Skip to footer

Burger King 'black burger' with squid ink goes on sale today

Burger King will begin selling a new black burger in Japan Friday. What makes the special Burger King black burger sauce? Squid ink.

|
Koji Sasahara/AP
Burger King employee Rumi Sekine shows the Kuro Diamond burger, right, and the Kuro Pearl burger at its Shibuya restaurant in Tokyo. The international hamburger chain in Japan will launch the two new "kuro burger," or "black burger" menus that sport buns, cheese, and sauce all in black color starting Sept. 19, 2014, for a limited period.

For Burger King, normal condiments aren't enough. So it's adding a new one ... squid ink. 

Friday, Sept. 19, Burger King will begin selling the new Kuro Burger, a burger that is black from bun-to-bun, in Japan. The ingredients that dye the burger black aren't exactly your normal burger-and-fries fare. The bread and cheese will be blackened using bamboo charcoal. A garlic and squid ink sauce will be smothered over the black cheese and meat. 

The Kuro Burger comes in two versions: Diamond and Pearl. The Diamond version will include lettuce, tomato, and onion. The vegetables will retain their original colors.   

In early August, Burger King announced the return of Chicken Fries to its stores. Chicken Fries were dropped from the menu in 2012, and since then, customers have been calling for its return.

“Literally from the day Chicken Fries left the menu there has been an incredible outcry on social media to bring them back,” Eric Hirschhorn, Burger King's chief marketing officer, told Burger Business. Accompanying the revival is a huge media campaign. 

Burger King will air original TV spots from the 2005 launch only on Thursdays in a nod to the popular “Throwback Thursday” fad on, yes, social media. Additionally, Burger King has teamed with eBay for a fan page through which Chicken Fries fanatics can buy a variety of apparel and accessories. The eBay page will go live on August 12. Profits from the merchandise go to the chain’s McLamore Foundation.

Hoping to buy the new Kuro Burger? You're going to have to make plans to go to Japan. Burger King says it has no plans to bring the black burger to the US.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Burger King 'black burger' with squid ink goes on sale today
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2014/0919/Burger-King-black-burger-with-squid-ink-goes-on-sale-today
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe