Burger King has begun rolling out a Whoppers free of artificial preservatives, and the Restaurant Brands International brand is highlighting their efforts with a moldy Whopper. The burger has no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors.
The product is available at about 400 restaurants in the U.S. and will reach all restaurants in the country by the end of the year. Burger King has about 7,300 locations in the U.S.
“We believe that real food tastes better,” Fernando Machado, chief marketing officer of Restaurant Brands International Global, which owns Burger King, said in a press release. “That’s why we are working hard to remove preservatives, colors, and flavors from artificial sources from the food we serve in all countries around the world.”
The statement said that the moldy burger ad reveals “the beauty of no artificial preservatives” and that Whoppers will be preservative-free by the end of the year. This more natural version of the burger is already available in 400 locations throughout the U.S.
Burger King is certainly not the first brand to try to clean up its menu.
Burger King’s biggest competitor, McDonald’s, has been removing artificial flavors from its menu items for years. In 2018, the company announced its line of seven classic burgers — the core of its menu — no longer contain artificial ingredients.
the beauty of real food is that it gets ugly. that’s why we are rolling out a whopper free from artificial preservatives. coming by the end of 2020 to all restaurants in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/yQL6kAYZrY
— Burger King (@BurgerKing) February 19, 2020
The trend in clean eating goes far beyond burgers, too. Panera Bread publicly vowed to do away with artificial ingredients and to only serve “clean” food by the end of 2016 and managed to meet its goal. Papa John’s also pledged to remove certain ingredients by the end of 2016, including artificial flavors and colors, corn syrup and corn syrup solids, hydrolyzed soy protein and corn protein, and sodium benzoate. For the past few years, Chipotle Mexican Grill has been removing artificial ingredients from its menu, and in 2017, the brand announced its menu has no added colors, flavors or preservatives.
To stand out from other chains that have released clean menu items, Burger King is showing its iconic Whopper growing mold in video and photos “to demonstrate the beauty of no artificial preservatives,” the brand said in a news release.
*The Burger King® brand is currently rolling out the Whopper® sandwich with no preservatives, colors or flavors from artificial sources in the U.S. The product is already available in more than 400 restaurants in the U.S. and will reach all restaurants by the end of the year. In the U.S., more than 90% of all food ingredients at Burger King® restaurants are free from colors, flavors, and preservatives from artificial sources. The brand also removed MSG and high-fructose corn syrup from all food items.
About Burger King®
Founded in 1954, the Burger King® brand is the second-largest fast-food hamburger chain in the world. The original HOME OF THE Whopper®, the Burger King® system operates more than 15,000 locations in approximately 100 countries and U.S. territories. Almost 100 percent of Burger King® restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. The Burger King® brand is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc. (TSX,NYSE:QSR), one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant companies with more than $27 billion in system-wide sales and over 23,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories. To learn more about the Burger King® brand, please visit the Burger King® brand website at www.bk.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
