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The fast-food chain plans to discontinue the healthier fried chunks of potato in most of its U.S. restaurants.
By Liz Dwyer
Americans may seriously tip the obesity scales, but when it comes to chowing down on fried wedges of potato, apparently we want full fat or nothing at all. At least, that’s what the demise of Burger King’s line of Satisfries seems to reveal. The fast-food giant announced on Wednesday that because of a lack of customer demand, it is discontinuing the relatively healthier french fry product.
“Earlier this week, franchisees in North America were given the option to continue offering Satisfries in markets where this game-changing product continues to perform well,” the company announced in a statement, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Two-thirds of restaurants chose to ditch the product.
The fries were first made available last September as part of Burger King’s effort to appeal to folks who might be on the hunt for healthier menu options. Satisfries were marketed as “great tasting crinkle-cut french fries with 40 percent less fat and 40 percent fewer calories” than McDonald’s french fries.
Consumers might have been a bit confused by the product. At $1.89 for a small container, Satisfries were more expensive than their full-fat, full-calorie counterpart, which are $1.59. A small box of Satisfries racked up 270 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 300 milligrams of sodium—not much less than the 340 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 480 milligrams of sodium found in the same-size traditional fries.
There’s also the tiny detail that when customers walk into a Burger King, they’re not usually on the hunt for a healthier food choice. “They go to fast food restaurants like Burger King for indulgence,” Darren Tristano, executive vice president of food industry consultant Technomic Inc., told NBC News.
So what do Americans want instead? This week Burger King also announced that because of grassroots demand on Twitter and Facebook, its previously discontinued Chicken Fries are back. As one fan enthused on Facebook about the fat-, sodium-, and calorie-packed product, “When you guys got rid of these I stopped going there my one to two times a week and only went a couple times a year after that. So time to kick back into gear and get my chicken fries on!”
