Burger King Europe to begin rollout of free Wi-Fi

Burger King Europe to begin rollout of free Wi-Fi
Tags: Burger/Steak/BBQ, International, Online Services
February 2, 2010 - Christa Hoyland

Burger King restaurants in 12 European countries will begin offering free Wi-Fi this year as part of an agreement with Anacapa Holdings Ltd., the company has announced. Anacapa will provide its "free-hotspot.com" brand of free Wi-Fi in 2,200 Burger King restaurants throughout Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Scandinavia. The agreement allows for other countries to be added in the future.

"Our customers today are avid users of online technologies, which is why we are actively pursuing new Web-based marketing programmes, including on Facebook and Twitter," said David Kisilevsky, vice president, marketing EMEA, Burger King Europe GmbH. "We believe that offering free Internet access in our restaurants is an important part of that initiative."

Burger King also will benefit from the agreement, with free-hotspot.com providing its restaurants with the opportunity to engage Wi-Fi users with a combination of online media and merchandising materials. Under the agreement, Burger King restaurants also will have the ability to deliver special offers, advertisements, surveys and other messages directly to their guests using the service.

The free-hotspot.com system is especially easy to use for those with iPhones, iPod, Blackberrys and other mobile devices, thus creating a "proprietary" mobile marketing network that can be used by Burger King Corp. to run special campaigns or support existing promotions.

The roll-out of the free Wi-Fi system is underway in Germany, and will extend to other areas in the EMEA region over the course of 2010, including the Mediterranean.

Burger King does not have a formal Wi-Fi program for its restaurants in the United States, but if a franchisee does offer WiFi in his/her restaurant, the company requires that the service be offered at no charge to the customer, according to company spokeswoman Michelle Miguelez.

A search on OpenWiFiSpots.com lists 95 U.S. Burger King locations offering the free service, in cities such as Aiken, S.C., and Alamo, Texas.

McDonald's began offering free Internet access at more than 11,000 of its approximately 14,000 U.S. locations last month, making it the largest provider of free Wi-Fi in the country.