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Burger King's one cent Whopper deal might not be as convenient as you may think

Make sure your restaurant offers mobile ordering
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Have you heard the newest promotion from Burger King? The restaurant chain is offering Whoppers for just 1 cent.

However, it's a bit complicated, and it may not be as quite as easy to get your grub as the ads claim.    

You first need to visit... McDonald's

To get the deal:

  • You need to have the BK app on your phone
  • You then need to be parked (or on foot) within 600 feet of a McDonald's restaurant.
  • Your phone's location services will then allow you to order the penny Whopper.

To test it, we parked our news car 100 feet from a McDonald's, figuring the offer should work fine that close.

Best of all, the McDonald's we chose was right next to a Burger King, which would enable me to order the penny Whopper, drive next door to pick it up.

I downloaded the Burger King app, opened it up and clicked the Whopper for a penny deal.

For some reason, the order would not go through; instead giving me what Apple users fondly call the "spinning wheel of death."

I moved locations, even inching closer to the McDonald's entrance, but no luck.

What went wrong for me?

So I checked with a Burger King manager next door, who politely explained the offer only works if you are near a BK that offers mobile ordering. This one doesn't have it and is not participating.

That meant I jumped through a lot of hoops and ended up with another app on my phone just to end up eating at McDonald's.

Burger King's corporate offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meantime, the app shows just one BK restaurant with mobile ordering near the McDonald's/Burger King stores we chose for our test, but it was about 15 miles away.

We'll have to assume it works there -- but my lunch break was over for the day, and I might have spent more on gas getting there and back than if I had just paid the standard cost of a Whopper.

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