Denny's jumps into the Burger King-McDonald's stunt

Denny’s has seized an opportunity created by last week’s give-and-take between Burger King and McDonald’s to remind the public that it’s a source for burgers, too, publicly offering to collaborate with Burger King on a peace offering.

In full-page newspaper ads and social media posts, Denny’s said it would be willing to sub for McDonald’s in the tongue-in-cheek collaboration that Burger King suggested for Peace One Day. The Home of the Whopper had invited McDonald’s to jointly run a pop-up restaurant in Atlanta, where a staff drawn from both chains would offer a hybrid sandwich called the McWhopper.

McDonald’s demurred, slyly suggesting that maybe a burger wasn’t the best way within the mega-brands’ power to promote peace.

Denny’s said Monday that it’d be willing to proceed as Burger King’s partner in the arrangement. The only stumbling block, Denny’s joshed, was what to call their love child.

It suggested such names as the Whoppaslam and the Slopper, a reference to Denny’s signature Slam line of breakfasts and burgers. Other suggestions included the Whamper and the Slamopper.

Denny’s has been striving to increase dinner and lunch sales to counter impressions that it’s merely a place for breakfast. In part because of those efforts, comparable-store sales rose year-over-year by 7.3 percent in the second quarter.

Burger King has yet to respond publicly. 

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