“Normal, or With Meat?”: Burger King Austria Makes Meat-Free Burgers The Default

EAT

Aug 7

The provocative new campaign makes meat-free versions of the brand’s classic menu items the ‘new normal’, with customers now having to specifically request meat.

An advert for Burger King Austria’ new “Normal, or With Meat?” campaign, shows the visual similarity between the plant-based Whopper (left) and the traditional meat-based Whopper (right).

The fast-food giant Burger King, made famous for its beef burgers, has been busy with the expansion of its plant-based food offering around the world, launching entire meat-free locations and menus packed with animal-free nuggets, fillets, and burgers.

Now, Burger King Austria is taking things to the next level, by making the plant-based versions of its popular products the default choice on menus. That means customers ordering the chain’s signature Whopper for example, will be offered the plant-based Whopper unless the customer requests otherwise.

The provocative campaign, called “Normal, oder mit fleisch?” and which translates as “Normal, or with meat?”, highlights how the vegan meat and animal-meat options are so similar in both look and taste. The question hopes to encourage customers to choose the more sustainable meat-free menu choices: not only are the meat-free alternatives more friendly to the planet, but they offer the same taste all without having to slaughter an animal.

“For Burger King, meat is no longer a matter of course in the future”, announced Jan-Christoph Küster, Marketing Director of the TQSR Group, the Austrian master franchise of Burger King.

“Because, from now on almost the entire range—including the popular classics—is available on a purely plant-based basis. With this, Burger King is sending a powerful signal for meat alternatives—and demonstrating its vision for the future of the fast food industry,” Küster explained.

“With our provocative question, we want to stimulate social discussion and show that our plant-based alternatives taste confusingly similar. Meat is an option—but it’s just not the only one.”

Burger King is backing plant-protein as the future

Back in 2019, Burger King U.S. partnered with meat-free brand Impossible Foods to offer the Impossible Whopper, its first plant-based burger which now features at more than 7,000 locations across the U.S. Ever since, Burger King has continued to develop and expand its plant-based offering around the world.

The Impossible Whopper that’s currently available in the U.S. Credit: Burger King/Facebook

In the last year alone, the fast-food company has not only released exciting new meat-free burgers, fillets, and nuggets, but they have also launched entire meat-free locations in the likes of Spain, the U.K., and Germany too.

And the global appetite for Burger King’s plant-based fare shows no sign of slowing down: a whopping one in five Whoppers sold in Germany is now a meat-free Whopper, and the menu features a meat-free version for all beef burgers and for almost every other meat dish too. In the U.K., Burger King already offers meat-free chicken fillets, nuggets, and whoppers, and its CEO has predicted the menu will be 50 percent plant-based within less than a decade.

As one of the most well-known fast-food brands in the world, Burger King’s commitment to plant-based food options is a sign of the wider food industry’s move towards more sustainable and animal-friendly menu options. As consumers in the U.S. and beyond are increasingly choosing meat-free options for ethical, health, and environmental reasons, brands are releasing plant-based versions of their signature dishes to keep up with the demand.

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