Third Pounder

The burger that should have beaten the Quarter Pounder and lost to a maths problem. A third of a pound of beef, bigger than McDonald’s famous burger and priced lower, which taste tests said people preferred. It still failed. The story behind it is now a staple of marketing classes.

A&W launched its 1/3-pound burger in the 1980s to take on the Quarter Pounder. Customers liked it in taste tests, but sales were poor, and research found the reason: many people assumed that because three is smaller than four, a third of a pound was less beef than a quarter. In 2021 A&W brought it back for a laugh as the “3/9 Pound” burger.