Starting this month, Burger King will join other fast food companies in doing the impossible, but only for a limited time.
Major fast food chain Burger King released the Impossible Whopper on Thursday, its first with the meatless Impossible Burger. The burger will be available for a limited time of about a month. Burger King joins White Castle, Bareburger, Red Robin, and other fast food restaurants who have begun to sell Impossible Burgers.
a big deal just became a bigger deal. the Impossible Whopper is available nationwide starting 8/8. pic.twitter.com/TpFQenSLFQ
— Burger King (@BurgerKing) August 1, 2019
Burger King is the largest fast food chain to release a menu item with the Impossible Burger, an alternative meat replacement by Impossible Foods made with water, soy protein, coconut oil, and sunflower oil.
Chris Finazzo, the president of Burger King, told NBC the company is committed to giving customers the opportunity to try the meatless burger.
The burger has been tested at specific locations, starting with St. Louis in April. The traffic at those locations outperformed the national average for Burger King restaurants by 18.5%, while the national foot traffic declined 1.75%.
The success of the Impossible Burger could be a turning point for the meatless burger industry, as more companies hope to find ways to make convincing meat substitutes. As companies like Chipotle have grown in popularity, consumers have increasingly demanded “healthier” and “more sustainable” food options. This has led to slower growth in the fast food industry in recent years as major companies have slowly introduced healthier options.
As a result, other fast food companies have begun to respond by adding more sustainable and healthier options. In addition to Burger King, White Castle began serving Impossible Food products earlier this year, and Carl’s Jr. began serving alternative meat products from Impossible Foods’ main competitor, Beyond Meat. Other major fast food companies, such as KFC and McDonald’s, are also looking into a vegan burger substitute.
Beyond Meat went public in May with a stock price of $25, which rose to $160 by August. Impossible Foods was also able to raise $300 million as of May, and has continued to expand its outreach.
Impossible Foods last week announced a manufacturing deal with OSI, a large meat supplier to help them with supplying Impossible meats across the country. The company also plans to begin selling the Impossible Meats in grocery stores starting in September.
