BurgerGate 2005: The Saga Continues

By Rachelle Bowden in Food on Jan 20, 2005 3:04PM

Yesterday when loyal Chicagoist reader Tim said he was going to head over to Burger Delights and do some investigating, we told him if he reported back that we'd buy him a beer at our next happy hour. And that if he reported back with photos, we'd buy him two beers. Well, Tim must be really thirsty because yesterday after lunch he went to Burger Delights, ate the food, tried to talk to a manager, and took a bunch of photos. We love readers like Tim! His full report:

So, here's my take on the BK to BD conversion. There's some bad energy over there. After snapping off a few shots outside, I ventured in to enjoy some delights. Ordered myself a #1 (that's the Delight meal or something to that effect) plus cheese, minus tomatoes.

I tried snapping off a few shots covertly whilst waiting to be delighted, but they were all blurry because I felt that bad BD vibe. ( I think the nikon D100 was a bit conspicuous).

So, my order, which was one of only 4-6 orders processed while I was there was wrong. The negative... had to pick off those nasty tomatoes - the positive... they gave me a double instead of the single delight. I couldn't finish it, though it was an exact replica of the Whopper, it was just too much and I felt sick and had to stop eating. I still feel a little whoosey.

Before leaving I had a little chat, and by little I mean short, with the "manager". She refused to make any statement regarding the BK = BD conversion. She also had some attitude! I think I should have gone with my original strategy of playing dumb, and originally walking in with a "Dude, Where's my Burger King?!!", and then trying to get the info "just because I was curious". Either way, they ain't talkin'. The lovely manager wouldn't give me a phone number or name or a name of who to talk to. She said the owner was in during the morning sometimes and that I might speak to him.

That's all I got. I'm going to have to check back in on this after breakfast tomorrow... I think this is going to turn into another Super Size Me!

Another reader, Jason, says that Burger Delights has become Mr. Pibb to him .. because if he was blind he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between BD and BK. He says that when the 5 Burger Kings in Lakeview near where he lives turned into Burger Delight he spoke with an employee who said that they were all owned by the same guy and that the owner wanted out of the franchise agreement.

Our own Benjy stopped by a Burger Delights yesterday to try the food and get some scoop. He did the dumb routine: "Hey, did your menu change?" and the employees were pretty tight-lipped and rude. "This isn't Burger King," they said. He said something about last time he was there and the employee said, "All the food's the same, whattaya want." Or something like that. (we were kind of drunk when Benjy relayed the info last night.)

What we can't understand is this - if your unhappy about your franchise agreement and want out, fine. But why the rude employees? Why don't they say "We're Burger Delight. Our hamburgers are great!" and try to promote the place? And aren't they still going to get in big trouble for not properly covering BK branded signs and promos around the restaurants?

Click the link below for more of Tim's photos of Burger Delights.