Fast company logo
|
advertisement

WORLD CHANGING IDEAS

Burger King is rolling out the Impossible Whopper nationwide

After a hugely successful test run, the fast-food chain is making the faux-meat burger available in all of its stores starting August 8.

Burger King is rolling out the Impossible Whopper nationwide

[Photos: Impossible Foods, Burger King]

BY Adele Peters1 minute read

In April, when Burger King started running a regional test of the Impossible Whopper, its version of the popular plant-based-but-beefy Impossible Burger, it took only a few weeks before the fast-food chain announced that it planned to expand the offering to all of its 7,200 American restaurants. On August 8, that’s happening: If you want to try an Impossible Whopper, the burgers will be available nationwide.

[Photo: Burger King]
Like a regular Whopper, the new burger is served with tomatoes, lettuce, and the other standard toppings (including nonvegan mayonnaise) on a toasted sesame-seed bun. And the flame-grilled patty itself may taste convincing enough that some diners could mistake it for beef. The company’s chief marketing officer has claimed that even Burger King’s corporate staff find it indistinguishable, telling theNew York Times, “People on my team who know the Whopper inside and out, they try it and they struggle to differentiate which one is which.” The same day, customers using DoorDash and the Burger King app can order the “Impossible Taste Test,” a $7 meal with both the original Whopper and an Impossible Whopper.

For now, the chain says that the burgers will be available only for a limited time; it’s unclear whether that’s because of Impossible Foods’ challenges keeping up with demand or because the restaurant is still running tests of the product’s viability on its menu. The initial results, at least, were promising. In St. Louis, where Burger King ran its first pilot of the Impossible Whopper, the location data firm InMarket found that when the burger was added to local menus, visits to Burger King increased 16.75% over the previous month. During the same period, in other Burger King locations nationwide, visits dropped 1.75%.

advertisement

If the burger can gain traction at the chain—and if the same thing happens at other fast-food restaurants that serve it or other plant-based alternatives like the Beyond Burger—it could make a material difference for the environment. A recent third-party analysis of the Impossible Burger found that it uses only a fraction of the land and water needed to make a beef burger of the same size, and it produces 89% fewer greenhouse-gas emissions.

Recognize your company's culture of innovation by applying to this year's Best Workplaces for Innovators Awards before the final deadline, April 5.

ModernCEO Newsletter logo
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Privacy Policy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adele Peters is a senior writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to climate change and other global challenges, interviewing leaders from Al Gore and Bill Gates to emerging climate tech entrepreneurs like Mary Yap. She contributed to the bestselling book "Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century" and a new book from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies called State of Housing Design 2023 More


Explore Topics