Burger King deserves a lot of credit for introducing a lower-calorie French fry last month, the “Satisfries.” Given the American public’s French fry fetish ever since the Miami-based fast-food chain and Ray Kroc’s McDonald’s opened their doors in the mid-1950s, offering a healthier fry is a good strategic move. It pulls in consumers aching for healthier versions of their favorite foods and is a welcome product for a nation waddling in obesity. But will Satisfries be enough to reverse Burger King’s long-lackluster financial performance? By no means. BK must reinvent its core burger product line to reconquer its kingdom.
Targeting French fries is a frontal assault on McDonald’s top-selling menu item, which outsells any other product under the Golden Arches by a factor of five. Most troublesome for Burger King, this action is guaranteed to instigate a massive response from the leading fast food chain, whose global systemwide sales ($88 billion) were nearly six times BK’s last year. McDonald’s response is likely to come in the form of heavy advertising and/or the introduction of its own new, improved French fries.