Burger King Mysteries

Consumer Relations

Burger King Corporation

5505 Blue Lagoon Drive

Miami, Florida 33126

To the people at Burger King:

            I have been known to frequent one of your New Haven locations. Not often enough that the employees know me, or even often enough that my friends would say I go there regularly. But I’ve been there often enough to drive there without the aid of a GPS. I can’t get to the bank, the hair salon, or anybody’s house without my GPS, but Burger King of New Haven happens to be one of the few places I can get to from memory. Perhaps it’s better to say I know how to frequent one of your New Haven locations.

            On one occasion I entered and ordered something. I forgot to write it down, and have cursed my luck ever since, for I have completely lost all traces of what I ate that fateful day, and I may never recover it without expensive hypnotherapy. Let’s say for hypothetical purposes that I ordered Chicken Fries and made a half-and-half mixture of Dr. Pepper and Sprite. Looking into the kitchen on this early spring day, I saw a monitor hanging from the ceiling. On this digital monitor there can’t have been more than 100 pixels, but it was enough to make out the letter B. As I stood waiting for those imaginary chicken fries, I saw that B transform into a C. It was weird.

             I asked an employee what the monitor meant and she told me it had something to do with how long the meat had been out and how long before they would have to throw it out. It made sense at the time, if it was a bit off-putting knowing that I could have ended up with a burger that would struggle to get the minimum GPA required for intercollegiate fast food competition. Possibly thankfully, I might have ordered Chicken Fries and so the quality of the beef might not have been a problem.

            It was only much later that I realized that I’d never seen such a contraption in any other fast food restaurant.  Nor was I able to find any existence of a “meat grade monitor” on the Interweb. I’m pretty sure it isn’t a state law, or really helpful in selling burgers. Why is that monitor really there? What does it really mean?

            I know Burger King has a reputation for going above and beyond to let customers have it their way. My way would be to have you quench my curiosity.

                                                Thanks,

Letter Status: Replied