Tuesday, November 09, 1999
Pokemon brings kids to Burger King
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN and RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Kristin Dawes, 9, of Winton Place tears open a Pokemon toy.
(Josh Biggs photo)
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Hold the pickles, forget the lettuce. The special of the day at Burger King restaurants Monday had nothing to do with double-decker burgers.
Instead, what had hundreds of children tearing into kids meals were Pokemon characters. Monday was the start of a 56-day promotion, Burger King's biggest ever, coming on the heels of the wildly popular Pokemon trading cards and in time for Wednesday's box office opening of Pokemon: The First Movie.
The fast-food chain will include one of 57 Pokemon characters with the purchase of Burger King kids meals (start ing at $2.04). Included in each Pokemon package with the creature is a Pokemon trading card that features one of 10 movie scenes.
Millions of Pokemon video games and trading cards have been sold since the Japanese craze hit last year.
In Reading, the Burger King at Galbraith and Reading roads sold 250 kids meals by 7 p.m. Monday, said Steve Wiborg, managing director of Ameriking, a local franchise that operates 40 Burger King stores in Greater Cincinnati.
That's more than double the normal daily rate, said Kenn Gabbard, store manager.
“I had adults in here at lunchtime buying kids meals,” Mr. Gabbard said.
Several, including stores in Newport and Florence, sold more than 1,000 Monday, Mr. Wiborg said.
Mr. Gabbard is getting ready for next week's promotion that offers the sale of gold-plated Pokemon cards for $1.99 with the purchase of a combination meal.
Burger King began monitoring the Pokemon phenomenon two years ago, said national spokeswoman Kim Miller. Officials started ordering the toys a year later, banking that the trend would continue. They had no idea they would hit Pokemon mania.
Their luck became apparent by 2 p.m. Monday, when individual stores among the hamburger chain's 8,400 restaurants in the United States and Canada reported selling hundreds of kids meals with the Pokemon toys, Ms. Miller said.
In contrast, consumers bought 1,200 to 1,500 kids meals a week during Rug Rats and Toy Story promos, the chain's most successful so far.
“Everyone's doing the hokey-pokey around here, they're so excited,” she said.
Sharon Jones did not look as excited as her two grandsons, Kevin and Nick Jones, ages 10 and 9, respectively, at the Reading Burger King. As they shoved French fries into their mouths, the boys showed off the fuzzy Poliwhirls they plucked from their meals.
Kevin said he has collected more than 100 Pokemon cards, while Nick couldn't remember how many he had.
How many creatures did they plan to collect?
The answer was obvious to Kevin, who answered with a shrug: “All of them.”
“I'll be eating Whoppers for quite a long time,” Ms. Jones said.
Enquirer reporter Michael Clark contributed to this report.
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