Two hands holding up a cheeseburger – Skynesher/Getty Images
Quarter-pound burgers have long been the gold standard for beef patty weight. This is one of the easiest ways to break a pound of ground beef in half: break in half, then break in half again. The result is a burger that’s neither too big nor too small, making it feel filling. McDonald’s recognized this in the 1970s, when a franchisee created and created the Quarter Pounder, and soon after, his invention spread like wildfire (which is why the Quarter Pounder with cheese ranks No. 2 on Food Republic’s burger rankings).
Over the next decade, however, when fast-food giant A&W tried to challenge QP, something strange happened. The American burger chain beloved by Canadians launched a third-pound burger in the U.S., but it ultimately flopped. but why?
On paper, the third pounder has everything going for it. Its patties are bigger than QP’s, the price is the same (so Americans get more meat for a dollar), and A&W is marketing it heavily. But its sales were still well below executives’ expectations, especially for such a large deal. So, to get to the bottom of things, A&W conducted some focus groups. The results are shocking. Because the number three was lower than the number four, Americans thought the third pounder was smaller. Never mind that, as a fraction, a third is actually larger than a quarter. They scoff at the idea of paying the same amount for less.
Read more: Fast food burgers ranked from worst to best, according to Reddit
How A&W turned a historic math failure into an interesting marketing win
A&W 3/9 Burger Promotional Photo-A&W Restaurant
It’s been known for nearly 40 years that America’s ignorance of fractions led to one of the most legendary failures in fast food history (even worse than the failure of certain McDonald’s menu items), but in 2021, A&W did one of the funniest things for its new ad campaign. Since the number three is less than the number four, so a third must be less than a quarter, A&W reintroduced its third pounder as the 3/9 pounder. Hamburger. “After all, if people think ¼ is larger than ⅓, then they should think 3/9 is much larger. Right?” the press release reads.
The campaign also suggests that if any restaurant doesn’t have a 3/9-pound burger, it can be substituted with a 2/6-pound burger (mathematically the same size, in case your score still falls short!). The company has also released limited marketing materials to help promote the largely digital event. While A&W doesn’t directly attribute growth over the past few years to this 3/9 sale, the company has seen an improvement in its financials since the sale began, reporting a 3.1% increase in system sales throughout the third quarter compared to 2024 and 2025 (as reported by Retail Insider).
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Read the original article about Food Republic.
