Food for thought, or just a chip off the old block?

Burger King, upstart rival to McDonald's, is poised to launch a fresh offensive in the battle for the nation's stomachs. Among its secret weapons is a new and tastier potato chip. Kathy Marks asks whether the company can halt the relentless march of the Big Mac.

In the cut-throat world of burgers, fries and shakes, Burger King is a mere minnow. As McDonald's steadily colonises the globe with Happy Meals, its British-owned competitor trails behind, fuming, in second place.

But there is still everything to play for, particularly in countries like Britain, where the fast food industry offers vast potential for expansion. Burger King, fed up with McDonald's smug dominance of the market, is planning to challenge its giant rival with a mixture of bribery, chutzpah and plagiarism.

A vision of what lies ahead for British consumers can be glimpsed in the United States, where Burger King has already unveiled an aggressive new strategy.

It has launched the Big King, a shameless imitation of McDonald's best- selling sandwich, but containing 75 per cent more beef.

Then, last Friday, amid much fanfare, came the launch of the product that Burger King believes could topple McDonald's from its pedestal: new, different French fries. What makes these chips irresistible, according to the company, is a special coating that makes them tastier and crispier, as well as sealing in the heat for longer. It gave away a free bag of them to all its American customers on the first day - 70 million in all.

The company is being coy about when it plans to introduce its British fans to these culinary delights, but it is understood that their arrival here will be accompanied by a big advertising campaign.

McDonald's, meanwhile, is affecting lofty disinterest. It points out that, with 22,000 outlets worldwide, compared to its competitor's 9,000, it can afford not to be rattled."We are the market leaders," said spokeswoman Eddie Bensilum. "In taste testings, our French fries always come out on top. We think that they're damn good fries, and so do our customers.

"As for the Big King, it's not surprising for a number two to do a "me too" type of thing. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We simply don't regard Burger King as a threat."

But the time has never been more right for a concerted effort to wipe the smile off the face of Ronald McDonald. McDonald's had a disastrous 1997. Its profits fell across the Atlantic, where a new sandwich, the Arch Deluxe, which was supposed to appeal to a more adult palate, bombed.

Also in the US, a 55-cent burger promotion introduced to mark Roy Croc's creation of the company in 1955 was shunned by customers, who had to buy fries and a drink at the regular price in order to qualify. Closer to home, its corporate image was battered by its libel action against two environmental activists, which led to damaging allegations being aired in court.

In Britain, McDonald's has 830 outlets, or "restaurants", as the company insists on calling them, compared with Burger King's 455. Both recently announced a big expansion programme; McDonald's plans to open another 100 outlets this year and Burger King another 60.

Britain looks set to become an important arena in the duel of the flaccid patties and, as far as Burger King is concerned, the gloves are off. "They're bigger than us, but we're a very healthy second," says spokesperson Emma Stuart. "We think we serve much better burgers, and a lot of customers agree with us."