MAC ATTACK

Burger King, long the kid brother to mammoth McDonald's, is teaching its rival a lesson in marketing this month: When it comes to fast food, keep it simple. BK's new Big King, an enormous double cheeseburger launched Labor Day weekend as a rival to the Big Mac, has sold at nearly twice the rate the company expected--about 3 million a day--and stores in Dallas, Miami and elsewhere are selling out. One downtown Chicago outlet upped its order from 2,000 Big King patties the first week to 5,000 last week, and manager Lolita Aldana says lunch lines have doubled. The secret to the American stomach, circa 1997? The Big King has 75% more beef than the Big Mac, an extra 12 grams of fat (yum!) and no soggy third bun in the center. Most important, it has cost just 99[cents]. Such a simple strategy--more food for less money--contrasts with McDonald's weird pitch for the Arch Deluxe (the "grownup" burger that has flopped so far) and its recent 55[cents] promotion, a complicated scheme in which customers paid 55[cents] for the Big Mac and certain other sandwiches when accompanied by the purchase of any size beverage and fries except...oh, never mind.

But it will take a lot of Big Kings to knock McDonald's off its perch atop the brutal burger market; it had $32 billion in 1996 sales to No. 2 Burger King's $9 billion. The Big King's true test comes this week, when the 99[cents] deal is expected to end. (The company is mum on the regular price, but a manager in Atlanta predicts $1.99, slightly cheaper than the Big Mac.) By then, the novelty may have worn off. "It tastes good," said Don Newland, sampling one last week in Los Angeles, "but when you come down to it, all these fast-food burgers taste about the same."