Remembering Burger King’s chicken tenders as the chain shutters hundreds of stores - silive.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The hunger for nostalgia hits hard, especially for Burger King’s chicken tenders.
“I can still taste those just by looking at the photo,” a person on reddit said when a photo of Burger King’s chicken tenders appeared on the website’s r/nostalgia subreddit.
Burger King’s long-discontinued chicken tenders faded away from the fast-food lexicon about a decade ago following a 27-year-run. The company introduced them in 1985 to compete with McDonald’s mighty Chicken McNuggets, and after various tweaks to the tenders — like when they were shaped as crowns — BK decided to change their formula altogether to make them appear similar in size to the iconic McDonald’s nugget. They didn’t taste the same.
“This along with the fries was the main reason I went to Burger King as a kid,” another reddit wrote. “Also does anyone remember when they had crown-shaped chicken, and at one time star & lightning bolt-shaped chicken tenders as well?”
At one point, recalls this writer, the restaurant sold an 8-piece box for $2.99 in the mid-2000s prior to their extinction.
Burger King attempted a chicken tender overhaul by establishing a new-look (and tasting) product, but it wasn’t successful. A glance at the BK menu shows they’re no longer available.
Burger King Restaurant at Richmond Avenue and Amboy Road, Eltingville, pictured here in 1978. (Staten Island Advance) Staten Island Advance
Burger King has toyed with other handheld chicken options over the year, including chicken fries, which were easy to snack on, as the original tenders were. The taste, however, didn’t come close. Unlike the tenders, chicken fries are still available.
The eatery hasn’t only tweaked its chicken offerings over the years. In the late 1990s, BK adjusted its fry recipe to compete with McDonald’s, reported the Baltimore Sun. They did it again more than 10 years ago. Pretty soon, according to reports, churro and mozzarella fries could be on the menu.
As the internet reminisces about Burger King’s once royal tenders, the restaurant chain itself is struggling. On Staten Island, two of its longtime locations recently shuttered -- Tysens Lane in New Dorp and Richmond Avenue in New Springville. According to Advance/SILive archives, the latter had been open for 50 years.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com reported the demise of the Page Avenue fast food location in Tottenville.
The company is expected to lose approximately 400 stores this year, as several large Burger King franchisees have filed for bankruptcy, according to our sister site, NJ.com, and other media outlets
Under-renovation Burger King on Burgher Avenue in Dongan Hills has an eerie look. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)
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