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The gap between America's wealthy and America's working-class only continues to grow.
The death of America's middle class has led fast-food chains to change their strategies to appeal to customers at both ends of the economic spectrum.
And it seems to be working. Burger King recently added an Impossible Whopper to its menu, drawing in younger, more affluent customers and boosting sales.
So in terms of food quality, how low - or high - does Burger King go? To find out, I decided to compare the chain's most expensive menu item, the BBQ Bacon Triple Whopper, and its cheapest menu item, the classic hamburger.
At my local Burger King in Manhattan in New York City, the cheapest menu item is the hamburger, which costs $1.89. The most expensive item is the BBQ Bacon Triple Whopper, at $11.19.
The burgers look like the before-and-after photo of a weightlifter in training. The BBQ Bacon Triple Whopper weighs in at 1270 calories, while the hamburger packs a measly 240 calories.
Unlike McDonald's, which uses fresh beef for its quarter pounders and frozen beef for its smaller burgers, Burger King uses the same beef for all its burgers. Both burgers also have sesame buns.
According to Burger King's website, its hamburger consists of a flame-grilled beef patty, crinkle-cut pickles, mustard and ketchup, and a toasted sesame seed bun.
I think the Burger King employees who made this sandwich forgot the mustard. Ketchup did most of the heavy lifting.
The toasted sesame seed bun made this lightweight look slightly more appealing.
Burger King's most distinctive flavor comes through in this hamburger: flame-grilled beef. The burger tastes like char, ketchup, and a hint of crunchy pickle.
Burger King never fails to mess up my order, which is why I was annoyed but not surprised by the lack of mustard on this burger. There was also just way too much ketchup.
Surprisingly, the most important components of this burger — the meat and the bun — did their job well enough. However, I've found Burger King's quality to be wildly inconsistent.
The BBQ Bacon Triple Whopper should contain three quarter-pound patties, smoked bacon, American cheese, lettuce, mayo, tomatoes, ketchup onions, pickles, and BBQ sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun.
Mine had been made without cheese for some reason. There was definitely cheese in the product photo when I ordered, so I'm not sure why it was left out. But it's pointless to seek reason in chaos.
Was there ketchup and mustard hidden somewhere in this leafy, beefy mess? Maybe it'd been absorbed into the insidious BBQ sauce that covered every inch of the meat and more.
This burger was so heavy and unwieldy that I struggled to lift it with one hand.
It was also hard to take a bite of it, but once I managed to (and got BBQ sauce all over my face) it was clear that this burger was mostly just a lot of beef. And it was the same beef that was in the regular hamburger.
Same bun, same beef, same pickles. The BBQ sauce and veggies were some of the only things that set this burger apart. That, and its sheer abundance of meat.
This burger looks, tastes, and feels completely unnecessary. It contains enough protein and calories to provide two full meals for the average American woman.
This burger's ingredients aren't significantly different or of a higher quality than the hamburger's ingredients. They're just more of the same. Much more.
So is it worth it to pay the premium for the most expensive burger on Burger King's menu? I can't see why it would be.
Plus, if you're going to pay that much for a burger, you might as well buy a burger at a local restaurant, or at a slightly more expensive fast-food chain like Five Guys, Shake Shack, or Smashburger.
The BBQ Bacon Triple Whopper is essentially six times the cost and six times the size of the hamburger. It provides the illusion of quality and value without providing either of those things. The chain's true upsell is the Impossible Whopper, whose novelty entices customers to pay a dollar more than they would for a beef Whopper.
Do you eat fast food? Do you have tried-and-true techniques for getting a better-tasting meal for less money? We'd love to hear your menu hacks. Please email me at ijiang@businessinsider.com
