Burger King in New York Caught Selling Beef Whoppers as Impossible Whoppers

The popular Impossible Burger, a substitute for vegetarians, will be available in Burger King restaurants across the country eventually, but one location in Brooklyn, New York was caught selling real meat burgers as Impossible Burgers already.

According to Eater, the 736 Broadway franchise has been claiming it is selling the Impossible Whopper, billed as "100% Whopper, 0% Beef." At one point, the location promoted it as its most popular item online.

However, this could not be a real Impossible Burger, since the item is only available in select cities so far, and New York is not one of them.

A 35-year-old Williamsburg, Brooklyn resident told Eater he did not realize he was not actually eating an Impossible Burger until he tried to order it again and was told they do not sell it.

"I was incredulous," the resident, who asked his name be withheld, told Eater. "It's maybe 20 percent poisoning. This is a city where there are a lot of reasons why people don't eat [meat], from religion to health to ethics."

A manager at the Burger King even admitted to Eater that when customers ordered the Impossible Whopper that they were delivering online customers classic Whoppers instead. The manager said drivers were supposed to tell people the swap was happening, but multiple people said they were not told they were eating meat. The Williamsburg man said the receipts also listed the item as the "Impossible Whopper," with no changes to the product.

The Burger King location's page on Seamless, a site that offers delivery services, listed the Impossible Whopper until Tuesday afternoon, when Eater asked Burger King corporate and Seamless owner Grubhub.

A Burger King spokesperson told Eater it was a "technology error," but it was not clear how this error could only impact one specific location in New York City.

"We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Any guests who ordered an Impossible Whopper through delivery in the New York area and have any questions may call 1-866-394-2493," Burger King said in a statement.

Burger King announced in early April that it would begin testing the Impossible Whopper at select locations before expanding nationwide to offer customers the plant-based burger.

"We launched the Impossible Burger in 2016, but we didn't stop there. Since then, we've been learning how to make it even better. As of 2019, we're proud to announce that there's a new recipe in town," the Impossible Foods website reads. "The new Impossible Burger is tastier, juicier and more nutritious -- featuring 30% less sodium and 40% less saturated fat than our current recipe and just as much protein as 80/20 ground beef from cows. 100% more delicious and more versatile than ever."

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