A Vegan Sued Burger King Over Its ‘Impossible Whopper.’ He Has a Point.
Not long ago, courts were skeptical of cases like this — but times may be changing.
Too good to be true?
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Is it really true that Burger King’s new Impossible Whopper is, as the ads claim, “100% Whopper, 0% beef”? A lawsuit just filed in federal court in Florida insists that the answer is no.
The answer matters. The Impossible Whopper, designed to attract vegetarians and vegans who ordinarily avoid fast food, has driven a surge of traffic into the chain’s restaurants. Comparable sales growth in the third quarter of 2019 (the quarter following the sandwich’s introduction) was a brisk 4.8 percent. Key to the Impossible Whopper’s attraction is the notion that it tastes like meat without actually containing any.1