Whopper Bar offers array of burger toppings

Now Whopper lovers can really have it their way.

Beginning Tuesday, Burger King Corp. will give them their hearts’ desire with its first Whopper Bar in Universal CityWalk, a 30-acre shopping and entertainment complex at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Fla.

There won’t be any alcohol, but there will be meat, and lots of it.

Customers can customize their Whopper, Double Whopper or Steakhouse XT burger with up to 22 different toppings, including steak sauce, smoked bacon and guacamole.

Burger King workers will add the toppings in front of customers for a sushi bar-like atmosphere.

There also will be a “Bar Favorites” menu, with three new burgers from the nation’s No. 2 burger chain – the Bourbon Whopper, Three-Cheese Steakhouse XT and Pepper Bacon Steakhouse XT.

DETROIT

Autoworkers approve contract with Ford

Unionized workers at Ford Motor Co. have approved contract changes that include freezing wages and cutting benefits in a move aimed at helping the automaker remain competitive.

The United Auto Workers said Monday a majority of hourly workers voted in favor of modifications to the 2007 contract with Ford, eliminating cost-of-living increases and cash bonuses.

The UAW said 59 percent of production workers and 58 percent of skilled-trades workers voted for the concessions.

The ratified deal also ends the controversial “jobs bank” program that pays laid-off workers most of their wages.

MITCHELL, S.D.

Cabela’s commended as revenue dips 1 percent

The major hunting, fishing and camping outfitter Cabela’s Inc. says its fourth-quarter revenue dropped 1 percent, as analysts congratulated the company for a good quarter during a tough economy.

The fourth-quarter drop was from $889.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2007 to $879.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

For the year, total revenue increased 8.6 percent to a record $2.6 billion.

Also in 2008, Cabela’s prepaid $26 million worth of debt.

Cabela’s opened retail stores in Rapid City, S.D., and Scarborough, Maine, last year, bringing its total to 29.

Cabela’s president and CEO Dennis Highby says Cabela’s is proceeding with plans to open a store in Billings this year, but the planned opening of a store in East Rutherford, N.J., will be postponed until next year.