What's On The Menu At Burger King's New Meat-Free Costa Rica Location

Some might say that no fast food chain has made more of an effort to appeal to vegetarians and vegans than Burger King. Since the national rollout of its plant-based Impossible Whopper in 2019, per CNBC, U.S. locations of Burger King have followed up with several other plant-based items: The company began offering plant-based chicken nuggets in 2021, for example, and just last week, according to Food Business News, announced it was testing a new meatless chicken sandwich in Ohio.

This is no passing fancy. José Cil, CEO of Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International, has noted that the burger chain aims to have 50% of their U.K. menus meatless by 2030, per Business Insider. As if to prove the marketability of that claim, Burger King U.K.'s restaurant in London's Leicester Square went completely vegan-friendly for about a month earlier this year, The Guardian observed, serving a menu that included the plant-based Whopper, plant-based nuggets, and the new meat-free chicken katsu burger. 

Following its London success, Burger King announced it would be opening a string of international plant-based pop-ups (via a press release). The first two were opened in Santiago, Chile, and Vienna, Austria, and a third premiered last week in Costa Rica.

What was on the menu at the new Burger King San Pedro pop-up when it began welcoming guests last week in Costa Rica's capital city of San José? Lots of plant-based goodness, including three twists on familiar, formerly meaty favorites; the Veggie Whopper, Veggie Nuggets, and Veggie King. According to the press release, Costa Rica was not chosen at random as a pop-up site. The Veggie Whopper had apparently already performed well from a sales standpoint at other locations in the Central American country. The most notable aspect of the pop-up, however, may be the fact that its opening marks a new three-year collaboration between Burger King and the Vegetarian Butcher, a respected plant-based meat provider.

"We recognize the changing needs of our guests and our planet," Sabrina Ferretti, VP and Head of Burger King International Marketing, explained in the press release. "Our goal is to offer the widest possible variety of meat-free meals to the largest possible demographic intersection. We want all of our guests to find something that suits their dietary desires, without sacrificing the great Burger King taste they've come to know and love. Burger King has introduced plant-based burgers in 70 countries and the ultimate goal is to offer plant-based options in our restaurants all over the world."

To that end, the press release notes that other new plant-based menu items like the Cajun Veggie King and Vegan Nuggets have recently been tried out in select European locations.