Wendy's 'T-Rex' Burger Taken Off Menu After Reddit Post
A "T-Rex" burger stacked with nine quarter-pound Wendy's beef patties, nine slices of cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and pickles, and held together by a single bun has crumbled thanks to the Internet.
The one Wendy's restaurant in the world known to offer that burger fit for a king, a franchise in Brandon, Canada, has pulled the burger from the menu after a Reddit user posted a photo of it on the social sharing site this week.
"We have removed the image from our store," Barb Barker, administrative office manager for the ownership group that owns the Wendy's in Brandon, told ABCNews.com today. "Wendy's is not condoning or endorsing that a person eat nine meat patties in one sitting."
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Barker told ABCNews.com it was customers, not the restaurant, who were responsible for adding the "T-Rex" to the local franchise's menu.
"Wendy's corporate put out a tongue-in-cheek ad in Sports Illustrated eight or 10 years ago with a picture of the 'T-Rex' burger," she said. "Customers liked it and requested it and we obliged given that we're in the customer service business."
The menu item became so popular that it was ordered two to three times, or more, per day, according to Barker, who added more than one customer has eaten the entire burger in one sitting.
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On Tuesday, Huffington Post became the first media outlet to spot and report on the photo of the "T-Rex" burger gaining steam online. By Wednesday, according to Barker, the Brandon restaurant had been asked by the chain's headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, to remove the image.
"'[The] one picture on Reddit that went to that Huffington Post that then went viral snowballed from there," she said.
A spokesman for Wendy's in the U.S. told ABCNews.com by email, "This isn't a product on our menu. It isn't on the franchisee's menu either."
The spokesman also said the original "T-Rex" burger in Sports Illustrated was created, "as a lark," by the magazine, not as an ad from Wendy's.
Barker said interest in the "T-Rex" burger at the Brandon restaurant has only spiked since the Reddit photo controversy erupted. She also gave hope to carnivores for whom one patty of beef is not enough by describing the level of customer service the restaurant holds itself to.
"We do serve hamburgers and patties the way our customers would like them," she said. "An extra patty is an option on a burger, just like extra tomato, extra onions, extra cheese or no mayo."