Burger King stupidity over its meat-free whopper

[Lycidas]

Why go to the effort of creating a meat-free burger only to cook it on the same grill as the others? Why limit your market to ‘people who are choosing a meatless option but don’t mind if it’s covered in meat juices?’ Seems incredibly shortsighted to me to overlook a large segment of the vegetarian/vegan markets.

www.burgerking.co.uk/menu-item/rebel-whopper

I’m a vegetarian and no I wouldn’t buy this.

Surely they could just buy a George Foreman Grill (other grills are available) and use that instead of their main grill.

I was largely vegetarian for quite a few years but wasn't strict about it, so them using the same grill wouldn't have prevented me from eating one, but I can equally see that for many people it would be totally out of the question.

So yes, BK are being ridiculous about this.

Do you have any understanding of a fast food restaurant and it’s cooking facilities OP?

I think she understands perfectly - otherwise there wouldn’t be a thread.

The Impossible Burger is at many restaurants in the US at this point. I think it’s similar. I have yet to see one market it as a vegetarian choice. It’s a meat alternative choice for people who want to cut down on their meat consumption.

We tried it side by side with a restaurants regular burger by ordering one of each. Had they not been side by side, we would not have been able to tell the difference.

Sadly the meatless burger was higher in sodium and lower in protein which makes me unlikely to order it regularly because those are big factors when making my food choices.

StillCoughingandLaughing

I think she understands perfectly - otherwise there wouldn’t be a thread.

You don’t understand unless you’ve actually worked there.

Burger King knows their consumers very well and their experience with the Impossible Whopper in the US has shown there's a market despite it being cooked on the grill with meat. They'll have weighed out the pros and cons of segmenting a grill and decided this was the profitable option.

I do understand the frustration but at the same time, I think it's great from an environmental perspective to see meat-free products marketed at audiences which don't typically buy them.

@dinosaurparty

That's not true - unless you're accusing BK of explicitly and publicly lying?

And, while they no longer seem to use the Vegetarian Society logo (which doesn't mean that the product is no longer vegetarian) they were the first UK fast food restaurant to do so.

www.just-food.com/news/burger-kings-gets-green-seal-of-approval-from-vegetarian-society_id77760.aspx

Because there’s a huge increase in people who are trying to eat less meat for environmental reasons and for those people it wouldn’t matter if the burger was cooked on the same grill as meat.

We're constantly being told we should be eating plant-based diets, less meat etc. We don't have to become vegetarian to reduce our meat intake. They're very clear that it's not suitable for vegetarians. It's not like you're being misled. It's not al about you.

I think that they see their target market as meat eaters, and expected them to be the main people trying this burger. Obviously meat eaters wouldn't care if the grill was covered in real meat juices.

I agree with you though, OP. Seems silly of them to exclude such a huge portion of the market. Perhaps this is a testing ground, and if the demand is there they will go to the expense of installing a meat free grill.

This sounds bizarre.

Even if they’re hoping that the meat eating consumers will give it a try, why offer a meat free burger and then cook it in a way that deliberately excludes vegetarians and vegans? Surely the vegetarians and vegans are the ones most likely to buy (and continue buying) meat free burgers?

That popular vegan eaterie- burger king?

I doubt a vegan would even go in

Isn’t the whole point of it that you can’t tell it isn’t meat? Why would a veggie or vegan be interested? Over here in forrin (within spitting distance of Cowtown) they are very definitely marketed solely to meat eaters, with ads chock full of folk taste testing to exclamations of meat-like wonder.
Aren’t junk food vegans generally disparaged anyway?

I've had a rebel burger, it was delicious and the best veggie burger I have ever tasted. I never thought to ask how it had been cooked. On a rare occasion (usually on a road trip) We have the need for fast food and I was happy to join DH and DS at Hungry Jacks.

On the subject of the way fast food restaurants treat their animals surely they just buy the raw meat product and are not responsible for raising the animals themselves? In Oz Mcd's buy the lower quality meats (old cows) directly from the abattoir and the better quality meats like Angus from the distributor. The cattle would be raised exactly the same whoever was buying it. Maybe not the same in the UK.
@Nach you are not near Cowsino are you?

I think the incredibly shortsighted thing is to expect them to have a separate grill for meat-free items. They sell junk food.

Their space is limited and their turnaround quick, and they are not going to keep a grill free at peak times on the chance that a few people might order a meat free option.

[shrugs]

I’ve worked in a few kitchens that used the same grill for veggie food and meat. It happens a lot, you just don’t know about it

I have been in a few BK kitchens in my job in pest control, the equipment used to cook the burgers (I think BK call it a broiler not a grill) is big the burgers travel along on a conveyor belt. So are BK being ridiculous? No these machines likely cost thousands of pounds and most kitchens would not have space for a second. At this point they need to be sure if there is a market for it and to justify the cost of new equipment and kitchen refurbs it has to appeal to more than just vegetarians. Imagine they spend millions refitting kitchens and installing new equipment and no one buys the burger - that would be ridiculous.

Isn’t the whole point of it that you can’t tell it isn’t meat

But it is meat so I cannot see how you would be saying you can’t tell it isn’t meat.

They can’t cook it on a separate grill if they haven’t got a separate grill can they?

They do vegetarian burgers. I don’t see why it couldn’t be cooked with those

The meat juices from the other burgers will make it tastier and more likely to be a repeat buy for meat eaters who are temporarily avoiding meat for the month of January.

@PurpleDaisies

The veggie burgers are just heated in the microwave. The meat-free burger is specifically marketed as being ‘flame-grilled’ like the meat burgers.

I hadn’t realised that, thanks.

Their current veggie burgers are cooked in a deep fat fryer-these are cooked in the broiler same as the meat burgers to give the flame grilled taste. In US they have option to cook in the microwave but you loose the flame grilled flavour.

The meat juices from the other burgers will make it tastier and more likely to be a repeat buy for meat eaters who are temporarily avoiding meat for the month of January

That doesn’t make any sense

If they are avoiding meat then they wouldn’t buy a burger that is covered in meat juices