As sales start decreasing, Burger King is slashing the price tag of their Impossible Whopper, a faux-meat burger introduced by the burger joint a year ago.
According to Carrols Restaurant Group Inc., their stores only sold 28 Impossible Whoppers each every day—a major decrease from 32. This company is the largest franchisee of Burger King in the U.S., with more than 1,000 locations in the country. The good news is that the sales are stabilizing, meaning it isn’t expected to fall even further in the immediate future.
In response, the company added the Impossible Whopper to the two-for-$6 discount menu at a limited time. This is a huge decrease from the burger’s suggested price of $5.59. The bright side is that slower sales aren’t affecting the chain’s efforts in using this burger to attract customers. Reported by CNBC here.
Impossible Foods Inc. is investing more ads for their food items, as stated by the Carrols Executive Daniel Accordino during a conference. He said that they will advertise their plant-based platform and expand on the Burger King marketing calendar within this year. After all, the company is expanding its Impossible Whopper line by releasing the Impossible Whopper Jr. And the Impossible Sausage.
Smaller franchisees also report that the Impossible Whopper sales dropped as well. For example, a Burger King owner in Little Rock, Ark. said that their sales saw a recent decline. It fell to 20 per store each day, a decrease from the 30 when it first came out.
Chris Finazzo, president of the chain’s Americas region, said that the Impossible Whopper still exceeds their expectations. After all, repeat restaurant visits are consistently high. This shows that the visitors enjoy the plant-based Whopper and are coming back for more.
Burger King introduced the Impossible Whopper as a meat alternative nationwide a year ago. Before they did, they tested it in St. Louis first, which resulted in a resounding success. This company, owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc., said in an October statement that the Whopper is a “huge hit”.
With the burger’s current situation, a lot of promotional events happened. This includes free deliveries as well as free samples for delayed passengers in airports. The discounted price of the burger is the latest addition to these efforts.
Regardless, Impossible Foods remain satisfied with the sales of their fast-food restaurants. According to spokeswoman Rachel Konrad, the variability isn’t unusual. Some factors can affect sales, like ad campaigns, restaurant locations, and seasonality.
Across the country, both food outlets and groceries rush to add more plant-based products in their arsenal. Even now, it’s unclear whether the trend will last, but major food companies and restaurants are thriving in its growth. A clear example is Starbucks Corp., issuing a statement saying that they’re coming up with meat substitutes for their breakfast menu.
As for McDonald’s Corp., they’re trying faux meat from Canada and Germany. Also, a major food distributor, Sysco Corp., recently said that it’s going to put out a new plant-based burger patty in the United States. With that, it’s expected for other major outlets to do the same within this year.
Despite this, most Americans choose to eat real meat instead. According to the USDA, the average American will consume 225.6 lbs of red meat and poultry within this year. That means a slight increase from the 224.3 lbs of daily meat consumption last year.
This is noticeable even in Burger King since the presence of meat-free options didn’t lead people to eat less meat. It’s one of the reasons why the Impossible Whopper sales aren’t selling as much as the regular Whopper.
According to Adam Chandler, author of “Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom”, said that the sales figures for the Impossible Whopper aren’t surprising. After all, after the initial hype died down, the fatigue for the product starts setting in. It’s similar to Popeye’s chicken sandwiches since the sales stabilization happened after the buzz surrounding it wore off.
Chandler still believes that the Impossible Whopper has the staying power. With that, it’s unlikely for Burger King to cut it out of their menus any time within the immediate future. The main reason is due to the fast-food chain’s big investment as it rolled out nationwide.
