Manchester's fast food outlets are increasingly turning to bizarre, rage-inducing food creations to capture attention online, a strategy that has proven both controversial and effective in a fiercely competitive market.
From a chicken burger dipped in milk chocolate sauce to a chocolate doner kebab, these items are designed to provoke strong reactions—disgust or morbid curiosity—and drive customers through the door.
Rounders' viral creations
One of the most prominent examples is Rounders, a halal fast-food chain with several locations in Greater Manchester. Known for its fried chicken and smashed burgers, the chain has gained attention online with posts featuring a 'Mr Whippy Loaded Fries' and a 'Manchester's First Crunch Cake Smash Burger'.
The Mr Whippy Loaded Fries has amassed over two million views across TikTok and Instagram, with thousands of comments, many berating the creators. "Honestly, just Ignore all the positive comments. This is horrendous," one commenter wrote, while another asked, "Where are you located? So, I can walk past and go somewhere else."
A member of Rounders' marketing team, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained that while none of the items are officially on the menu, the posts have attracted new customers. "Technically, we don't sell any of them on our menu," the spokesperson said. "When we did the 'Mr Whippy Loaded Fries', which was one of the top posts, it got over a million views across both platforms, people then did come in and order it."
The spokesperson acknowledged the controversy: "Obviously it comes with a lot of controversy. A lot of people comment negative things, and we understand that, and we don't want to tarnish our name. We just wanted to try something, be a bit controversial because there's so many competitors around us."
Competitive market pressures
The competitive pressure is significant. Data from Public Health England shows that every part of Greater Manchester has more takeaways than the national average, with Manchester ranking fifth on the list with 183 fast food outlets per 100,000 people.
Great British Doner, an award-winning takeaway known for its vegan kebab, has also used unusual items like a chocolate doner kebab to generate discussion. Jessica Tee, who leads marketing for the brand, said, "We're constantly trying to think of something new to get people through the door."
Tee revealed that the vegan kebab attracts more anger than the chocolate version: "We get more anger towards the vegan one to be honest. I'm on the social media so I get DMs all the time from people saying things like 'vegans don't deserve doner.' We had a day where we transformed our shop in Manchester and Liverpool to vegan for the day and we got so much hate for it."
But she added, "Then we got so much love from the vegan and vegetarian community. It's really hit and miss and it's the same with the chocolate doner. But in essence, the more people talking about it then its fine. It's still a discussion and that's the reason why we did it, we did it to have this discussion and question what even doner can be."
Burger Eats' chocolate burger
Earlier this year, Oldham-based smashed burger outlet Burger Eats went viral with its chocolate-covered chicken burger. The item has since been removed from the menu, but the creator, Shak, a 38-year-old food marketing expert, said it achieved its goal.
"The whole idea is to be disruptive and do something that people love to hate," Shak said. "We decided to do a spin on the spicy trend burger. So, we thought, instead of doing a spicy burger, we'll do a chocolate one. If you see the comments, its probably 70% and 30% of people loving it. It wasn't even on the menu."
Shak noted the impact: "People started driving in, the first customers we had were about six guys from Birmingham who'd seen it on the socials and wanted to order it. From there we had bloggers coming off their own back wanting to try it and the videos they done off it went viral and it snowballed into what it was."
He emphasised the balance: "But I always say, the food is the first thing, the marketing is secondary. I can bring people through the door, it's up to them to make the people happy."
