Burger King Charges 11 Cents For BBQ Sauce

Dear Consumerist,

So, for dinner tonight I decided to make the least healthiest choice and go to my local Burger King. There I placed an order for a Tender Crisp Chicken Sandwich Large Value Meal (and the barista only says Large or King, and not Medium, which is advertised, but thats something I’ll touch on another time). Upon paying almost 7 dollars and then a few minutes later receiving my food, I politely asked the barista working the counter for some barbecue sauce. The barista then told me that it would cost me 11 cents to get a little brownish-red stuff in a plastic square.

I was baffled. I asked if the barista was serious and he was. Then I asked to speak with his manager. She said, that it would cost 11 cents for me to have barbecue sauce because I had not ordered Chicken Fries or Chicken Tenders. So, I told them that I would not pay 11 cents for the barbecue sauce (because I would honestly keep the 11 cents and put it toward a real bottle of barbecue sauce) and instead wanted 20 packets of ketchup which they handed over without thinking twice.

What has happened to the days where vendors gave you condiments free of charge? I know gas prices have gone up and the U.S. economy has gone to shit but it’s a little ludicrous when Burger King stops handing out barbecue sauce for free.

Sincerely,

A College Kid Looking for Some BBQ Sauce

Dear A College Kid,

Burger King has to raise condiment prices due to risky bets placed on the sub-prime burger industry. Furthermore, BBQ sauce cubelets are a premium condiment compared to catsup. You would have to fill an entire standard-sized Burger King with catsup packets to equal one BBQ sauce cubelet. This is due to massive government subsidies for the tomato industry, grandfathered into the Food Bill, which are left over from the war of 1872 when America wanted to undermine Spanish influence in Mexico by shutting them out of the lucrative tomato market.

(Photo: Morton Fox)

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