MIAMI, Fla. (CNN) – Burger King is taking a swipe at McDonald’s with its own “not-so-happy” meal. The fast-food chain is advertising “real meals,” and they don’t come with a toy. They come with an adult-sized whopper combo meal, and you can order based on how you’re feeling. For instance, the “Salty Meal,” the “Blue Meal” or the “DGAF Meal.” It’s a collaboration with the non-profit Mental Health America for Mental Health Month. “While not everyone would think about pairing fast food and mental health, MHA believes in elevating the conversation in all communities in order to address mental illness Before Stage 4,” said Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of Mental Health America. “By using its internationally known reputation to discuss the importance of mental health, Burger King is bringing much-needed awareness to this important and critical discussion — and letting its customers know that it is OK to not be OK.” The slogan on the boxes reminds customers quote “no one is happy all the time.” >>>WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING<<<doc-sep>MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BURGER KING® restaurants understands that no one is happy all the time. That’s why they’re asking guests to order a WHOPPER® meal based on however they might be feeling. The new boxes, dubbed Real Meals, come in a variety of different moods – and “happy” isn’t one of them. The Real Meal moods include the Pissed Meal, Blue Meal, Salty Meal, YAAAS Meal and DGAF Meal. The boxes can be ordered with the purchase of a WHOPPER® meal, which includes the flame-grilled WHOPPER® sandwich, also known as AMERICA’S FAVORITE BURGER®, plus French fries and a drink. With the Real Meals campaign, the BURGER KING® brand believes in authenticity and welcomes all guests. A natural extension of encouraging people to “be their way” is encouraging them to “feel their way.” With the pervasive nature of social media, there is so much pressure to appear happy and perfect. With Real Meals, the BURGER KING® brand celebrates being yourself and feeling however you want to feel. To help bring attention to this important cause, the BURGER KING® brand partnered with Mental Health America on the campaign and selected May for launch as it is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-based non-profit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans. A film to support the initiative launches today on YouTube.com/BurgerKing. Shot in 35mm, it takes an intimate and raw look into the reality of feeling your way that’s both empathetic and celebratory. The film also commemorates the classic “Have It Your Way” track from the 1970s BK® commercials, but with a modernized take on the iconic track that abandons the shiny and happy and instead follows individuals staying true to themselves. The chorus of “Have It Your Way” is swapped out with something a bit more revealing and authentic: “Feel Your Way.” The boxes are available while supplies last at select U.S. restaurants when ordering a WHOPPER® meal. The WHOPPER® Sandwich is a ¼ lb* of savory flame-grilled beef topped with juicy tomatoes, fresh lettuce, creamy mayonnaise, ketchup, crunchy pickles, and sliced white onions on a soft sesame seed bun. BK® guests can find the limited-edition meals starting today at select restaurants in Austin, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles and New York City. ** *Based on pre-cooked patty weight. **Participating restaurant locations: 3301 Fourth Avenue South, Seattle, Washington, 98134; 474 7th Avenue, New York, New York, 10018; 4918 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 90027; Farm-to-Market 969, Austin, Texas, 78724; 1100-5th Street, Miami Beach, Florida, 33139. 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 17,700 locations in more than 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. To learn more about the Burger King brand, please visit the Burger King brand website at www.bk.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.<doc-sep>Meet the Impossible Whopper. Photo: Burger King The Burger King and Impossible Foods crossover you never knew you wanted has arrived: Today, the two companies announced that they’ve come together to create a meatless Impossible Whopper. This, it’s worth noting, is not an April Fools’ joke. It’s Impossible Foods’ biggest announcement to date, after first testing the fast-food veggie-burger waters at White Castle, Red Robin, and Umami Burger. Now, of course, it’s landed the biggest fast-food burger of all: the fabled Whopper. Impossible Foods was so thirsty for this team-up that it had one of Burger King’s iconic flame broilers shipped to its factory in Oakland to make sure it could replicate the Whopper’s slightly burned taste and weirdly dry patty. The start-up also flattened its patties to make them look as Whopper-y as possible, and created an entire production line solely dedicated to Burger King. For whatever reason, the Impossible Whopper will make its official debut in St. Louis, where it will be available at 59 locations. (Yes, this is the same St. Louis that does not slice its bagels correctly.) If the trial run proves successful, B.K. will roll out Impossible Whoppers to all 7,200 locations around the United States. Meanwhile, the McDonald’s Australian arm used the occasion of April Fools’ Day to announce a veggie burger of its own. It’s a joke, but it honestly does not look all that bad: Eat like the experts. Sign up for the Grub Street newsletter. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.<doc-sep>McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said that the company is paying close attention to vegan and plant-based menu items. So far, Easterbrook said, the chain hasn't added a vegan or vegetarian meal to the menu because of concerns over added complexity slowing down service. With Burger King planning a national launch of the vegan Impossible Whopper and Taco Bell testing a 100% vegetarian menu, customer demand for vegetarian options is on the rise. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Vegetarian and vegan options are sweeping the fast-food industry. Taco Bell is testing a 100% vegetarian menu. Chipotle recently added new vegetarian and vegan items to its menu. And, on Monday, Burger King announced plans to roll out its vegan Impossible Whopper across the US by the end of 2019. Read more: Burger King is rolling out the vegan Impossible Whopper across America Yet, as competitors roll out new menu items and announce deals with meat-substitute makers, McDonald's has yet to take action. Currently, Baked Apple Pie is the only vegan item on McDonald's American menu. In a call with investors on Tuesday, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook explained why the chain hadn't added a veggie burger to the menu. Before adding a new plant-based menu item, Easterbrook said, McDonald's needs to establish: "Is there an additional complexity? And if there is, is that complexity worth it?" McDonald's has recently been trying to focus on simplicity, slashing items from its late-night menu and killing its Signature Crafted line of upscale burgers. In the most recent quarter, the chain's 4.5% growth in comparable sales was driven by new combinations of items that were already on the menu, such as adding bacon to burgers and cheesy fries. Read more: McDonald's is killing its heavily hyped fancy burger lineup 2 years after launch Despite concerns that new menu items could slow down workers and increase wait times, Easterbrook said that the chain is playing close attention to and internally discussing vegan and plant-based menu items. "Maybe more to come," Easterbrook said Tuesday, though he insisted there was not much at to say on the topic "at the moment."<doc-sep>
Burger King surprised meat eaters and non-meat eaters alike earlier this month when it started testing a new, meatless Whopper made with plant-based burger patties from Impossible Foods. Now, exactly four weeks after it soft-launched the vegetarian take on its iconic sandwich, the royal fast food chain announced it's working on adding the Impossible Whopper to its menu nationwide. On Monday, Burger King revealed that because the Impossible Whopper test run had performed "exceedingly well" at locations in St. Louis, it's now preparing to launch the burger in additional test markets in the coming weeks ahead of a wider rollout across the United States before the end of this year. In other words, a burger made with a meat substitute was so popular that one of the country’s biggest fast food chains is gearing up to serve it from coast to coast. For fast food fans and non-meat eaters in particular, the move is a big deal. “The Impossible Whopper is all Whopper, no beef. It’s as juicy, craveable and delicious as the original Whopper,” the company said in a statement. “Burger King Restaurants in St. Louis are showing encouraging results and Impossible Whopper sales are complementing traditional Whopper purchases.” As of now, it’s unclear if Burger King plans to change or tweak the Impossible Whopper’s recipe based on customer feedback in St. Louis. A spokesperson told Thrillist that such information wasn’t immediately available. As we said in our review of the Impossible Whopper, it's remarkably similar in flavor, texture, and appearance to the original, but it might be lacking additional flavor because it's cooked well-done: "The Impossible Burger, which has been juicy and served medium to medium-well at other places I’ve had it, was well-done here. As a result, it’s very one-note in its flavor and texture, lacking the depth I’ve seen before in those other burgers. That said, it’s not bad… it’s just not exceptional either. Texturally, it does resemble a real fast food hamburger, so if you’re just trying to get a burger without all the animal protein, cholesterol, and sodium, this will probably satisfy." The review also raises an important question about the burger: "[T]he question shouldn’t be whether it tastes like a Whopper (it does), it should be whether it tastes good (not especially). The measuring stick for vegan and vegetarian dishes shouldn’t be how well they stand up to meat, but how dope they taste in their own right." While Burger King could be the largest fast food chain to start serving Impossible burgers nationwide, it's far from the first. Restaurants all across the country -- from local spots to chains like Red Robin and White Castle -- serve burgers and other menu items made with Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat. Even Del Taco recently started serving a similar plant-based meat substitute from Beyond Meat. It's only a matter of time before other fast food giants like McDonald's and Taco Bell follow suit. You may end up eating, say, an Impossible Crunchwrap some day. Who knows -- maybe one of these chains will beat Burger King to the punch with a wide rollout this year. The race is on.