Latest news with #PickleballBurger
SoraNews24
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Burger King Japan adds a Pickleball Burger to the menu… but what's so pickleball about it?
A novel way to draw attention to a growing sport. On May 30, 2025, Burger King released a bold new menu item in Japan called the Pickleball Burger. There are a lot of surprising things about this new release, so we immediately headed out to try it when it debuted on 30 May. The first thing we noticed was the simplicity of the ingredients, with three flame-grilled beef patties sandwiched between patties of rice in place of buns. A number of fast food chains have become known for their rice-patty burgers, but sometimes they can have a hard and rough texture that detracts from the moist deliciousness of the grains. With that in mind, we set the bar low for this burger, but held out hope as it's been made in collaboration with Hachidaime Gihey, a long-established rice shop in Kyoto. At 1,790 yen (US$12.46), this is on the pricey end of the fast food spectrum, but it's a hefty burger, measuring close to 12 centimetres (4.7 inches) in diameter. The cross-section shows just how simple this burger is, with nothing but rice, beef and pickles (11 of them, to be exact) as a nod to pickleball, the racquet sport that inspired it. ▼ Burger King recently signed a sponsorship agreement with the Japan Pickleball Federation (PJF), hence the new burger. Taking a bite, we were amazed at how much flavour these simple ingredients delivered. Even the rice patty was fantastic, with the special blend of white rice and 'Kin no Ibuki', a brand of brown rice from Miyagi Prefecture, creating delicious mouthfuls of flavour. ▼ The rice patty keeps a nice, slightly grainy texture that's moist but not sticky or mushy. The seasoning consists simply of salt and pepper, which is a great way to enhance the taste of the rice and beef. With no sauce to get in the way, these two ingredients took centre stage on the palate, with bursts of crunchy, tangy pickles adding a fantastic contrast that had us going back for more after every mouthful. This is a burger that serves up a lot of flavour, and although it doesn't quite look like a pickleball, unless you see the grains as resembling the ball's many holes, it's a clever way to draw attention to the sport. It's only available for a limited time, though, so you'll want to get in soon to try it before it disappears from the menu, like the Kyoto Whopper that came before it. Photos©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! [ Read in Japanese ]
Japan Today
03-06-2025
- Sport
- Japan Today
Burger King releases a Pickleball Burger in Japan
By Oona McGee, SoraNews24 Burger King is throwing its support behind pickleball this year by signing a sponsorship agreement with the Japan Pickleball Federation (PJF). Pickleball is a racket sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis. The new sponsorship will be front and center at the PJF Pickleball Japan Open in Sasebo, Nagasaki, in June, and at the PJF Pickleball Japan League Burger King Cup in Tokyo's Ariake district in August, and to celebrate, the chain is releasing a special burger in honor of the occasion. Called the Pickleball Burger, this new offering is said to be a 'large, American-style rice burger', with three flame-grilled 100-percent beef patties boldly sandwiched between special rice patties that have been jointly developed with Hachidaime Gihey, a long-established rice shop in Kyoto. ▼ Hachidaime Gihey previously worked with Burger King to produce its limited-time Kyoto Whopper. Hachidaime Gihey's expertise in the selection, milling, blending, and cooking of rice led to the creation of the newly developed patty, which has been crafted from a combination of carefully selected white rice and a type of brown rice known as Kin-no-Ibuki. This combination is said to be the perfect partner for the beef patties, enhancing the flavor of the meat while showcasing the natural sweetness of rice. ▼ Each grain is distinct and has a smooth, pleasant texture. Given its name, the burger doesn't miss out on this opportunity to use pickles, stuffing 11 of them in between the meat and rice layers. With a stripped-back combination of just three essential ingredients — beef, rice and pickles — this burger allows the quality of each component to take centre court in every mouthful. Set to be released for a limited time from 30 May, the Pickleball Burger will be priced at 1,790 yen. Photos©SoraNews24 Read more stories from SoraNews24. -- Burger King Japan creates Kyoto Whopper, its most Japanese burger ever, with Kyoto rice merchant -- Kyoto Whopper divides customers at Burger King Japan -- Burger King is releasing a Fake Burger in Japan External Link © SoraNews24
Miami Herald
31-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Burger King menu adds wild new burger, supports growing craze
Burger King has regularly pushed the boundaries of burger innovation. Much of that innovation comes from the company's locations all over the world. Restaurant Brands International (QSR) CEO Josh Kobza highlighted the chain's non-United States results during it first-quarter earnings call. Related: Popular sandwich chain to open locations in Mexican market "Shifting now to International. We're pleased with our relative performance this quarter, delivering 2.6% comparable sales or roughly 3.7%, excluding the headwind from Leap Day and 8.6% system-wide sales growth. We saw solid growth in many of our largest markets, including the UK, Germany, Brazil, Japan and Australia. These markets share a few common traits, compelling everyday value, exciting menu innovation, modern restaurant image, strong digital capabilities and a focus on restaurant level execution," he explained. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Sales in the U.S. were not as strong. "Shifting now to Burger King in the U.S., where we saw a 1.1% decrease in comparable sales, or relatively flat results adjusting for leap day. Burger King U.S. continued to outperform the broader burger QSR category, reflecting the ongoing progress of our claim to flame plan in capturing share," he said. Burger King U.S. may have to borrow the latest idea from its Japanese restaurants. Burger King Japan has partnered with the Pickleball Japan Federation (PJF) to support the growth of the sport in the country. The fast-food chain is clearly having fun with the play on words, but pickleball actually has no relationship to the popular burger topping. That's not stopping Burger King from launching a wild new burger that does not follow the traditional rules generally applied to hamburgers. The Pickleball Burger won't use a traditional bun. Burger King describes the new burger a "large, American-style rice burger, with three flame-grilled 100%-beef patties sandwiched between special rice patties that have been jointly developed with Hachidaime Gihey, a long-established rice shop in Kyoto." More food news: Taco Bell menu adds more items customers demandedMcDonald's menu adds new twist on popular, discontinued itemMcDonald's to close all its CosMc's experimental spin-off locations American-style seems to describe the burger patties, not the rice patties being used as the bun. The Pickleball Burger appears to have pickles on two layers, but no other toppings. The burger, which has been released will be available for a limited time starting at a cost of 1,790 yen or $12.28. The Pickleball Burger isn't the Pickleball Whopper because it sort of a sequel to last year's Kyoto Whopper. "The Kyoto Whopper uses Japanese-grown rice, but not in the way that we're used to seeing. Whereas typical "rice burgers" use rice as substitutes for the bun, the Kyoto Whopper has a rice patty in addition to an all-beef one, sandwiched inside a sliced bread bun along with lettuce, tomato, and onion," Sora News 24 shared. Burger King has leaned on the Whopper name heavily. "This quarter, strong value offerings like the $5 duos and $7 trios were complemented by premium innovation, including the Steakhouse Bacon Whopper, which achieved one of our highest product satisfaction scores to date,' Kobza said. The CEO plans to do more of the in the chain's global markets. Plans include building the Burger King brand. "I think when you look at the Burger King brand in international, it's a bit different. It has some really great qualities that are - that position it to grow so well. We've got a strong brand positioning," he said. "We've got modern restaurants in almost all of our markets. Related: Pepsi makes major change that will anger some customers The company has room for growth, however, and there's always room for more Whopper. "We have a lot more digital business as well. And because of a lot of those things, we have pretty great brand perception and really good food quality perception in those markets, where we balance some of our favorites like the Whopper with strong localization that each of our teams bring," he added. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
SoraNews24
29-05-2025
- Sport
- SoraNews24
Burger King releases a Pickleball Burger in Japan
Limited-edition exclusive serves up newly developed rice patties for the sport, with the help of a Kyoto specialist. Burger King is throwing its support behind pickleball this year by signing a sponsorship agreement with the Japan Pickleball Federation (PJF). ▼ Pickleball is a racquet sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. The new sponsorship will be front and centre at the PJF Pickleball Japan Open in Sasebo, Nagasaki, in June, and at the PJF Pickleball Japan League Burger King Cup in Tokyo's Ariake district in August, and to celebrate, the chain is releasing a special burger in honour of the occasion. Called the Pickleball Burger, this new offering is said to be a 'large, American-style rice burger', with three flame-grilled 100-percent beef patties boldly sandwiched between special rice patties that have been jointly developed with Hachidaime Gihey, a long-established rice shop in Kyoto. ▼ Hachidaime Gihey previously worked with Burger King to produce its limited-time Kyoto Whopper. Hachidaime Gihey's expertise in the selection, milling, blending, and cooking of rice led to the creation of the newly developed patty, which has been crafted from a combination of carefully selected white rice and a type of brown rice known as Kin-no-Ibuki. This combination is said to be the perfect partner for the beef patties, enhancing the flavour of the meat while showcasing the natural sweetness of rice. ▼ Each grain is distinct and has a smooth, pleasant texture. Given its name, the burger doesn't miss out on this opportunity to use pickles, stuffing eleven of them in between the meat and rice layers. With a stripped-back combination of just three essential ingredients — beef, rice and pickles — this burger allows the quality of each component to take centre court in every mouthful. Set to be released for a limited time from 30 May, the Pickleball Burger will be priced at 1,790 yen (US$12.28). Photos©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
