Burger King ignites Spam war with rival

[voivod]

HONOLULU - For many Americans, spam is a four-letter word for unwanted e-mail. In Hawaii, Spam is a beloved comfort food, with cans of the gelatinous pork bricks found in virtually every cupboard.



Hoping to cash in on Hawaii's love affair with the pinkish meat product, Burger King Corp. last month began offering Spam for breakfast — going head-to-head with rival McDonald's Corp., which has been featuring Spam in the islands for years.

Burger King is offering the Spam Platter — two slices of Spam nestled between white rice and scrambled eggs. The fast-food giant also offers the Croissanwich or Biscuit Sandwich with Spam.

Denise Yamauchi, Burger King managing director in Hawaii, said sales have been "very good and very promising."

"It's so popular with the locals, we wanted to cater to them," she said.

Putting Spam on the menu, alongside more traditional items such as the Whopper, has been in the works for about a year, and Burger King's corporate headquarters finally signed off on the idea.

"It's something that was a little unique and a little different for them, so it was a bit of a hard sell to bring to Hawaii," Yamauchi said. "But they finally realized it is a unique flavor and something the locals really like."

At a Burger King near downtown Honolulu, where a poster in the window proudly advertises "Spam in the A.M.," the Spam Platter was selling for $3.49. The nearly identical Spam, Eggs and Rice plate across the street at McDonald's was $3.39.

Melanie Okazaki, marketing manager for McDonald's Restaurants of Hawaii, said Spam has been offered at the chain's 75 island restaurants since 2002.

"In Hawaii, it is a very popular menu item and we will continue to offer it to our customers," she said.

Burger King's latest offering is counter to the chain's push to offer healthier fare, including salads and the meatless BK Veggie Burger. But no one can deny Hawaii's appetite for Spam.

Despite being one of the least-populated states, Hawaii leads the nation in consumption of the Hormel Foods Corp. product. It's been a hit ever since World War II. Isle residents consume more than 5 million pounds of Spam a year, an average of about six cans for every man, woman and child.

Spam "musubi" — a slice of Spam atop a block of rice and wrapped in seaweed — is an island favorite sold at nearly every convenience store, including 7-Eleven. Spam fried rice is a local classic.

There are also more varieties of Spam sold in Hawaii than anywhere else. There's Spam Garlic, Spam Bacon, Spam with Cheese, Spam with Tabasco, Spam Turkey and Spam Lite, which featured less sodium and less fat.

"We're pleased to see more and more restaurants adding it to their menu, providing Hawaiians additional opportunities to experience the savory, salty-sweet taste they love," said Dan Goldman, Spam's product manager.

[ZeoBandit]

Gross.......

Spam is nasty. We used to have it for food backups while we went camping.

[vh_chick]

I think I'm going to be ill...

[billy007]

What do you expect when one of their big dishes over there is poi?

[FORD]

If I remember correctly, the reason for SPAM's popularity is poverty among much of the indigenous population, which means they eat it because it's cheap, not because they necessarily like it. Even among some Hawaiians who are better off economically, it might have become a tradition, much in the way that fry bread has to some of the mainland Natives.

Either way, it's not really something a multinational junk food chain should be using for a marketing tool. I wonder if Taco Hell will try to sell "Indian Tacos" (made with fry bread) in Pine Ridge South Dakota next?

[Filthy 150]

When I was a kid I hated the stuff.

My Dad has always loved it and made me try it several different ways.

Now (many years later) I crave a fried Spam sandwich every now and then.
I still don't like it cold though.

[chefcraig]

Monty Python - Spam

[vh_chick]

Monty Python - Spam

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[willy4pres]

When I was deployed on the USS Wasp the mess hall would serve us breakfast with Spam as one of the food choices. Oddly they only did this when the grunts were off ship during one of their excercises. I finally tried it out by mixing it in with my eggs, sausage, gravy, bisquit, and bacon, it tasted pretty good to me (though I probably knocked five years off of my life from eating it).

I also spent an entire two week period in Haifa Israel eating red hamburgers that the locals where selling next to the ship. Maybe I don't know what tastes good.

[smithjc]

Jeez all the food around and they wanna eat Spam??? It's okay in desperate times but who wants to be reminded of that? And who would pay for something like that at BK when there's so many other things to order?

No thank you.

[steve mcqueen]

Reminds me of that M*A*S*H episode when they get all that Greek food sent to them.....Radar kidnaps the live lamb.....so Hawkeye and Trapper have the cook make a "Spam Lamb"

[Axxman300]

Does Spam mean the same thing in Hawaii that it does in Maine?

[stilleddiesangel]

Ahhh.. childhood memories..Sunday tea-time! Spam fritters with bubble & squeak!! Awesome!

(Bubble & squeak is when you mash the boiled potates, and cabbage you had leftover from Sunday dinner and then fry it in a fry pan with onions... yummy.. )

[voivod]

(Bubble & squeak is when you mash the boiled potates, and cabbage)

Bubbles; Farts under bath water...

Squeak; Proper lady farts... aka Barking Spiders

[Viking]

When I first read the title of the thread, I thought it was an email thing. Thought maybe them and McDonald's were sending mass emails back and forth or something.

Kind of funny now that I think about it, but spam in the food sense never crossed my mind.