Burger King Is Making Changes to Its Whopper After More Than a Decade

After more than a decade, Burger King has announced that it's making changes to its signature sandwich, the Whopper. While the Whopper is not as well known as something like the Big Mac, it is nonetheless the signature burger at one of America's biggest fast food chains.

The fast food chain announced that they were making the change in response to feedback from customers, but many want to know exactly what Burger King is planning to do to the sandwich. Here's what we know.

Burger King announced that it will be making changes to the Whopper's bun and its packaging, both changes that are designed to preserve the burger so that it tastes just like it did when it left the kitchen.

The restaurant says the sandwich will now have a "more premium, better tasting bun, served in a box to ensure it makes it to Guests exactly the way it left the kitchen."

Ultimately, it seems like the biggest change coming to the Whopper is one designed to preserve the sandwich after customers complained about the plastic wrapping that it had been delivered in.

“Over the past several years, we’ve focused on strengthening our operations and modernizing our restaurants to build a more consistent foundation across the system,” said Tom Curtis, President of Burger King U.S. & Canada.

“With that work well underway, we’re now in a position to thoughtfully elevate our core menu. The Whopper is an icon, so we didn’t set out to reinvent it. Instead, we elevated it based on direct Guest feedback," he continued.

The changes to the sandwich are relatively modest, but apparently designed to make the experience of eating one more consistently excellent. For customers, the proof will ultimately be in the pudding, or in this case, the sandwich.

In an interview with CNN, Curtis provided more detail, saying that some customers had complained that the Whopper was smushed by the time they got around to eating it.

“So the Whopper being smushed, literally, I’ve heard it … and we’ve seen it,” he explained. “(We) improved packaging that kind of holds it together. The creamier mayonnaise frankly just came from some franchisees who said they wanted to see a more premium mayonnaise. And then also upgrading and premium-izing the bun.”

Burger King remains one of the largest fast food establishments in the country, but it's got more competition than ever, and is trying to make sure that it's customers remain loyal. It's undoubtedly an important posture for the company to say that it's listening to customers and making changes as a result.

Only time will tell whether this sandwich makes a difference for Burger King's bottom line. It seems like franchises are going to start rolling out this new sandwich immediately, although it might depend a bit on your particular location when you can try this new and improved version of the Whopper for yourself.