Stuck in Gridlock? Order a Whopper
Burger King is launching a traffic jam delivery campaign to feed bored and hungry drivers trapped in their cars.
By Jessie Schiewe
Have it your way at Burger King — even when you’re stuck in traffic.
The second largest fast food chain in the world is no stranger to experimenting with new features and products. In the last few months, they started serving plant-based “bleeding” vegan hamburgers and rolled out a line of “Real Meal” boxes to help indecisive customers choose what to eat based on how they are feeling. Intended as a counter to McDonald’s “Happy Meals,” the emotions-based line includes five box options: “Pissed,” “Blue,” “Salty,” “YAAAS,” and “DGAF.”
If you noticed “Hangry” was missing from that list, don’t worry: Burger King has got those customers covered, too.
After running a successful pilot, the fast-food chain is launching a traffic jam delivery campaign to service famished diners trapped in their cars. The program, dubbed the “Traffic Jam Whopper,” allows commuters stuck in slow-moving or bumper-to-bumper traffic for at least 30 minutes to place orders via app when they are within 1.8 miles of a Burger King, Food & Wine reports. The meals are delivered through car windows by employees on motorcycles who scan real-time data on traffic and the customer’s whereabouts to make their drop-offs.
Started in Mexico City, Mexico, the Traffic Jam Whopper campaign will soon expand to Sao Paulo, Brazil, Shanghai, China, and Los Angeles. If you crunch the numbers, the program make a ton of sense. We live in an increasingly overpopulated and crowded planet, where traffic-congested commutes are a daily ordeal for many. It’s particularly a problem in the cities Burger King has chosen to test-drive the program in. Mexico City regularly tops lists for having the worst congestion worldwide, and in Los Angeles, drivers spend an average of 128 hours a year — the equivalent of five days — biding their time in traffic.
The Traffic Jam Whopper campaign capitalizes on our overcrowded streets, while at the same time providing valuable resources to those with growling stomachs. And even drivers who aren’t necessarily hungry can benefit from the new service because at least it’s something to do other than listen to the radio or music.
To avoid tickets, orders can be placed using voice commands and they are typically delivered within 15 minutes, CBS reports. Menu options available through the traffic jam delivery campaign are currently limited to the Whopper combo meal, which comes with fries and a choice of bottled Pepsi or water. It’s likely that as the program gains more steam, more meals will be offered.
Of course, Burger King isn’t the first franchise to deliver meals to weird locations. Since last year, Dominos has been delivering pizzas nationwide to high-traffic “hotspots” that don’t have traditional addresses, such as trains, parks, and beaches.
But when it comes to in-traffic delivery options, Burger King is leading the charge — and their innovative business plan is already paying off. According to the Washington Post, orders in Mexico City have increased as much as 63 percent per week, which is no small feat for a city that already places an average of 7,000 delivery orders a day. The daily download rate for the hamburger chain’s app also increased 44 times and it is now the number one fast food app in Mexico.
That’s a lot of growth for a company that’s been hawking the same menu item since 1957, but perhaps this is no surprise. Being stuck in traffic is incredibly boring, so you might as well eat a Whopper to pass the time.
Burger King is now helping frustrated and immobilized drivers battle hangriness.
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