Finally, burgers for home delivery

I was lamenting the other day that it’s really hard to eat when you’re in a particularly lazy mood. Or at least it’s hard to eat with any variety - the only good options available for home delivery are pizza and Chinese/Asian. KFC is also available here in Canada, but that’s not really a choice - although I consider myself to be something of a fast-food aficionado, I really do try to avoid the dirty birdie at all costs.

It was with pleasure, then, that I read about Burger King’s experimentation with home delivery in the Washington, D.C. area. What could be better than a burger and fries delivered right to your front door?

At the heart of the chain’s efforts is, naturally, technology. Burger King is packaging its delivery foods in new  thermal containers. A Whopper, for example, is split into two sections - the hot part on the left and the cold parts on the right, to keep the thing from getting soggy during its trip to your home. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is: McDonald’s did something similar back in the ’80s with its McDLT, although it wasn’t for delivery (check out the hilarious commercial starring George Costanza).

Some menu items aren’t available for delivery, while drinks are coming in bottled form rather than as fountain pop. The whole thing costs the customer an extra $2.

USA Today‘s story pointed out that Domino’s is watching with interest and skepticism. Burger King’s experiment, if it takes off, could be big competition for pizza chains, after all.

A few observers also made comparisons to Amazon - that ordering food from Burger King was as simple as using the online shopping giant’s service. Indeed, with its penchant for disrupting traditional businesses, it wouldn’t be surprising if Amazon was watching this experiment more closely than any pizza chain.