When you order a burger, you usually expect to receive a meat patty – but Burger King Austria has set out to change that. In July 2022, the company launched a campaign called ‘Normal or with meat?’, making plant-based burgers the default option on its menus. The fast-food chain now has a plant-based version of almost every item and customers have to explicitly say if they would prefer the meat-based version.
In the United States, coffee chain Blue Bottle has made a similar shift. In 2021, it tested an oat-milk default at its West Coast locations, so if customers order a latte without specifying a milk preference, it’s made with oat milk rather than cow’s milk. Based on the overwhelmingly positive results, Blue Bottle has expanded its oat milk default nationwide.
These food giants are posing a question to the public: ‘How can we define a new normal?’
