The Reason Burger King Is Encouraging You To Eat At McDonald's
Sometimes the right thing to do is not the easy thing to do, but Burger King recently made a tough choice to endorse their competitors, including McDonald's (via FOX News), as the United Kingdom prepares to enter a new lockdown to combat rising coronavirus rates across the country. FOX News reports that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a new lockdown from November 5th to December 2nd, although this could be extended if virus rates continue to rise. And part of that new lockdown will affect restaurants and the thousands of British workers who are part of the restaurant industry. Bars and restaurants will be limited to takeout orders only during this time.
It's this shutdown that had Burger King do the unthinkable – tell people to order McDonald's.
Now, don't worry. Burger King hasn't completely forgotten their own brand, as they note that "getting a Whopper is always best, but ordering a Big Mac is not such a bad thing," (via Twitter). The idea is that the company wants to encourage shoppers to keep ordering from restaurants whether chain or independent, big or small, fast or not so fast. As they point out "...restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment."
We're all in this pandemic together
Racking up over 100,000 "Likes" on Twitter, the sentiment was clearly appreciated by shoppers. In addition to McDonald's, Burger King endorsed such competitors as KFC, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Five Guys, Gregg's, Taco Bell, Papa John's, and Leon. For non-UK readers, Leon offers many different plant-based quick service options and Greggs is known for hot lunches and baked goods. BK added a follow-up comment to send some extra love to fellow burger joints (via Twitter).
Judging by user comments, however, there's some concern and the authenticity of the tweet and criticism noting that many of the competitors listed are massive companies that have large budgets to absorb losses that small businesses can't. Another user points out some flaws to this complaint, however, noting, "To the people saying it's a multi million dollar company. Yes BUT your local one isn't. It's a franchise owned by someone local who is trying their best to feed their family and pay their workers. They DON'T have those millions of dollars to do that with" (via Twitter).
When it comes to supporting each other through this long-lasting pandemic, it's important to remember the individuals impacted. During the March shutdown, bar sales dropped by 60 percent and restaurant sales by 56 percent, affecting many businesses and workers (via Statista). Helping to cushion the blow of this new shutdown is a message that can and should be shared widely.