Roughly a year after the surprising collab between KFC’s K Coffee and the sacred Buddhist site Wutaishan, Burger King also launched its religious site-themed Chinese New Year (CNY) campaign. On 6 January, the American fast-food chain announced its latest team-up with Mount Longhu (龙虎山), one of the birthplaces of Taoism and part of the “Big Four” Taoist sites.
The Burger King CNY campaign is called “招财进堡”, a play on the traditional well-wishing “招财进宝” (ushering in wealth and prosperity), but replacing the “宝” (treasure) with “堡” (burger), which has the same pronunciation. It’s centred around a set of three co-branded burgers in the form of “burger blind boxes”. The burgers have the characters “福” (fortune), “财” (wealth) and “旺” (prosperity) and will be randomly included in the set menus. Exclusive paper bags are included with the set, as well as blessed red envelopes or a wealth charm. You can also get them separately for 8.80 RMB (1.20 USD) with any purchase. For an extra 38.0 RMB (5.30 USD) when bought with the pork knuckle set menu, or 58.80 RMB (8.03 USD) with any other purchase, you can also get a Caishen (God of Wealth) figure.
Due to the Taoist tradition of not consuming beef, as cattle were an important workforce on farms in ancient times, the collection does not contain any beef dishes. It includes the return of the ham hock (or pork knuckle) burger and various chicken sides. No beef-originated materials were used in any of the dishes.
Burger King had a rather difficult 2024 in China. In November, it was even speculated the brand was exiting China after heated discussions with franchisees. However, in December, Burger King redoubled its efforts in new products such as buckets and marketing such as a collab with the popular otome game Mr Love: Queen’s Choice. However, both measures, as well as the new religious site partnership might seem a bit too similar to KFC to some.
