Ready for a big, juicy, mouth-watering burger…made from plants?
Enter: the Impossible Whopper.
In collaboration with Impossible Foods, Burger King announced the Impossible Whopper in 2019. It was one of the first fast-food restaurants to offer a plant-based meat menu item.
This collaboration not only appealed to vegans and vegetarians but also to people who just want to reduce their meat consumption. Seven times larger than the vegan market, these diners will eat meat one day and a plant-based option the next – they also tend to want their plant-based meat to look and taste like real meat.
Impossible Foods has always made restaurant partnerships an important element of its collaboration strategy. The success and scale of the Burger King partnership solidified its status as a major player, achieving name recognition it could never do on its own.
To reach this new audience, Impossible Foods created a proprietary yeast-based patty that’s practically indistinguishable from the real thing. Partnering with Burger King introduced their plant-based meat to a new audience on a massive scale.
Praised by environmentalists and food critics, the Impossible Whopper was a huge success for both brands. Burger King saw a 6% jump in same-store sales the following quarter.
The demand for plant-based meat has jumped 63% since 2018, and the market is expected to grow to over $90 billion by 2029. The message from consumers is clear, and fast food restaurants are listening. Now nearly every fast food restaurant chain offers plant-based menu items.
But who would trust Burger King to make a tasty vegan burger on its own?
Cue crickets.
But partner up with a well-established plant-based brand like Impossible Foods, and voila! Instant credibility.
Following up on the success of the Impossible Whopper, Burger King launched Impossible Nuggets in 2021 and two more plant-based burgers in 2022: the Southwest Bacon Impossible Whopper and the Impossible King. Fast food brands face big changes as diners grow increasingly conscious of their health and the health of the planet. The Burger King x Impossible Foods collaboration is a great example of how partners can use each others’ strengths to engage an audience that neither could have reached on their own.