Winner-Take-All Challenge Invites Participants to Create the Ultimate Whopper
You can now submit your creative combo of sweet, sour and/or savory Whopper complements for a chance to win $1 million in a Burger King contest. The Million Dollar Whopper Contest runs from now through March 17, and the winning flavor combination will be sold nationwide at Burger King restaurants for a limited time, USA Today reported.
That’s a whopping-big deal for the fast-food giant. It has 6,600-plus U.S. restaurants, according to Scrape-it brand reports. And Burger King sold more than 1.3 billion of its signature Whopper burgers last year, according to the brand’s own website (although Enterprise Apps Today credited the chain with selling more than 2 billion Whoppers last year).
Burger King notes that the contest marks the first time the chain has “put the sandwich in the hands (and creativity) of its guests,” according to a report by Fox Business. That’s a long time, given that the sandwich dates to 1957.
Customers already can customize their Whoppers in more than 200,000 ways, according to Burger King. Those possibilities notwithstanding, “if you’ve ever wanted to top the flavorful burger with savory sensations or sweet and sour showstoppers, then your moment to shine has officially arrived,” the fast-food brand’s website says.
Million Dollar Whopper Contest Details
A news release quotes BK Chief Marketing Officer Pat O’Toole remarking that “Burger King is all about Having It Your Way, and this contest is a true embodiment of that.” Over half of diners customize their Whoppers when ordering, he added. A consolation prize for non-winners, O’Toole said, is that every contest participant will “experience and share their creation using the power of AI [artificial intelligence] technology.”
Although no purchase is required to enter the contest, here are a few of the rules (full details on the Million Dollar Whopper website.)
- Contests must have a Burger King Royal Perks account; entries will be submitted through that account.
- You need to be a legal U.S. resident.
- You are required to be 18 or older (19 in Alabama and Nebraska).
- You may choose three to eight toppings, all of which must be edible. The contest rules give detailed topping specifications on what foods are allowed and how the toppings are counted – for instance, salsa and pesto are made up of many ingredients but count as only one topping each.
AI and Judging
So how does AI come in? After you’ve entered your topping selections via the BK loyalty account, the website will use AI to generate an image of your burger. The contestant may add a jingle and thematic background to the image, Fox Business reported. The completed image can be shared on social media.
After the March 17 entry deadline, three judges appointed by Burger King will evaluate the entries. They will select the top three Whopper creations. The finalists are then invited to Burger King headquarters in Miami, where they can refine their recipes.
Next the contestants’ combos will undergo tryouts by customers at participating restaurants in November. Customers will vote for their favorites, with the top vote-getter receiving the entire $1 million and his or her Whopper briefly appearing on BK menus all around the United States.
