A vegan is suing Burger King for cooking his vegan, plant based burger on the same grill as the regular meat ones, leaving his “Impossible Whopper” coated with meat-by-products.
The Georgia man is working on a class action lawsuit against Burger King for himself and “similarly situated individuals,” who consumed the supposedly vegan-friendly burgers after they were cooked on the same grill as the regular ones — “covering the outside of the Impossible Whopper’s meat-free patties with meat by-product.”
He said the burger’s tagline – “100% Whopper, 0% Beef” – was misleading.
Despite its target demographic, Burger King states on its official website that the sandwich also contains non-vegan mayonnaise. Should a customer desire a truly vegan meal, the company suggests they specify that their burger be prepared with a “non-broiler method.”
Impossible Foods Inc, which helped create the Impossible Whopper told Reuters news agency that vegetarians and vegans “are welcome to ask” for their Impossible Whopper to be cooked in a microwave. The company also said it designed the product for meat eaters who want to consume less animal protein, not for vegans or vegetarians.
Williams said he visited a Burger King drive-through in Atlanta, and contends that the information was not clearly posted and that he was led to believe the sandwich — ordered without the aforementioned mayo — would be truly meat-free. At no point was he told the Whopper was cooked on the same grill as the meat burgers, he said had he known, he would not have ordered it.
Mr Williams said he wanted damages for everyone in the US who bought the Impossible Whopper, and an injunction requiring Burger King to “plainly disclose” that the Vegan burgers and meat burgers are cooked on the same grills.
The “Impossible Whopper” has been a massive success for the franchise. Parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) called it a “huge hit.” RBI CEO José Cil reported a half-billion improvement over last year’s performance, with the “0% beef” patties driving as much as five percent of their sales growth.
The Impossible Whopper costs US customers about a dollar more than the beef version.