Burger King launches King Deals in a dollar-menu revamp

The latest entry in the fast-food value menu competition comes from Burger King, with the launch of its King Deals on Monday.

The offerings include more than 20 items that are priced starting at $1. The list includes the new Rodeo Crispy Chicken sandwich and the Rodeo Burger -- both a dollar each -- as well as chicken nuggets, a double cheeseburger and a crispy chicken wrap.

If that sounds mighty familiar to the value menu at another quick-service giant, consider that McDonald’s updated its Dollar Menu just this fall. It’s now called the Dollar Menu & More, mixing $1 items with $2 offerings and $5 shareable family meals.

Burger King’s North American marketing chief, Eric Hirschhorn, said Monday that the company has “seen an incredible response from our guests with our $1 menu items.”

The National Restaurant Assn. said earlier this month that the industry’s performance index hit a four-month high in October, with improvements in same-store sales and customer traffic.

The gauge exceeded 100 for the eighth month in a row – signaling expansion. More than half of restaurant operators said their same-store sales rose between October 2012 and October 2013, compared with the 41% who said the same in September.

And 43% said their customer traffic levels were higher during the period, up from 33% who reported an increase in September.

“Looking forward, restaurant operators are relatively optimistic about sales growth in the months ahead, though their outlook for the overall economy remains mixed,” said Hudson Riehle, the trade group’s senior vice president of research, in a statement.

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