The Baconator is a brand of

cheeseburger A cheeseburger is a hamburger with one or more slices of melted cheese on top of the meat patty, added near the end of the cooking time. Cheeseburgers can include variations in structure, ingredients and composition. As with other hamburgers, ...

introduced by the international

fast-food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food, fast-food cuisine and has minimal Foodservice#Table service, table service. The food served ...

chain Wendy's in 2007. The primary product consists of two quarter-pound beef patties topped with mayonnaise, ketchup, two slices of cheese, and six strips of bacon. Single and triple patty versions were formerly offered, as well as limited-time seasonal variants. The brand was later expanded with the Son of Baconator, which uses smaller patties, and the Breakfast Baconator, which replaces the hamburger patties with a sausage patty topped with an egg and a melted Swiss cheese sauce.

History

The Baconator was introduced in April 2007 as part of a "back to basics" reorganization by Wendy's new CEO Kerrii Anderson. The addition of the product was part of a push to add menu items intended to appeal to the 18- to 34-year-old demographic and expand late-night sales. This product and others, coupled with a new advertising program, contributed to an increase in store sales of approximately 11% during the period of five fiscal quarters ending in October 2007.

Advertising

As a cross promotion with the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

, the Baconator has been named the official burger of the league. They held a promotion running from April to May 2009 in which special scratch tickets shaped like bacon were given out with each purchase. In addition to being able to enter a draw to win an Xbox 360 by texting the number, the person could enter the numbers online to win a chance to compete in a halftime CFL contest to build a giant Baconator, with the winner getting $25,000. This was termed the 'Baconator Boot Camp'. During the promotion, the store workers wore T-shirts advertising the contest. On August 14, 2009, Pete Richardson from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

won the contest and the prize of $25,000, in front of a capacity crowd of 24,754 at the

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a retractable roof stadium in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to t ...

Economic indicator

The popularity of the Baconator has led to politicians and others using the burger as an example of the price of goods related to inflation and so-called "

price gouging Price gouging is the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair by some. This commonly applies to price increases of basic necessities after natural disaste ...

". US Senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

has used the burger in examples of what she perceives to be price gouging and to lobby for more government control.

Ingredients

Bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

strips *Hamburger bun *Two whole-beef patties *

Ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...

Mayonnaise Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...

* American cheese

References

{{Bacon Wendy's foods Bacon sandwiches Cheese sandwiches Fast food hamburgers Products introduced in 2007

History

Advertising

Economic indicator

Ingredients

See also

References