Burger King to allow customers to pay through a mobile app

Detailed by Bloomberg, national fast food chain Burger King will soon upgrade registers at more than 7,000 locations around the country in order to start accepting payments sent from mobile devices like smartphones. Integrating the functionality into a mobile app, anyone interested in paying for their meal with their smartphone will fund a virtual card within the app. It’s very similar to the Starbucks mobile application.

Burger King Worldwide Inc., the second-biggest U.S. burger chain, is introducing an application that will allow customers to pay for Whoppers with their smartphones as it races rivals to woo younger diners. The program will be introduced next month and should be in all of Burger King’s more than 7,000 U.S. stores in “a few months,” Bryson Thornton, a spokesman for the company, said in an e-mailed statement. The option to order food and drinks ahead of time for later in-store pickup may be added, he said. Fast-food chains including McDonald’s Corp. and Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. are competing to quickly introduce the best loyalty programs and smartphone apps to try to attract millennials and teens.