Which came first: the Whopper or the Big Mac? Find out the answer, plus more fun facts you never knew about Burger King's famous sandwich.
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It predates the Big Mac
By more than ten years, as a matter of fact. While McDonald’s and Burger King have both been around since the 1950s, Mickey D’s didn’t introduce the Big Mac until 1968. The Whopper, meanwhile, debuted in 1957, when co-founder Jim McLamore noticed that a rival burger joint was having success with an extra-large burger. He chose the name “Whopper” to automatically conjure thoughts of something big.
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Its original price was 37 cents
My, how times have changed. When the Whopper first debuted in the 1950s, it would only set you back 37 cents, according to CNN. (Today it’s closer to $6 to $8, or even more, depending on your location.) A few years ago, in 2021, Burger King had a birthday bash for the Whopper’s 64th anniversary, and for two short days, you could get a 37-cent Whopper. No word on what’s up for the 70th birthday, coming up in 2027.
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Its main rival is the Big Mac
Are you a Whopper person, or more of a Big Mac devotee? American burger aficionados love to argue about this very personal question, because these are the two most popular burgers at their respective franchises. But really, it’s not an apples to apples comparison.
The Whopper, with its quarter-pound patty, is actually more akin to McDonald’s Big N’ Tasty, a 1997 addition that was discontinued in 2011. Also in 1997, Burger King introduced a 2-patty Big Mac equivalent called the Big King. That’s since been discontinued in U.S. markets, but you can find a similar sandwich internationally.
Despite each brand’s not-so-veiled attempts to recreate the competitor’s signature sandwich, the primary rivalry between the Whopper and the Mac continues to this day.
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The Whopper Jr. was a happy accident
In 1963, Luis Arenas-Pérez was opening up a Burger King restaurant in the Puerto Rico municipality of Carolina. The shipment of Whopper-bun molds from the U.S. didn’t arrive in time for the grand opening, so he decided to improvise. He used regular-size buns and called the creation “Whopper Jr.”
The name and the product stuck, and Pérez’s quick thinking and lasting impact on the company earned him a spot in the Burger King Hall of Fame, as well as a top place in our list of favorite Burger King Whopper facts.
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Burger King once advertised a “Moldy Whopper”
This is one of the more icky Burger King Whopper facts—in 2020, Burger King went against all the norms of marketing to advertise a “Moldy Whopper,” showcasing their famous sandwich covered in unappetizing green and blue mold. While this might seem counterintuitive, there was a point to it—the brand wanted to show how their burgers actually would go bad after a certain period of time, proving that they’d reduced or removed artificial preservatives.
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There was an “angry” version at one point
In 2009, Burger King released a limited-edition burger called the “Angry Whopper.” In addition to all of the usual Whopper ingredients, this burger also had spicy crispy onions, pepper jack cheese, jalapeños and a spicy “angry sauce.” Some consumers thought that it wasn’t spicy enough to merit the “angry” descriptor, but that didn’t stop BK from releasing a follow-up: The “Angriest Burger,” with a red-tinged, hot sauce–infused bun, was introduced in 2016.
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It briefly couldn’t call itself a Whopper
In a certain city, that is. The Burger King franchise ran into a little trouble when it first tried to expand into San Antonio. A separate, unaffiliated chain called Whopper Burger held all rights to the name “Whopper” in that area. This copyright snag kept the King out of San Antonio for several years—for the most part.
There was, temporarily, a BK open in San Antonio, but it couldn’t drop the W-bomb in any of its advertising. It had to call its famous burger the “Deluxe,” and it didn’t last very long. The dispute was resolved in 1983, when the widow of Whopper Burger’s owner sold the franchise to Pillsbury, who also owned Burger King at the time.
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It had a black bun for Halloween
If you’re saying, “Wait, wasn’t it green?” you’re recalling Burger King’s bizarre introduction of a green-tinted “Nightmare King” burger for Halloween 2018. But that wasn’t the chain’s first strangely colored Halloween special, nor was it actually a Whopper.
The first oddly colored burger that Burger King introduced, at least to its American customers, came in 2015 with the announcement of the “A1 Halloween Whopper”—a special edition that used A1 Steak Sauce to turn the bun black.
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It encouraged unfriending sprees
In maybe one of the silliest fast food scandals of all time, Burger King once promised Facebook users free burgers, at the cost of a few friends. This promotion advertised a new Facebook app with the eyebrow-raising name “Whopper Sacrifice.” The app would provide you with a coupon for a free Whopper for every ten Facebook friends you deleted.
However, Burger King pulled the program after Facebook demanded a tweak to the most controversial aspect—a notification sent to the unfriended users, telling them that their online friendship had been traded for a burger. (Or, more accurately, a tenth of a burger!) Before the end of the campaign, though, nearly 234,000 people had been unfriended.
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It helped Ellen DeGeneres break into comedy
Stars, they’re just like us! But a 20-something Ellen DeGeneres wasn’t actually a star yet when she took the stage for her first-ever comedy performance at a fundraiser with friends. Her buddies had been urging her to take the stage, and so she nervously obliged, bringing a Whopper, shake and fries she’d just purchased onstage with her.
DeGeneres told Oprah’s Master Class that her first performance wasn’t much of a routine. “People enjoyed me eating onstage and not talking,” she recalled. Someone sitting in that audience invited her to perform at a nearby university campus. After that, she continued to get bigger and bigger gigs, ultimately making a name for herself as a comedian.
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You could get it with extra (extra) cheese
If you lived near Green Bay, Wisconsin, back in 2018, you were one of the lucky few who had the chance to try out an artery-clogging Whopper that only a Cheesehead could love. Six Wisconsin BK locations sold an extra-cheesy Green Bay Whopper with a *whopping* eight slices of American cheese. The Green Bay Whopper was available until December 2 of that year as a limited-time offering.
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The Impossible Whopper isn’t necessarily healthier
Burger King has been selling a meatless Whopper for more than five years now, and meat-free BK fans have made it a popular variation on the classic burger. Made with a vegetarian patty from Impossible Foods, you might be inclined to think that a veggie version would be substantially healthier. Not necessarily.
According to Burger King’s nutritional facts on their website, the regular Whopper and the Impossible version are pretty comparable in calories and saturated fat. The Impossible patty has 100 milligrams more sodium, but 80 milligrams less cholesterol. But for people who avoid meat for ethical reasons, the BK offering gives vegetarian customers a much appreciated (and rare) fast food burger option.
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The beef-free Whopper came to India first
Before you could get a beef-free Whopper in the US, you could get one in India. In order to respect customers’ religious restrictions in the country, BK skipped the beef and pork and added chicken, mutton and vegetarian patties to its famous Whopper when it entered the market in 2014.
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There was once a Whopper-themed perfume
Ever wanted to smell exactly like a Whopper? Well, Burger King customers in Japan had that opportunity. In 2015, BK dropped a Whopper-scented perfume for just one day in Japan. The notes were described as “flame grilled,” and the perfume retailed for 5000 yen ($41 at the time). You might still be able to find one on eBay if you really want the experience.
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There was a day when Burger King didn’t serve the Whopper
In 2007, Burger King did something unexpected for the 50th anniversary of the Whopper—they removed it from the menu! The social experiment involved first telling customers that they could no longer get the Whopper, and phase two involved simply serving them a competitor’s burger instead. Dubbed “The Whopper Freakout,” the campaign was eventually turned into a documentary, and drove sales of the Whopper up 29%.
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We could’ve had a McWhopper
The rivalry between the Big Mac and the Whopper is well-known, despite the fact that the Big Mac dropped a decade after the Whopper. In 2015, Burger King decided to call a truce and proposed a “McWhopper” for World Peace Day—unfortunately, McDonald’s declined, depriving us of what could’ve been a truly “whopping” collab.
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Sources:
- CNN: “Burger King is returning the Whopper to its original price”
- Zippia: “15+ Telling Burger King Statistics [2023]: Burger King Revenue + Sales:
- Washington Post: “I tried the Big Mac, Whopper and Dave’s Single. They share the same major flaw.”
- Yahoo! Life: “Why McDonald’s Big N’ Tasty Burger Was Discontinued”
- NBC News: “New Burger King ‘Angriest Burger’ Puts The Flame in ‘Flame Grilled'”
- My San Antonio: “The iconic history of San Antonio chain Burger Boy and the Whopper”
- New York Times: “‘Whopper Sacrifice’ De-Friended on Facebook”
- Burger King USA Nutritionals: “Core, Regional and Limited Time Offerings”
- HuffPost: “The ‘Stupid’ Routine That Helped Ellen DeGeneres Get Her Start In Comedy”
- CNBC: “Burger King’s moldy Whopper ad is dividing marketing experts”
- New York Post: “Burger King releases Whopper-scented perfume”
- Wall Street Journal: “Burger King Brings Beef-Free Whoppers to India”
