Photo Courtesy / Billy Courtice

James Xu took a half hour lunch on a brisk Friday afternoon to go to the KFC down the street from his downtown workplace.  This particular Friday,  Xu wasn’t in the mood for the usual.

Xu was bracing himself to Double Down.

The infamous KFC “sandwich”, which took the United States by storm after April Fool’s Day, has now infiltrated the Canadian border and made its way into Toronto.  It is bun-less.  It is an alien-looking, disproportionate cluster of two pieces of chicken, bacon, processed cheese and Col. Sanders’ “secret sauce”.

It is a jarring innovation in sandwich-making which has critics and hungry peopole alike salivating over a chance to bite into the deadly concoction.  Its calorie count may not topple some of its poultry competition at Burger King or McDonald’s, but it’s sodium levels, at a blood-thickening 1430 mg per sandwich according to KFC’s website, is alarming for some, like Xu.

“It’s really not that big at all,” said Xu, combining his Double Down with coleslaw and a poutine. “But it’s just so salty.”

Xu hastily downed his Pepsi shortly after beginning his sandwich.  He and three other friends were all tackling the Double Down for the first time, and all struggled to finish their meal, even though the sandwich itself only takes up about half of the 15 cm box it comes in.

“I really thought it would be much bigger,” Xu went on.  “It surprised me.”

So why is this smaller-than-average, outrageously salty orgy of meat and cheese selling out across the nation?  Look no further than its all-encompassing “360 degree” marketing campaign, which includes a Facebook page with a “Double Down Wall of Fame”, in addition to traditional television, billboard and bus stop spots.

In the U.S., the Double Down campaign even managed to venture onto the butts of perky college girls, who wore track pants with “Double Down” cheekily emblazoned across their behinds.

Canada’s chief marketing officer Dan Howe was too busy with his new bun-less sandwich to comment on the ads across the buns, but a spokeswoman in their media department said that that campaign will not be coming to University of Toronto, or Canada at all for that matter.  But the Double Down continues to succeed here in the north.

“They’ve done a great job with all the advertising in the city,” said Gration, manager at KFC/Taco Bell at the northwest corner of Queen Street West and Augusta Avenue.  “I see the billboards all around the area.”

“It’s been so busy.  It’s our most popular item,” he said in between customers lined up to try the sandwich.

Gration wasn’t lying, either—his downtown store has sold the second-highest total of Double Downs in the country.  But will the Double Down’s success continue once everybody’s tried it once?  Xu and his friends wouldn’t return for another.  Xu admitted he just wanted to try it once because of all the hype surrounding its arrival in Canada.

Even though it may be backed by a smart marketing setup, the Double Down, astonishingly, is not the unhealthiest “Double ‘D’” to take the city by storm.  James McKinnon, owner of Dangerous Dan’s Diner in Toronto’s Riverdale neighborhood, said that his trademark “Coronary Burger” is gaining in popularity.

“That’s like our medium burger even, it’s like an entry-level thing,” McKinnon told Top Shelf. Dangerous Dan’s “entry-level” burger, then, features one pound of beef, a quarter pound of bacon and cheese, and a fried egg, smothered in mayonnaise.  McKinnon estimates that the restaurant sells about 50 Coronaries each week.

“Healthy people come here too,” he explained. “We use 100 per cent natural grease.”

Dangerous Dan’s also uses a strategic marketing scheme: appeal to the stoner.

“It’s mostly stoners coming in here that can finish that thing,” said McKinnon.  Signs advertising the restaurant depict gargantuan, gooey burgers with pot allusions above.  “It’s 4:20 somewhere” one read.  Another said “Inhale. Then inhale.”  Nevertheless, McKinnon feels that Toronto is embracing unhealthy food, if it’s just a once-in-awhile indulgence.

“You have people eating veggie burgers made of wheat germ which are cooked over the souls of 200 dead cattle,” McKinnon said.  “But mainly people like to munch out every once in awhile.”

Dangerous Dan’s deadliest burger features a two pounds burger stacked with copious amounts of bacon, cheese, and two fried eggs.  Niles Villeneuve tried it before, and on this particular Friday, he brought the monstrosity back to work at Toronto’s Irish Embassy.

“Nobody believes I ate it by myself,” Villeneuve said, eyeing his burger on the grill.  “It really feels like you’ve conquered something.”

Villeneuve said he’s looking forward to trying the Double Down now that it’s hit the city.