SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» Over 20 percent of Burger Kings in Japan suddenly vanishing this month

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Over 20 percent of Burger Kings in Japan suddenly vanishing this month

Master Blaster May 20, 2019
Tweet

Find out which locations survived the snap.

A strange phenomenon has been occurring in Japan this month as Burger King outlets nationwide have been mysteriously disappearing. According to the Burger King website, of the 99 stores known to exist in the country, 22 will be gone by the end of this month.

The chain’s management, BK Holdings Japan, has been quiet about the cause of this mass disappearance, leaving us to speculate the only possible reason: Ronald McDonald is in possession of the infinity stones.

Under the misguided belief that it would make the universe a better place, the megalomaniacal clown has long searched for its most powerful tools to kill off one fifth of Japan’s Burger Kings with but a snap of his white gloved fingers.

▼ Burger King had always been accommodating to us when we pushed its “have it your way” philosophy to the limits.

The official website of Burger King Japan has listed the toll this has taken and will take on its locations over the course of this month, listed by prefecture.

Ibaraki – 3 closures

Saitama – 2 closures

Chiba – 3 closures

Tokyo – 5 closures

Kanagawa – 2 closures

Gifu – 1 closure

Kyoto – 1 closure

Osaka – 4 closures

Hyogo – 1 closure

This disaster has left both Kyoto and Ibaraki without a single Burger King and Osaka has lost two thirds of its outlets. Citizens in all affected areas have taken to the internet to express their dismay over the news.

“Where am I supposed to get a Whopper now?!”
“Is this a mass extinction of Burger King?”
“The only Burger King in my area closed down….”
“I wasn’t crazy about their onion rings, but they didn’t deserve this.”
“I liked Burger King but there was never one near me before anyway.”
“I thought Burger King was the best. It would be a shame if they disappeared from Japan altogether.”
“I never ate there.”

This isn’t the first extinction-level event for Burger King in Japan. When they first arrived in 1993 the chain lasted less than a decade before completely leaving in 2001. However, in 2007 the world’s second largest burger brand returned to Japan, this time under the helm of Korea’s Lotteria which also runs a successful fast food chain in Japan.

In the early 2010s Burger King really started making headway into the Japanese market, with some novel campaigns that delighted the nation such as their red cheeseburgers and Pumpkin Bomb Burgers.

▼ Who could forget their Premium Berry burger a few years back?

However, in 2017 the fast-food market had grown increasingly competitive and Burger King was forced to change ownership, being rebranded as a new corporation, BK Holdings Japan. During fiscal year 2017 it was reported that BK Holdings Japan suffered a net loss of 251,060,000 yen (US$1.9M).

And now, with Ronald wielding the power of a god, they have no choice but to assemble a team of Japan’s mightiest burger sh…

Wait a minute, 251 mil?!

Okay, maybe Burger King isn’t being magically willed out of existence in Japan after all. But they do appear to be facing hard times. However, McDonald’s was in even more dire straits a few years back, and after some widespread store closures, they made an amazing recovery.

Perhaps Burger King is taking a page out of that book and are poised to do something amazing in the coming years. And when they do, please don’t tell me who dies. I always have to wait until it’s available online to watch this stuff.

Source: Money Plus, My Game News Flash
Images: SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!