Burger King Puts Spam on the Menu in Hawaii

Hawaiians love Spam. No, not the kind that ends up in your inbox every morning, the kind you eat. You know, the canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, made with chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite. Hungry yet?

As I was saying, Hawaiians love their Spam. While most Americans on the main land couldn't be force fed Spam, nearly every household in Hawaii have a few cans of their favorite comfort food in the kitchen.

McDonald's has been serving Spam in its Hawaii restaurants for years according the Associated Press. Finally, this month, the Burger King Corporation has added Spam to its menu in hopes of cashing in on a little bit of that Spam love.

The Burger King managing director in Hawaii, Denise Yamauchi, said sales have been "very good and very promising. It's so popular with the locals, we wanted to cater to them."

Putting Spam on the menu alongside the charbroiled Whopper and fries has been something that Burger King has had in the works for more than a year now. However, it wasn't until this month that the Burger King corporate headquarters finally signed off on the idea.

"It's something that was a little unique and a little different for them (B.K headquarters), so it was a bit of a hard sell to bring to Hawaii," Yamauchi said. "But they finally realized it is a unique flavor and something the locals really like."

Burger King rival McDonald's has had Spam on the menu since 2002, enjoying a Spam monopoly in all of its 75 Hawaiian restaurants, but now that monopoly has come to an end.

In downtown Honolulu, where a McDonald's and a Burger King can be found right next to each other, you can now find "Spam in the A.M.," at Burger King for for $3.49 or a "Spam, Eggs and Rice Plate," at McDonald's for $3.39.

When asked to comment on the Spam War, a spokesman for Spam said, "We're pleased to see more and more restaurants adding it to their menu, providing Hawaiians additional opportunities to experience the savory, salty-sweet taste they love."

A little Bit of Spam Trivia

In 2002 Hormel Foods produce the six-billionth can of SPAM.

While attending a New Year's Eve party thrown by Jay Hormel in 1936, Kenneth Daigneau won $100 for suggesting the now-famous name.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev credited Spam for saving his army during WWII.

The Spamburger hamburger first appear on a can of Spam luncheon meat in 1991.

Sources:

JAYMES SONG, "Burger King Ignites Spam War With Rival." Associated Press URL: (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BURGER_KING_SPAM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-11-00-46-37)

Hormel Foods, " SPAM Trivia" Spam.com URL: (http://media.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=16&id=131)