Burger King rolls out veggie patty in Europe
● Burger King started offering its meat-free Rebel Whopper across Europe this week in one of the largest product launches in its history and the first big restaurant deal for Unilever’s plant-based patty.
Now available in more than 2,500 Burger King outlets in 25 countries on the continent, the Rebel Whopper features a patty made by the Vegetarian Butcher, a Netherlands-based manufacturer of faux meat products bought by Unilever at the end of 2018.
Restaurant chains have been testing products and suppliers in a race to meet growing demand for meat alternatives worldwide.
Burger King launched the Rebel Whopper and the Rebel Chicken King in Sweden earlier this year and began offering a Whopper in the
US that’s made with a patty from Impossible Foods.
Rival McDonald’s, meanwhile, selected Nestle for meatless burgers it offers in Germany and Beyond Meat’s patties for a test in Canada.
The Burger King deal in Europe is a coup for Unilever, which has added more plant-based products including Hellmann’s eggfree mayonnaise and dairy-free Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s ice creams. Burger King had developed the Rebel menu items in Sweden with the Dutch producer Vivera.
The Vegetarian Butcher was “the best possible partner” for the Europe roll-out, according to David Shear, president of Burger King and Popeyes.
A launch of this size “is not an easy thing”, Shear said. “We’re able to do it because of our joint expertise on being able to develop the product and scale it up so effectively.”
The Vegetarian Butcher was founded in 2007 by ninth-generation meat farmer Jaap Korteweg, and its products are now stocked in more than 4,000 outlets in 17 countries. CEO Hugo Verkuil said getting snapped up by Unilever bolstered his company’s ability to take on larger deals. Talks with Burger King on developing the Rebel Whopper began at the start of the year. Burger King ditched Kellogg’s Morningstar Farms veggie burgers in the US this month after the nationwide roll-out of the soy-based Impossible patties, which cost $1 (R14.90) more than regular Whoppers.
The Impossible Whopper was recently lauded by Jose Cil, CEO of parent company Restaurant Brands International, as “one of the most successful product launches in Burger King’s history”.
Made with a mix of soy, wheat, vegetable oil and spices, it’s a meat-free alternative to the classic Whopper, but not necessarily a lowercalorie one.
The version in Switzerland, for example, has 2,540kJ, close to the original Whopper’s 2,680kJ.
Burger King also isn’t labelling the Rebel vegan because it’s cooked on the same grill as meat products and comes with mayonnaise. —