The 1970s Burger King Sandwich The Chain Brought Back 4 Decades Later

Burger King has been around since 1954, with its signature Whopper burger predating even the McDonald's Big Mac. Through the decades, its menu has seen many shifts and updates, with some creations inevitably left in the past. One of those is the Yumbo — a hot cheese and ham sandwich that was first introduced in 1971, only to soon disappear from the menu for 40 whole years.

The Yumbo was a huge success when it was first put on the menu. The concept of a hot ham and cheese sandwich may not feel revolutionary today, but in the '70s it was a welcome novelty from the burger chain. The temperature was Yumbo's heavily advertised main selling point, as the sandwich came in a container that retained heat. The sandwich was priced around $0.80, and while that would be considered a steal in today's economy, at the time, Burger King was more expensive than its competitors. For comparison, the Big Mac only cost $0.45 when it first hit the market, four years earlier.

It was clear from the many marketing campaigns surrounding the Yumbo's release that Burger King had big hopes for the sandwich — and for a time, it was indeed very popular with customers. But the popularity was short-lived, as Burger King began to phase out the Yumbo within six years of its release. There was a short attempt to bring it back in the late '80s, but by the '90s it was truly gone.

In December 2014, four decades after Yumbo's original release, Burger King announced that the sandwich was coming back. The reason for this surprising return were the customers who never stopped asking for its return — the chain finally relented. Since the Yumbo was a child of the '70s, as were most of the people who wanted to see it back on the menu, the revival marketing campaign was clad in a big retro vibe. The excitement was there, the nostalgia was there ... but the original Yumbo stayed in the '70s. The sandwich that Burger King actually put on the menu in 2014 was not the original Yumbo.

The new Yumbo was modern. It came on a long hoagie roll, rather than the regular round burger bun, and it featured lettuce and mayo. People were far more than just disappointed by these changes — they were angry. They wanted their nostalgic, melty, cheesy, loaded-with-ham sandwich inside a burger bun; the kind they remembered from their youth, not a modern update of a nostalgic classic. Some even accused Burger King of trying to be like Subway. The changes ended up being a fateful mistake, and the new Yumbo didn't catch on. Despite the heavily hyped return, it was ultimately pulled from the menu.

Yumbo's story could have ended with the unfortunate 2014 re-release, but instead it perseveres through space and time on account of fans that remember it with fond nostalgia. In 2021, Hungry Jack's (Australia's name for Burger King) brought the original Yumbo back in celebration of the chain's 50th anniversary. This was the actual, authentic '70s Yumbo — round, full of ham, and most importantly without lettuce. It was only available for a limited time, but it was enough to make the fans happy.

As of June 2025, you can still find a Yumbo Jr. on the menu in Puerto Rico, although it's the modern version of the sandwich with lettuce, mayo, and even a tomato. But they do serve it on a round bun, so there's a little compromise. As for everywhere else, the whispers on Reddit say that you can try your luck at any Burger King location and order a hot ham and cheese sandwich. It's not a guarantee, but since the slogan of the chain is to "have it your way," it doesn't hurt to ask — as long as you accept the fact that it will come served on a hoagie roll and potentially even feature a vegetable.