Colorado plant-based fast-casual restaurant chain Meta Burger recently added three new plant meats that (it claims) are unavailable to Coloradans in retail stores: Umaro Foods‘ Bacon, Fable Food Co‘s Shiitake Pulled Pork, and Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli Sliced Turkey.
Currently operating two restaurants in the state, a drop from three, Meta offers a range of fully vegan sandwiches, burgers, and hot dogs, with the existing lineup including the Meta “Beef” Patty made from Hungry Planet’s organic soybean base, Meta Crispy “Chicken” made from Hungry Planet’s organic soybean and wheat protein base, and a Lentil Patty created in-house. This February, bee-free honey produced by MeliBio was added to the specials menu, bringing the “last animal-free ingredient…to make delicious offerings fully from plants”.
Now the new options from Umaro Foods, which creates bacon from seaweed; Fable, whose shiitake mushrooms offer a pork-like protein; as well as the famous Shark Tank winner Unreal Deli, will be available to Colorado consumers on the new menu, which also includes dairy-free milkshakes with vegan whipped cream and sprinkles, and new sides such as pasta salad and potato salad.
“Coloradans are conscious consumers”
Michael Reeves, co-founder of Meta Burger is concerned that vegan businesses in the Denver area are struggling to survive and due to the resulting closures, new plant-based proteins are becoming less and less accessible. “Coloradans are conscious consumers and they deserve to have a wide variety of options that both support small businesses and leave animals off their plates,” he explains.
The new menu options were chosen through customer feedback after being showcased as specials. “We weren’t surprised when people went wild for the Umaro Bacon and Fable Shiitake Pulled BBQ. These are some of the best vegan proteins out there and adding them to the menu permanently was a no-brainer,” said co-founder Matthew Coates.
Order yours here and vote for new specials: https://www.metaburger.com/