The Guide To Plant-based burgerS

ABOUT SCORES^™

This Datassential tool tracks top chain restaurants' LTOs and new menu items from month to month and showcases consumer ratings on them based on a variety of metrics. Since 2014, SCORES^™ has grown to include over 175k ratings across 30,000 menu items.^I

UNIQUENESS

How new and different is this item?Uniqueness helps operators stand out from the competition, which makes this a particularly noteworthy score.

UNBRANDED PURCHASE INTENT

How likely would you be to order/buy it?
Gauges how interested consumers are in a specific item in general when it's not tied to a particular brand.

FREQUENCY

Is this an item you could see yourself having all the time? It shows operators how often consumers would seek out this specific item if it were available.

DRAW

Would you visit a restaurant just for this item? It reveals motivation to visit a specific restaurant just to get this one particular item if it was offered.

The CONCEPT

A grilled Impossible burger glazed with a Korean-Style Sweet Heat Sauce on a toasted brioche bun topped with crunchy fried shiitake mushrooms and cabbage slaw. 

Featuring Custom Culinary^® Korean-Style Sweet Heat Sauce 

Why We Love It

• The Korean BBQ Impossible Burger has been rated a SCORES^™ Superstar! It's extremely well-liked and differentiated enough to stand out from the rest.

• Perceived as exceptionally unique; a five star rating for uniqueness.

• Ability to drive visitation; top performer for Draw among those who like this concept.​

• 40% of the ingredients in the burger concept are trending upward on menus.

• Ingredient rarity exceeds 57% of other menu items, further helping this burger stand out.

• It's a mashup—burger iterations of other entrée favorites, let consumers get the best of all their favorite dishes.^E

Brioche
Bread

It's not common that a top item in menu penetration is also a fast growing item (+66% in the last four years), but brioche is just that.

From burgers to ice cream sandwiches, this versatile sweet bread can carry it all!^C

Korean
Barbecue

Korean BBQ had grown on US menus 41.6% since 2017. Datassential Haiku^™ predicts Korean BBQ will continue to grow 26.2% in the next four years.^H

KIMCHI
SLAW

Kimchi slaw had grown on US menus 30% in the past year. Datassential Haiku^™ predicts Korean BBQ will continue to grow 42% in the next four years.^H

Creative Condiments

While ketchup still holds the top spot
for most-loved condiment, other next level condiments are on the rise.^D 

More than a quarter of operators offer upscale sauces, and even more are interested in adding them.^C

47% of Millennials and

41% of Gen Z consumers say

plant-based burgers are

very or extremely appealing.

Millennials are the likely target for experimental, creative burgers, indexing highly in terms of appeal for just about every burger component possible in compared to other generations.^A

Restaurants

While many places are looking to plant based proteins that replicate meat, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse knows their target and that their occasion is not a time for meat eaters to choose a plant-based option and instead opted to create a Crispy Chickpea & Eggplant Burger for the vegetarians in the group.

Several other chains are making this type of decision and creating their own house made veggie burger iterations.^E

On-Site

Unsurprisingly, beef is offered near universally, but operators are looking to add more plant based options.

On site venues like C&U and hotels lead the adoption of (61% currently offer) veggie patties and newer analogs (39% currently offer), the latter of which have the highest interest among menu makers.^A