The new menu item at Burger King Thailand, comically called the “real cheeseburger,” sandwiches a whopping 20 slices of American cheese between a sesame bun.
Promotional images show the slices melted but customers have been using social media to share images of the cheesy monstrosity with a cold stack of cheese.
One Twitter user shared images of the sandwich, including a look at the inside once the burger has been cut in half. “I love cheese but I struggled eating even half of this ‘burger’. Maybe I should grill the other half?” wrote Thai travel writer Richard Barrow.
Barrow says there is a food trend in Thailand to “put cheese on literally everything.”
The item launched on Thai menus Sunday, at a reduced price of 109 Thai baht ($3.1), compared with the usual price of 380 baht ($10.9). It quickly went viral on social media in Thailand, with many users on TikTok posting videos of them trying the new sandwich.
“This is no joke. This is for real,” Burger King said in a Sunday social media post.
At one Burger King branch in Bangkok on Tuesday, a shift manager was overheard saying the outlet had to stop taking delivery orders so they could have enough stock left for walk-in diners.
One customer who ordered the cheesy treat told CNN she’d tried it for the first time after seeing it on social media.
The menu addition is an example of how fast food franchises around the world are seeking to gain traction by rolling out zany or eye-catching menu options that they hope will spread across social media.
In the United States, Burger King has doubled down on the Whopper, a flame-grilled signature beef burger that has also taken off on platforms such as TikTok through a catchy commercial jingle that came out late last year.
Restaurants are also continuously tailoring their offerings to suit local tastes in different countries. In Thailand, cheese is especially popular among young customers, and it is common for the dairy product to be sprinkled on all kinds of dishes.
Burger King’s menu in the country also includes salmon katsu burgers, an apparent nod to consumers’ preference for a healthy alternative to beef.