The fast food chain has been working hard to make the impossible possible when it comes to eco friendly menu options.
Burger King announced on Monday (no, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke) that it will be adding Impossible burgers to its Whopper menu. The meatless burger has been the latest craze in the health food market and boasts massive sales as a start up based out of Oakland, California. Burger King has been testing the potential of an Impossible Whopper in every single one of it’s locations. So far, things are going well.
Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat, the company behind Impossible Burger, is a meatless answer to the question of climate change impact in the beef market. The burger, which contains no meat but boasts a similar flavor and texture, has already seen massive worldwide success. Impossible Burger was founded in 2011 by former Stanford professor, Pat Brown. The company was founded on the ethos of decreasing the carbon footprint of the meat industry. It does this by offering a truly incomparable product—black bean burgers could never.
The company’s massive success has fueled its introduction into the fast food market. Carl’s Jr. first started selling its own Impossible Burgers in 380 of its locations recently. While White Castle has incorporated the vegan option into its menus in all of its locations. For Burger King to take the leap into the meatless market was only the next step in its expansion. On the home front, though, Impossible Burger’s success has led it to venture into the IPO world in the near future.
Burger King’s Plan
While other fast food chains have been quick to go all-in on the Impossible Burger, Burger King plans to slowly integrate the product into its Whopper menu. The company did some initial testing within its own walls, making sure that its corporate employees weren’t able to tell the difference between a regular Whopper and an Impossible Whopper.
“People on my team who know the Whopper inside and out, they try it and they struggle to differentiate which one is which,” said Fernando Machado, the Chief Marketing Officer for Burger King, in an interview with the New York Times. Burger King has begun rolling out the Impossible Whopper into just 59 of its locations around St. Louis.
However, if all goes well (and it is), the burgers will soon be available in all 7,200 Burger King locations. This would mark the largest availability thus far of the Impossible Burger in the fast food market. Having such a readily accessible meatless alternative will dramatically boost awareness of how the commercial meat industry contributes to climate change.
This was Beyond Meat’s plan all along. Agriculture related to the meat industry has surpassed the transportation industry (yes, this includes fossil fuels) in terms of environmental impact. Studies have shown that decreasing consumption of meat can single-handedly do more for the environment than things like recycling, cutting out single-use plastics, or even riding a bike to work.
Could a meat substitute be the answer to this rapidly growing issue? Burger King seems to think so.
