Have it your way ... on aisle 3: Burger King goes to the supermarket

In an interesting move, Burger King has decided to take fast food where it's never gone before...into the produce aisle!

This move, while strange, is not all that surprising. Once upon a time, restaurant-branded foods were limited to occasional offerings like Cafe Du Monde's chicory coffee or deep-frozen White Castle sliders. However, over the past few years, clever marketers and thrifty consumers have combined to make restaurant foods a major presence in grocery stores. From Taco Bell's chunky salsa and dinner platters to Starbucks' bagged coffee and chocolate truffles, branded goods have made restaurant foods cheaper, more convenient, and -- in the case of Taco Bell -- less likely to contain E. Coli.

Given the growing success of these products, it's not surprising that so many companies are making use of supermarkets. However, while Starbucks is expanding its offerings with a branded coffee ice cream and California Pizza Kitchen is hawking flatbread melts, Burger King is in a somewhat difficult position.

Most of its signature dishes aren't an easy fit for the grocery store. As White Castle's sliders demonstrate, burgers don't react well to long periods in the freezer, and the King's fries are mediocre under the best of circumstances. One can only imagine how they'd survive a few months in a frost-coated plastic bag.