Burger King’s Whopper originally cost 37 cents when it launched in 1957.
The Whopper was created by Burger King co-founder James McLamore, who believed customers would respond to a noticeably larger hamburger. He was inspired by a rival restaurant in Gainesville, Florida, that was succeeding with a bigger burger. McLamore named the sandwich “Whopper” because the word suggested something large and impressive.
The original 37-cent price belongs to the Whopper’s 1957 introduction and should not be confused with later promotional prices or prices reported for different years. Inflation, local franchise pricing, and later menu changes produced many other figures over the decades.
The sandwich itself also evolved. It initially used a plain bun, switched to a sesame-seed bun around 1970, and later underwent changes to its patty size and roll. The Whopper Jr. is a separate, smaller sandwich that was created in Puerto Rico in 1963 when the proper Whopper buns were unavailable. Despite those variations, 37 cents is the canonical launch price for the original Whopper.