Burger King launches a ‘whopper’ of a loyalty programme

Here's news to chew on: fast-food chain Burger King has launched its own Bitcoin type crypto-currency, called WhopperCoin, in Russia.

Meanwhile, closer home, the Miami-based company has another gimmick: it is giving away a Whopper to US residents who admit to being fired.

For the first 2,500 people who post a public message on LinkedIn that says ''I got fired. I want a free Whopper,'' Burger King will provide a link to register and receive a gift card in the mail, according to the news release.

Burger King calls it the ''Whopper Severance.''

In Russia, in its version of a loyalty programme, customers who buy a Whopper burger will be able to claim one coin for every rouble they spend on the Whopper sandwich. That is placed in a digital wallet accessible through a Burger King app and a Whopper can be redeemed for – well – a whopping 1,700 WhopperCoin, according to the press release.

WhopperCoin can be transferred and traded online. That means customers can save their rewards, send them to friends, sell them to new buyers or watch them potentially rise in value. Have it your way.

''Now Whopper is not only [a] burger that people in 90 different countries love – it's an investment tool as well,'' said Ivan Shestov, head of external communications at Burger King Russia, in the press release issued by the Waves platform, where WhopperCoin will trade.

Shestov bullish on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, too. ''According to the forecasts, cryptocurrency will increase exponentially in value. Eating Whoppers now is a strategy for financial prosperity tomorrow,'' he said.

Burger King Russia will release an app in both the Apple Store and on Google Play next month. The company said it would release Apple and Android apps so people could save, share and trade their wallet full of WhopperCoins.

The crypto-currency is a stand-alone system that has some technical similarities to Bitcoin but is distinct from it.

This means the company would be able to shut the system down if it found it was being abused.

In a statement, Waves said that it had already generated 1 billion WhopperCoins to use in the loyalty scheme.

The current cost of a Whopper in Russia suggests customers will be able to get a free sandwich for every five or six they buy with real money.

Dr Garrick Hileman, research fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, told the BBC Burger King was the first major corporate brand to issue its own crypto-cash but he expected others to follow.

"Traditional loyalty programs, such as airline miles, typically have a fairly limited range of exchange options," he said. The ease with which the branded crypto-currencies could be traded for other national currencies or even other assets could make them "more compelling" than a standard loyalty scheme, he added.

But one issue that corporate issuers had to confront, he said, was who else would accept their crypto-currency.

"I don't imagine McDonald's will be quick to allow someone to pay for a Big Mac with their whoppercoins," he said. "Burger King's competitors are more likely to accept an independent crypto-currency like bitcoin."

But Emin Gun Sirer, an associate professor at Cornell University and a director at the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts warned that such reward points could be used for money laundering and ransomware payments.

"This will undoubtedly happen," he said.