Vegetarian burgers hit convenience stores

By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

CONVENIENCE store 7-Eleven Philippines is democratizing healthy eating by making plant-based dishes available in its stores — for a minimum of P89.

These new dishes come in the form of a plant-based burger (the 7-Fresh Plant-Based Burger) and a plant-based burger steak (Big Time Meal Plant-Based Burger Steak) served with rice and “gravy.” The patties are sourced from a partnership with Century Pacific Food (CNPF), which makes unMEAT, a 100% plant-based meat analogue without dairy or eggs. According to a previous story in ����ý, unMEAT has less than 10 ingredients: soy protein, oils, salt, onions, soy sauce, and vinegar.

“Our goal is to democratize plant-based food alternatives by making plant-based eating easy — easy because of its great taste, affordability, and widespread availability,” said Nikki Dizon, CNPF’s Vice-President and General Manager for Refrigerated Food, in a statement.�� “We believe our partnership with 7-Eleven is a big step forward in providing our consumers with convenient access to unMEAT.”

Meanwhile, a representative from 7-Eleven Philippines said that the new burger and burger steak are their own recipe. “The product application is a 7-11 recipe — the brioche buns, the burger steak sauce is ours. We are happy with this line,” said the representative in an e-mail to ����ý.

While the patty itself is 100% plant-based, the new dishes at 7-Eleven use some animal byproducts. “Our plant-based offerings use animal by-products such as butter and egg for our brioche bun, cheese from cow’s milk, while our burger sauce has egg as an emulsifier. Both products are 100% meat free,” said a joint e-mail from Eilleen Castillo, Senior Category Manager-Fresh Food, and Hunny Ayende, Senior Category Manager-Fast Food.

The company also highlighted the nutritional benefits of the plant-based burger meals. “Both 7-Fresh Plant-Based Burger and Big Time Meal Plant-Based Burger Steak have 0% trans fat. The Big Time Meal Plant-Based Burger Steak also has zero cholesterol, while the 7-Fresh Plant-based Burger has low cholesterol. Our patties for both products are 100% plant-based and non-GMO,” they said.

According to them, 7-Eleven Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore have also released their own plant-based menus since last year. “While it’s not a coordinated, global initiative, it is a reaction to local trends,” they said.

“There has been a rising trend of plant-based eating since 2016, and Filipinos are now more aware and interested in this. We at 7-Eleven recognize the changing lifestyle and eating habits of our customers and we want to offer them not just convenient and affordable meals but also healthier and better meal options,” they said.

The 7-Fresh Plant-Based Burger and the Big Time Meal Plant-Based Burger Steak are now available in over 1,900 7-Eleven stores nationwide.