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Burger King's one cent Whopper deal might not be as convenient as you may think

Make sure your restaurant offers mobile ordering
Posted

Have you heard the newest promotion from Burger King? The restaurant chain is offering Whoppers for just 1 cent.

However, it's a bit complicated, and it may not be as quite as easy to get your grub as the ads claim.    

You first need to visit... McDonald's

To get the deal:

  • You need to have the BK app on your phone
  • You then need to be parked (or on foot) within 600 feet of a McDonald's restaurant.
  • Your phone's location services will then allow you to order the penny Whopper.

To test it, we parked our news car 100 feet from a McDonald's, figuring the offer should work fine that close.

Best of all, the McDonald's we chose was right next to a Burger King, which would enable me to order the penny Whopper, drive next door to pick it up.

I downloaded the Burger King app, opened it up and clicked the Whopper for a penny deal.

For some reason, the order would not go through; instead giving me what Apple users fondly call the "spinning wheel of death."

I moved locations, even inching closer to the McDonald's entrance, but no luck.

What went wrong for me?

So I checked with a Burger King manager next door, who politely explained the offer only works if you are near a BK that offers mobile ordering. This one doesn't have it and is not participating.

That meant I jumped through a lot of hoops and ended up with another app on my phone just to end up eating at McDonald's.

Burger King's corporate offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meantime, the app shows just one BK restaurant with mobile ordering near the McDonald's/Burger King stores we chose for our test, but it was about 15 miles away.

We'll have to assume it works there -- but my lunch break was over for the day, and I might have spent more on gas getting there and back than if I had just paid the standard cost of a Whopper.

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