Discover the real reason why Burger King Austria made plant-based the default standard for burgers

03 August, 2022

While meat eating is often the norm in many countries, there is a large wave of people who are looking beyond the norm to become more climate conscious. Not only are they choosing veganism, but their choice to follow a plant-based diet is positively impacting the lives of several voiceless creatures globally. Yet, historically, people have changed their perspective when thought leaders and campaigns advocated a new and more considerate way of life. So, it would be safe to say that thought provoking campaigns are the ones that bring about a positive change in the collective mindset of society.

They compel people to ask the right questions and this is exactly what a Burger King campaign in Austria did. The brand chose to host a tentative experiment to inspire more meat-free patrons. The objective of the experiment was to make people wonder whether consuming meat should be a routine choice.

The innovative new campaign

The brand hosted a diner trial at a restaurant in Margaretengürtel, Vienna where the consumers had to voice their request for burgers with meat. They did this by ensuring that the regular variant of every sandwich was dished up with a vegetarian patty. Then the people who craved meat in their sandwich had to specifically request it. So, when people went to order, the staff at the outlet would probe them on whether they required their burgers finished as standard, or with meat in them. This ensures that their customers had to answer in a straightforward manner when asked “Normal oder mit fleisch?” (which translates to- Normal or with meat?)

The campaign that presented meat-free as the standard ignited a debate on whether eating meat was really necessary. In fact, a YouTube video based on the stunt had people responding positively and negatively to the system. The benefit of this approach was that the question probed customers to ask questions that were answering by the clarification that the brand no longer sees animal meat as the standard for sandwiches on its menu.

A thought-provoking endeavor

An intriguing fact is that the brand revealed that only 2 out of 3 burgers sold are containing a meat patty. This means that 1/3 of the people in Belgium are consuming vegetarian burgers. For the uninitiated, over 25.8 percent of denizens in Austria confess that they are flexitarian in 2021. However, reports show that more and more people in the region are projected to increasing their consumption of vegetarian food and decrease their dependency on animal products. Jan-Christoph Küster, marketing director of the TQSR Group, Austrian master franchisee of Burger King, shared their opinion on the matter, “We want to stimulate the social debate and show that our plant-based alternatives have a confusing taste. Meat is one option, but it is not the only one. We leave it open to our guests what is normal for them: everyone should have the same taste.”

At Burger King, we are making meatless indulgence a permanent fixture on our menu, because meat no longer comes naturally to everyone. With the provocative question ‘Normal or meat?’, we want to show that we take our customers and their needs seriously. Because from now on, we also serve almost our entire range on a plant-based basis,” Küster concluded.

Other outlets and how they serve meat-free diners

The experiment by Burger King Austria appears to be a huge success. However, they are not the only restaurant to conduct such stunts, for a spate of other Burger King outlets opted to go vegetarian or even vegan for a short time. The worthiest of mention is London’s flagship eatery in Leicester Square. This is because they opted for a wholly plant-based menu ever since March 2022.

Like this? Read: The Future Of Fast Food Is Vegan Says Leading UK Restaurateur

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