(Click on Bracket for larger view)

Ah March, that time of year when people put anything and everything into “bracket” form. Last year, So Good brought down the house with our wildly popular Meat Madness tournament. One full month of debates, arguments and voting, leading to some interesting final results, and ultimately, bacon defeating steak to be crowned the greatest meat in the land.  We even had some controversy along the way, as Deadspin accused an ESPN reporter of copying the idea of a meat bracket.

Rather than re-hash Meat Madness, this year So Good has returned with an all new competition: The Fast Food Bracket.

The rules are fairly simple. Over the course of the next month, So Good readers will vote, match-up by match-up, to determine what is the best fast food chain in America.  When we use the term “fast food”, we are using it loosely. These tournament competitors really fall under the larger umbrella of Quick Service Restaurants, or QSR.

Please weigh in with your predictions, intriguing match-ups and thoughts in the comments!

Here is how the participants and seeding were determined, working off last year’s list of the top 50 QSR chains:

• You must have a substantial portion of your sales come from food, specifically non-dessert foods (sorry Starbucks, Jamba Juice and Cold Stone, that means you’re out…Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donut’s, you guys have a big enough variety of food offerings, so you’re in)
• Only 32 chains are eligible. Sure, I could have done 64, but just like with Meat Madness, that would have taken forever to vote on. 32 it is. Complain in the comments about your favorite “bubble chain” that got bounced, but you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
• The top 16 chains by revenue get automatic berths, with the top 4 holding #1 seeds, next 4 holding #2 seeds, etc. Doesn’t matter how bad people think your food sucks, just like the big conferences get an edge in basketball, so do these guys.
• I combined Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. even though they are listed separately on the QSR 50 list, because they are jointly own/run. However, this did not move their seed up – tough noogies.
• After that, the seeding was at my discretion, but for the most part I stuck to the basic structure of ranking them based on revenue.
• The only chains outside of the top 32 in revenue that made the cut as “wild-cards” based on reputation and pop culture familiarity were: In n Out, White Castle and Five Guys.

Voting begins when the “real” tournament starts on Thursday, with voting on two match-ups at a time during the first round. Make sure to check back to So Good at approximately noon each day so you can vote on each of the match-ups.

Last year I heard stories from all across the country of people printing out Meat Madness brackets in their office, running an office pool or making their predictions. Glad everyone enjoyed it so much, and hope they enjoy this competition as well.

Just like with Meat Madness, voting criteria is totally up to you. Want to vote just based on which you think is the best tasting and nothing else? Go for it. Maybe you want to factor in cost? Convenience? Quality of service? Number of locations? Variety of menu options?

The choice is yours.  But one thing is clear: in one month’s time, So Good will be crowning one lucky chain as the “Top Fast Food Chain” in America.

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The Consumerist post is based off an “Infographic of the Day” post from the magazine Fast Company.  The map above appears to show a far less dominant market position for McDonald’s than many had assumed. In fact, the blogger for Consumerist notes:

I had always assumed that McDonalds’ hamburger hegemony of the United States, if not the world, was complete. I was wrong. Clearly, I need to leave the Northeast more.

Indeed, the map seems to convey that McDonald’s has extreme concentration in the Northeast, but not many other places of dominance other than a scattering of black dots across the Northwest and upper Midwest.

There’s just one problem: by making the claim that McDonald’s is not as dominant as they thought, and by failing to explain the nature of the map seen above, Consumerist (as well as Fast Company) is essentially misreading and misinterpreting the data  by failing to note the map above is labeled McDonald’s vs. Allied Competitors.

So what does “Allied Competitors” mean? It means the total number of stores for McDonald’s top 7 competitors are being added together and compared directly with McDonald’s. So if there is a black dot in the region you are looking at, i.e. the Northeast, than McDonald’s in that region has more locations than its next 7 rivals COMBINED.  In any region that is NOT black, the 7 other competitors have more stores than McDonald’s, but only AFTER you combine all their stores  into one cumulative number. In these circumstances, a black McDonald’s dot is simply ineligible to appear on the map for that location and the color of the competitor with the most locations in that region is highlighted on the map.

So let me emphasize that again: the most predominant competitor is highlighted EVEN IF THAT COMPETITOR HAS FEWER STORES IN THE REGION THAN MCDONALD’S.

What is a more interesting question is WHY did Consumerist and Fast Company both highlight this map?  The original blog that posted this visualization, WeatherSealed, provided the map you see above as somewhat of an after-thought, imagining it as a Star Wars-esque “rebel alliance” of McDonald’s competitors who are able to  “beat” McDonald’s only by collectively banding together.  In fact, WeatherSealed led off their original blog post with a map that is a much more accurate representation of just how much McDonald’s dominates vs. other fast food joints on a per-location basis:

Here we see some sheer dominance of Texas and Oklahoma by Sonic, a smattering of Burger King & Dairy Queen clusters in the Upper Midwest/Plain States, some Jack-in-the-Box love for So-Cal and Arizona and some Wendy’s strength in the Appalachian belt.  But the blasting of black across the rest of the United States outside of these clusters makes clear the control McDonald’s wields over the U.S. market based on the number-of-locations metric.

So why did Consumerist and Fast Company highlight the other map? Because it’s prettier? Has more psychedelic colors? Conveys the more interesting (although completely inaccurate) point that McDonald’s might not be as dominant as people thought? Either way, Consumerist and Fast Company appear to have done a disservice to their readers by not better explaining the context of the map they were highlighting and/or noting the more relevant map of the two.

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Five Dollar Buck. Let me say that again in case you didn’t realize how stupid it sounded the first time:  Five Dollar Buck.

Not only is it asinine and repetitive, it just flat out doesn’t make sense.  Nice work Taco Bell.  Apparently only the best and the brightest make the cut for jobs in Taco Bell’s product naming and copy writing department.

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Thanks to @agencyspy.

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Apparently, fat, drunk and stupid actually is the way to go through life – at least according to Burger King.  BK, the creator of such brilliant concepts as “Singing in the Shower” and “Burger Shots,” today announced that they will start serving beer along with their plethora of food-like products in mid-February at a trial location.  This establishment, fashionably dubbed “Whopper Bar,” will be in South Beach, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.  If successful, the chain will spread these eateries to other towns featuring elastic-waisted-pants-wearing-tourists, like LA, Vegas and NYC.  It clearly is not enough for the chain to fill you up with salt, saturated fat and cholesterol – you have to be boozed up as well.  Ahh, the American dream.  I can’t wait to place my next drive-though order.

H/t to Carl for the picture.

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Remember how much people loved the re-imagining of fast food mascots as mafia characters? Well this is even better. Watch as Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald, the Jack in the Box Mascot and the BK King party their faces off and paint the town red – drugs, booze and strippers most definitely included.  Oh, and keep an eye out for a special cameo by comedian Nick Swardson as – well, I won’t spoil the surprise for you. Check it out:

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The title this video has been given on YouTube is “Racist KFC Advertisement?” It’s generated a little bit of coverage so far, and most people seem to be suggesting that the ad is, in fact, racist.  In the title of its post, BuzzFeed is calling it “racist”, while Make the Logo Bigger asks  “Another racist KFC ad?”  MediaBistro’s AgencySpy doesn’t use the actual word racist, but the language used in framing up its blog post strongly suggests they feel that way as well.

So is the ad racist? Or is that just the way we American’s view it? That’s what one commenter at Buzzfeed suggests:

I don’t think the stereotype of black people loving fried chicken is popular anywhere but the USA, this ad would be pretty harmless in another country

On AgencySpy, another commentator named “Nancy” seems to agree with this sentiment, noting:

This is only racist when viewed through the prism of americans and their limited view of cultures and the world…..awkward situation is : Cricket World Cup took place in the west indes recently, of course Australian fan, lone among the jubilant west indian fans…tries to make friends …so what he offers chicken…in the west indes, we don’t survive on daily ingest of junk food, it is just eaten during lively, fun times like that

While a commenter named “Juan” adds:

The ad is meant to be satire, not demeaning, it could be misperceived as a racial stereotype, but its not aimed at the super sensitive U.S market with our out of control “political correctness” and our pretense at racial equality

However, in the original blog post, Agency Spy notes the clear racial undertones of a white guy describing himself as being in an “awkward situation just because he’s  stuck in a crowd of happy, cheering black people.” Meanwhile, other commenters call the ad “truly embarassing” and one asks, “Is KFC’s agency headed by Strom Thurmond?”

Haven’t heard of this commercial yet? Well lest you think this is going unnoticed, it’s the #18 most viewed video this month for the Australian version of YouTube and has received over 2,300 comments.

What do you think So Good readers? Racist? Unfortunate idea for an ad? Misinterpreted by American’s?

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In case you miss it live, the site lets you replay the footage of that day’s shower song so there is incentive to check back each day. The site also lets users help decide what song she will sing the next morning, and which bikini she will wear (see burger themed bikini above and fried egg themed bikini below).

In a time where you get used to seeing nothing but ultra skinny supermodels in ads, it is interesting to note that the woman they selected for this, while certainly attractive, falls more into the average-build, girl next door kind of look, rather than the “oh my god I’m looking at a supermodel showering” kind of look.  Oh, and one other thing, those of you that saw the site can confirm: her singing is TERRIBLE. I mean really not good at all. There will be no Britain’s Got Talent auditions for this young lady.

Now I’m certainly not the first one to report on this, as Mashable, BrandChannel and AdRants all posted about it in mid-December.  What is interesting, however, is that no one seems to have realized that this promotion/webpage was gone almost as soon as it appeared.  Fast Food Maven posted about the Shower Babe on December 26th, inviting her readers to watch the Shower Babe and share their thoughts – apparently totally unaware that by Wednesday, December 23rd, the site wasn’t even live anymore, and the previous ShowerCam URL re-directed people to a new page devoted to the Whopper and promoting the fact that at Burger King “Taste is King.”

So what’s up with the idea to promote Burger King through a girl singing in the shower? While Burger King has not been afraid to release some highly questionable and offensive sexually laced ads in the past, featuring a woman showering, live on camera, may be a new low (high?) for Burger King’s advertising strategy.  Initially, a BK spokesperson defended the website, noting:

“Our research showed that breakfast is a male-centric audience for Burger King; it doesn’t resonate as well with women – we are targeting the people who are buying breakfast.”

Oh. Wait. You are promoting Burger King Breakfast???? I didn’t realize that, I was too distracted WATCHING A WOMAN SHOWERING. Breakfast. Right. That makes sense, because you shower in the morning, then head out to get a BK breakfast sandwich. It all makes sense now. Uh, yeah.

Now your typical guy will probably be pathetically lured into this, because c’mon, we’re guys and we’re weak. We’ll watch live based on the .ooooo1% chance that something will go wrong and her bikini will accidentally burst off, exposing the BK Shower Babe for all the world to see. Sorry kiddos, but there is definitely no nudity, these videos are about as CLEAN as it gets (Haha! See what I did there? Clean? Huh? Clean? Get it? Cause it’s a shower?  Comedy GOLD).

The question to ask now is not what possessed Burger King to launch this website, but rather why did they take it down in basically two weeks time? Now I’m sure the official BK company line is that they always planned for this to be a quick promotion and it ran its course…blah, blah, blah. Bullshit. If the site was getting flooded with millions of visitors and drawing favorable coverage left and right, they would have definitely kept the site running. Furthermore, even if they only contracted the woman to do two weeks worth of showers (wow, it feels dirty just writing that…haha! get it? dirty?) wouldn’t they re-hire her for additional weeks if it proved to be a viral hit? Or even if the promotion had run its course, why not leave the site up for people to watch the old videos rather than essentially hiding its existence behind a re-direct to a new “Taste is King” promotion?

My guess? Burger King saw the consumer, online and press reaction to this and decided to pull the plug prematurely.  While Burger King doesn’t shy away from controversial advertising that gets people talking, this campaign had a notably stalker-esque and creepy feel to it. For a company that already centers so much of its marketing around a creepy, stalkerish mascot, it may have decided, in retrospect, that allowing its customers to watch a woman showering was just one small, creepy step away from drilling a Porky’s style  peep-hole in a woman’s locker room so that Burger King consumers online could feast their eyes on a bevy of Burger Shots.

I don’t expect Burger King to admit this of course, but that’s my theory.

Farewell BK Shower Babe, we hardly knew you.

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Carl’s Jr. is leveraging Kim Kardashian beyond just this one ad though, enlisting her to invite people from around the country to join her for a “Salad Lunch Date.”

The lunch date will take place live, via the Carl’s Jr. Facebook page, and Kim has even extended a “personal” video invitation which you can find on YouTube:

So this raises the inevitable question, who is going to be joining her for this lunch date?

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I’ve included an image below, but if you have trouble viewing it (you will, it’s too small) then click over to the full size image HERE and then stop back and let us know your comments on the Flowchart, what you found most amusing etc.

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“With more beef and cheese, the $1 ¼-pound Double Cheeseburger beats competitors’ sandwiches, such as McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger and Wendy’s Double Stack,”

“1/4 pound of hot, not so fresh, delicious preservative laden beef!”

Dollar menus or value menus have been all the rage in the fast food world in the last few years, as companies look to offer as many deals and variety as possible to bring in more customers. Consumers love it, because instead of paying $6 for a value meal, they can fill themselves up on the cheap. For example, a McChicken and a McDouble at McDonalds is my go-to order – only $2 and it leaves me pretty satisfied. Well, satisfied from a fullness perspective, I am never satisfied when I’m forced to eat McDonalds.

The dirty secret of dollar menus though, that I alluded to in my opening paragraph, is that franchise owners HATE them. They feel that dollar menus allow people to load up on a few cheap items, instead of paying more for a value meal, costing them valuable sales dollars. Burger King has been fighting this battle with their franchisees for nearly 2 years now, as BK owners aren’t exactly eager to sell a burger for $1 that has been retailing for nearly $2.50.

Just last year, McDonald’s gave up their $1 double cheeseburger gambit, raising the price to $1.19 and adding the “McDouble” (essentially a double cheeseburger, sans one slice of cheese) to the dollar menu in its place. Yet now, BK is offering up a 1/4 pound version of what McDonald’s couldn’t afford to keep on its dollar menu? Good luck with that BK.

On the topic of cheap burger sizes, do you remember when the quarter pounder was considered to be literally a huge thing? People were all “whoa dude, quarter pounder. Alright. You aren’t messing around at this meal.” Uh yeah. Not so much anymore. A quarter pounder ain’t shite anymore people. Sorry dudes, but you are definitely not ballin’ if you are all about the burger that the local homeless dude can afford with a good 20 minutes of panhandling. But hey, in this economy, that’s a lot of sustenance for not a lot of money, so go buy it. Or don’t. I really don’t care.

H/T to Fast Food Maven and GrubGrade.

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I always get mildly depressed by ideas that want to seem original, yet are just rehashed garbage. Enter McDonald’s and the product that they’ve been testing in certain markets for the last few months: the Mac Snack Wrap, previously mentioned on So Good here.  This is essentially a Big Mac without the bun, wrapped in a tortilla.  I know, you’re hooked already!  If this is this supposed to be a “healthy” alternative to the pop culture burger icon, then they are sadly mistaken.  The Consumerist calls this concoction the ‘Big Mac Burrito’ which makes me gag even more than the thought of the actual burger.  McDonald’s, like Hollywood, has run out of new ideas.  I can’t wait for the McRib enchiladas coming to a quick service restaurant near you!

H/t to Eat Me Daily for the picture and to YumSugar for a telling poll (55% of readers would try it).

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Yes, it’s a “sandwich” containing bacon, cheese and Colonel’s sauce, with two fried chicken patties serving as the bread.  Now some of you may be thinking, “Eick, I thought So Good was supposed to be on the cutting edge? I already read about this someplace else, why didn’t you see this sooner?” Valid question, and one the 15 (no exaggeration) people who have e-mailed me about this new product have asked.

I actually came across this last week, in the form of a post on Food Geekery that dated all the way back to July 28.  But do you know why I didn’t write about it right away? I didn’t believe it. Thought it was a fake. A spoof. A hoax. No WAY a national chain is actually using pieces of chicken as buns I thought. Considering it’s been a few months since I broke a major story on So Good, despite having done it quite often last year, I thought this was my golden bullet. I was going to expose the Double Down as a grand and elaborate hoax and reap the traffic benefits as everyone praised So Good for exposing the fraud that was the Double Down.  I Googled around. I read and re-read the post on Food Geekery. I freeze framed parts of the commercial on YouTube for clues that it might be a fake. At one point I even thought some of the “evidence” it was a hoax was that one of the actors in the commercial kind of, sort of, looked like one of the sketch comedy actors from Barats & Bereta.

With no clear evidence confirming or denying this products existence beyond the one initial source online,  I called the location in Nebraska where Foodgeekery allegedly bought this. No answer when I called twice on Thursday. When I called back on Friday, they did answer, and informed me that yes, they carried the Double Down sandwich.  Dammit. I was all primed to be the one that exposed to the world the great hoax that was the KFC Double Down. Alas, I was wrong. Dead wrong. And with that, my motivation to write about it before leaving the office vanished. The weekend awaited. That magical time of sleep, sex, drinking, more drinking, watching baseball and sleeping again.  The story would have to wait, because the sandwich is real, and it’s being tested in Nebraska and Rhode Island.

There were other skeptics out there, which is why Foodgeekery went BACK to the KFC and snapped a few confirmation photos:

KFC public relations finally got into the act and shared their “estimated” nutritional info with Huffington Post. They claim it is 590 calories with 31g of fat and 10g of saturated fat.

I don’t need to make some grand proclamation about what this sort of food offering says about our culture. I think these photos pretty much speak for themselves.

Additional coverage on Consumerist, This is Why You’re Fat and Slashfood.

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These are the final 10 stores on the list of the QSR 50.

Once again, this list is determined by total dollar sales.

• 41 Jimmy John’s
• 42 Captain D’s
• 43 Jason’s Deli
• 44 Qdoba
• 45 Jamba Juice
• 46 Cold Stone Creamery
• 47 Krystal
• 48 In-N-Out Burger
• 49 Einstein/Noah’s Bagels
• 50 Tim Hortons

This is where it probably gets dicey for some people in terms of knowing these chains.  I’m actually familiar with all of these except for Captain D’s and Jason’s Deli.

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Once again, this list is determined by total dollar sales.

• 31 Boston Market
• 32 Culvers
• 33 El Pollo Loco
• 34 Bojangles’
• 35 Papa Murphy’s
• 36 CiCi’s Pizza
• 37 White Castle
• 38 Del Taco
• 39 Baskin Robbins
• 40 Sbarro

It appears with numbers 31 – 40 we’ve entered the land of Chicken and pizza. FOUR chains in a row are all chicken focused, Boston Market, Culvers, El Pollo Loco and Bojangles.  Plus, with Papa Murphy’s, CiCi’s and Sbarro, you add three pizza chains to the list as well.

Sbarro is all the way down at #40 is SHOCKING for me.  I’ve never even heard of Papa Murphy’s or CiCi’s, but Sbarro is in just about every food court I’ve ever been in. Is this a regional thing?

Any chains in this batch of 10 surprise you? Any that STILL haven’t cracked the top 40 that you can’t believe?

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