Burger King has 'no plans' for veggie burger in France
Fast food giant Burger King has no plans to bring its newly-launched meat-free “Rebel” burger to France, and will instead focus on higher-end meat options for the time being, it has said.
The meat-free burger, officially dubbed the “Rebel Whopper”, has been rolled out in 25 European countries across 2,500 Burger King outlets this week (Tuesday November 12), including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Poland. It is also expected to be available in the UK by early 2020.
But there are no plans to bring the option to France.
The Burger King press office in France said: “The launch of this Whopper is not, for now, planned in France. It is undeniable that plant-based alternatives to meat are developing rapidly, and are a real trend in society. We are obviously very aware of that.
“[But] we firstly wish to respond to the very high demand in France for gourmet burgers, with the recent launch of our line: les Masters Burgers. Our priority is therefore to continue to bring this [gourmet] product to market.”
The Rebel Whopper is made with soya and potato protein, coconut and sunflower oil, and an iron-rich molecule named ‘heme’, which gives it a reddish colour similar to beef.
It is served in the same way as a usual Burger King beef “Whopper”, with tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, white onions and a sesame seed bun; and is said to be “very meat-like”.
In its normal serve, the burger is suitable for vegetarians. If it is cooked in a separate grill to those used for meat, and served without mayonnaise - which can be requested - it is considered suitable for vegans.
David Shear, Burger King’s European president, told the Agence-France Presse that the European roll-out was “one of the largest launches in the history of the brand”.
The burger has already proven popular in other places, where it has been tested over several months, including in Sweden. The similar “Impossible Whopper” has also proved successful in the USA.
