Burger King on Tuesday launched a limited-time promo selling its signature Whopper sandwiches for a penny, but there’s a catch:
The ultra-cheap burgers must be ordered via app at Burger King’s chief competitor, McDonald’s—or at least within 600 feet of one.
The Whopper Detour gimmick, which relies on geofencing technology, hypes the newly relaunched Burger King app, which now offers order-ahead functionality.
Geofencing creates a virtual boundary around a predetermined area, enabling an app to trigger a response when the user enters or leaves the location.
Consumers can only order the 1-cent Whoppers when they’re near one of more than 14,000 McDonald’s units. They’re then detoured, via the app, to the nearest Burger King to pick up the order.
The promo runs until Dec. 12. A Burger King representative did not respond when asked how many orders had been placed during the promotion’s first day.
Burger King’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, shifted its chief financial officer into a newly created chief technology and development role earlier this year, with the goal of beefing up the company’s digital presence. Ongoing initiatives include adding digital drive-thrus as well as ordering kiosks.
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