g
Trans 0 g
19 g
Trace metals
Sodium
(90%)

1350 mg

Other constituents
Energy from fat 280 kcal (1,200 kJ)
Cholesterol 55 mg
Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.

BK Chicken Fries are a fried chicken product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King. According to Burger King marketing, it was one of their larger, adult oriented products made with higher quality ingredients than their "standard" menu items. Additionally, the product further targeted the snacking and convenience food markets. The product was part of a series of product introductions designed to expand Burger King's menu with both more sophisticated, adult oriented fare and present a larger, meatier product that appealed to 24–36 year old adult males. Along with a series of larger, more complex products, formed a new group of menu products intended to bring in a larger, more affluent adult audience who will be willing to spend more on the better quality products.

They were discontinued in the United States in 2012, but continue to be sold in some markets, such as Italy.[1] In August 2014, they were reintroduced for a limited time offering (LTO) in North America, leading to their permanent re-addition to the menu in March 2015.

History

BK Chicken Fries were introduced in 2005 as part of a menu expansion that was designed to cater to a more adult demographic looking for dishes that went beyond the standard fast food fare.[2][3][4] At the time of the introduction, Burger King was targeting a demographic group it identified as the "super fan", a group consisting of males between the ages of 18-34 that ate at fast food restaurants several times a week.[5] Additionally, the chain was also adding other fare such as its TenderGrill, TenderCrisp and Angus sandwiches, that were designed to offer more complex menu items that would raise average check prices and expand the breadth of its offerings in the fast food market place.[6]

Part of the product's design was in its packaging, which was designed to fit in a car cup holder and included a small pocket to hold packages of dipping sauce. Since most of the fast food industry's business is take-out or drive-thru traffic,[7] this allowed the convenience food purchaser to drive and eat with little effort. The product was discontinued in January 2012, replaced with Burger King's version of chicken strips in March of that year.

Following Chicken Fries' discontinuation, there was a call for the product's reinstatement from fans of the product on forums such as Reddit; Business Insider has noted that they are one of the 17 most requested fast products that people would like to see returned to menus.[8] Fans of the product also established several social media accounts dedicated to Chicken Fries' return on Facebook,[9] Twitter,[10] and Tumblr.[11] Additionally, a Change.org petition had been created that calls on Burger King to reinstate the product to its menu.[12] Perez Hilton's web site declared that Chicken Fries are one product of many that will never come back,[13] while comedian Daniel Tosh featured a skit during one of the segments of his show, Tosh.0, to the product's return.[14] They were re-released in August 2014 as a limited time offering (LTO).[15] The return of the product met with a favorable reaction from those who were pushing for the products return. There was disappointment from these groups as well because of the products status as a limited time offering.[15] In March 2015, Burger King permanently re-added chicken fries to the menu.

Besides customer demand for the product, a major reason for the reintroduction was due to a significant rise in the cost of beef. During the previous few months leading up to the reintroduction of Chicken Fries, the available cattle stocks had declined since the USDA began record keeping in 1973. This shortage of ground beef caused a spike in the price of beef to all-time highs in June 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[16] Additionally, increasing competition from McDonald's, Wendy's and other chains in the fast food industry was driving BK to boost sales by introducing new products along similar lines. The two competitors had been revamping their menus with products such as variations on the McDouble from McD's and sandwiches based on pretzel-style buns from Wendy's.[16]

The product was brought also back as part of a new approach by the company regarding LTO products; instead of putting out large numbers of products that may only appeal to a smaller audience, it instead would only add a smaller amount of products that have broader market appeal.[17] Chicken Fries were part of that goal, with the re-introduction utilizing a three prong approach: the first being its stated intention to introduce products to those that will have most impact. The second was a bid to appeal to Millennials utilizing social-media focused campaigns. and finally to utilize a former product from it portfolio that the company probably should have thought about before discontinuing.[18]

Product description

BK Chicken Fries are breaded and fried chicken strips,[16] and were available in three sizes: six-, nine-, and twelve-piece servings. Three and thirty-six-piece sizes were available as limited time offers.[19] The smaller size was sold à la carte, while larger portion could be purchased as a meal option. While its core audience was adults such as soccer moms or commuters,[20] a children's meal option was at one time available U.S. that included a six-piece order of the product. The reissued product was only available in a nine-piece serving, at a recommended price point of US$2.89.[16]

Advertising

Coq Roq

Coq Roq
Agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky
Client Burger King
Product
  • BK Chicken Fries
Release date(s) 2004 - 2005

Coq Roq, also spelled COQ ROQ, was an advertising program created in late 2004 for Burger King by the Miami-based advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B).[21][22] Coq Roq was a fictional "rooster metal" group (albeit composed of various real-life musicians) with its own website and associated content. The band's musical "style" was classified as punk-sounding rock n' roll, thrash or nu metal. The campaign featured a viral marketing website, television and print campaigns and a fictional MySpace page. The program was similar to other marketing campaigns created by CP+B for Burger King, including the Subservient Chicken, Ugoff, and Sith Sense. There was a link to "BK Chicken Fries" sneaked in below all the group's information. Little is known about the actual actors or musicians involved.

The first version of the single 'Bob Your Head' had the band singing the lyric "One Nation Under Chicken Fries", which was later changed to "One Kingdom Under Chicken Fries".

The coqroq.com website was taken down in the summer of 2006. The Myspace page is still operational, though.

In November 2006, Burger King released three Xbox advergaming titles. One of them, PocketBike Racer, features instrumental versions of Coq Roq's songs.

Members

Controversies

Sexual innuendo

The Coq Roq ads again generated controversy, in this instance because of complaints over the double entendres and sexual innuendo on the website, which forced BK to request content be changed.[23] Another pair of reasons for the controversy was in the name of the "band" itself and one of its songs. The word Coq, which is French for rooster, is pronounced like "cock" in English, alluding to the slang word for penis.[24] The fourth song from the band's EP is called Nice Box. In one of the commercials they sang about the box chicken fries were sold in, however the song is also another double entendre: the word "box" is a slang word for female genitalia.[25]

Slipknot lawsuit

In August 2005, CP+B and Burger King became the target of lawyers of the band Slipknot, who alleged the mask-wearing rooster rockers were a blatant copy of the band's style. They were sued for an undisclosed amount.

CP+B and Burger King then filed counter-suit against Slipknot, stating that the Coq Roq band was fictitious, visually and musically bore little resemblance to Slipknot's style, and at best was a general parody of heavy metal bands that wear masks or try to achieve a mask-like effect, such as Mushroomhead, KISS or GWAR. Partly mentioned in the counter-suit included the notion that Slipknot were parodies of bands themselves, further citing the specific example of Cleveland Ohio rockers Mushroomhead, who wore near identical style masks and jumpsuits, and had been gigging several years before Slipknot even formed, let alone went mainstream. Both suits were eventually dropped, and Burger King ended the campaign shortly after.[26]

Tie-ins

As a product tie-in with the 2005–2006 NFL season, Burger King introduced a 36 piece party pack as a limited time offer. This promotion was more general and featured the BK mascot, the Burger King, digitally superimposed into NFL game footage so appeared to be involved in the game. Some of the players the King replaced include Steve Young, Deion Sanders, and Moe Williams. He was also been depicted performing the Lambeau Leap and dumping Gatorade on the head of former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula. The primary packaging was altered to include the NFL logo; the party pack designed to mimic the texture of a football, included the NFL logo and a humorous comment along the line of those found on BK packaging at the time.[27]

During the summer of 2006, BK introduced the 12 piece size as a product tie-in with NASCAR and its new sponsorship of a NASCAR team. Product boxes were emblazoned with the NASCAR logo and the BK/Michael Waltrip Racing 00 car number.

During 2007, Burger King had another product tie-in with a Nickelodeon show, SpongeBob SquarePants. Again the box was altered, this time so the design of the looked like the character SpongeBob. Later in-store promotions in the U.S. have urged customers to add a six-piece portion to their meal as a snack option.[28]

Naming and trademarks

The name "BK Chicken Fries" is not registered as a trademark in the US and Canada, however the acronym BK is treated as a common law mark of Burger King Holdings and is displayed with the raised "TM" (™) symbol in those countries. "BK Chicken Fries" is a common law mark of Burger King Corporation and is displayed with the raised "TM" (™) symbol in Europe.

See also

Similar types of chicken products by other vendors

Notes

Trademark information

    Notes:

    1. British trademarks with the "EU" prefix are European Community wide trademarks.
    2. American, European, and New Zealand trademark offices do not allow direct linking of trademark information.

    References

    1. ↑ Burger King Italy
    2. ↑ "Burger Chains Get Chicken.". Motley Fool. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
    3. ↑ "Burger King may offer chicken fries.". CNN. 2005-06-03. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
    4. ↑ Warner, Melanie (2006-07-28). "U.S. Restaurant Chains Find There Is No Too Much.". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
    5. ↑ Bret Begun (2006-05-23). "A really Big Idea". Archived from the original on 2008-01-07. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
    6. ↑ The Gale Group (2004-08-04). "Chains beef up with Black Angus". Nations Restaurant News. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
    7. ↑ Prewitt, Milford (1992-06-15). "BK charting new expansion with 'Expressway' concepts — Burger King innovation". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
    8. ↑ Lutz, Ashley (10 December 2013). "17 Items That Fast Food Chains Really Need To Bring Back". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    9. ↑ "Bring Back Burger King's Chicken Fries". Facebook. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    10. ↑ "@thechickenfries". Twitter. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    11. ↑ "#savechickenfries". Tumbler. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    12. ↑ "Bring back Chicken Fries!". Change.org. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    13. ↑ "Snacks That Are NEVER Coming Back!!!". Perezhilton.com. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    14. ↑ Tosh, Daniel (9 April 2013). "BK Chicken Fries". Tosh.0. Comedy Central. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
    15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Harris, Jenn (11 August 2014). "Chicken fries are back at Burger King". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
    16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Patton, Leslie (11 August 2014). "Burger King Brings Back Chicken Fries". Bloomberg. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
    17. ↑ Leonard, Devin (24 July 2014). "Burger King Is Run by Children". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
    18. ↑ Horovitz, Bruce (11 August 2014). "BK brings back Chicken Fries". USA Today. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
    19. ↑ Scott, Andrew (1 May 2006). "Burger King and the NFL". Chief Marketer. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
    20. ↑ Boone, Louis E.; Kurtz, David L. (2008-01-04). "2". In Calhoun, Jack W. Contemporary Marketing (13th ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western College Pub. p. 175. ISBN 0-324-58021-5. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
    21. ↑ Kiley, David (27 July 2005). "Burger King's Coq Roq Site Stirs Pot. But Will It Sell Greasy Chicken Fries?". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
    22. ↑ MacArthur, Kate (27 July 2007). "Burger King's COQROQ.com Triggers Controversy". Advertising Age. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
    23. ↑ Joel, Mitch (2005-07-26). "Burger King Goes Viral Again". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
    24. ↑ "Wikitionary, definition of cock". Retrieved 2007-10-27.
    25. ↑ "Wiktionary, synonyms for box". Retrieved 2007-10-27.
    26. ↑ AP Wire (2005-08-17). "Slipknot's Burger King Beef". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
    27. ↑ Bruce Horovitz (22 March 2004). "Burger King zaps menu, image". USA Today. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
    28. ↑ Garfield, Bob (16 April 2009). "Burger King's 'No Pants' Spot vs. American Family Association". Advertising Age. Retrieved 28 October 2009.