Moonburger, the formerly vegetarian fast food chain based in New York, introduced real meat burgers on Oct. 9 to celebrate its third anniversary since opening. The announcement post caused a stir on social media, garnering over 800 Instagram comments, the vast majority expressing discontent at the change. Customers started a petition to return the company to a vegetarian restaurant on Change.org, which has accumulated over 200 signatures.
Moonburger has locations in Kingston, Poughkeepsie, New Paltz and Brooklyn. In New Paltz, Moonburger was the only dedicated vegetarian burger fast food restaurant available.
One customer expressed concern over the environmental impact of Moonburger now that the company is serving meat. “Even though industrial production of products is the main driver of environmental issues … the animal industry is egregious in terms of its carbon footprint and should not be catered to,” Sofia Peeters said.
Peeters had more concerns than the environment — she is also worried about cross-contamination in the kitchen. “In my experience, Moonburger would often get orders wrong. I have a friend who recently got a meat patty instead of the usual Impossible,” she said.
Lizz Truitt, a Moonburger customer, left a comment on Moonburger’s Instagram that said “to acknowledge that animal/meat consumption is a global climate crisis and still cater to that issue, by now including meat on your menu, is hypocritical and so disappointing.”
In the same annoucement, the company stated “we’ve added a second grill to every restaurant so that no one has to worry about cross-contact on the griddle.” Despite this measure by the company, Peeters said she will not be eating at any of Moonburger’s locations in the future.
Responding to these concerns, Moonburger CEO Jeremy Robinson-Leon said, “We’re really humbled and honored that MB has meant a lot to folks, and we understand that some were disappointed at the same time that many were thrilled with the news, current and new guests alike.”
“It was critical to us that in launching MB 2.0, we continue to be a place where all of our guests can enjoy the things they’ve loved,” he said.
Robinson-Leon stated that Moonburger would use “New York Premium Beef” from a local family farm in Seneca Falls, N.Y., but did not disclose the farm’s name. According to Robinson-Leon, the farm “uses regenerative farming practices, which include rotational grazing, soil conservation, nutrient recycling and runoff reduction, cover cropping and rotation and no antibiotics or added hormones.”
“Given that fact — and where the plant-based market is now versus several years ago — we as a society need to evolve the approach to reducing consumption of factory-farmed, commodity beef and reducing the overall impact of our food system,” said Robinson-Leon.
Since adding meat to their menu, Robinson-Leon stated sales have grown by almost 50%. “We need to continue to elevate plant-based options to the same spotlight as meat and at the same time offer much better, lower impact beef,” he said.
Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Animal Happiness, a non-profit charity, Rebecca Moore, expressed concern with the environmental impact of the meat industry. “Animal agriculture is actually one of the top three contributors to the climate crisis. But it is consistently greenwashed and that fact is constantly swept under the rug,” she said. “Marketing terms like ‘sustainable meat’ are used to appease – actually fool – consumers about their choices – but at the end of the day, it is just a marketing term.”
The owners of multiple vegan food businesses spoke to The Oracle about the change of menu. Jillian Camera, owner of the Brooklyn vegan burger restaurant Toad Style, had strong feelings about the change. “I was really shocked when I heard about Moonburger adding meat to their menu. I can’t imagine why they did it. They seemed to be very successful as a strict veggie burger business,” Camera said.
Camera disagreed with Robinson-Leon that a business must cater to the tastes of omnivores and meat eaters. Rather, plant-based restaurants “may have extra struggles in getting an omnivore to try their food, but if it’s good, they will become a regular customer,” Camera said.
Owner of Lagusta Luscious, a vegan chocolate business in New Paltz, Lagusta Yearwood said that introducing meat “does seem to be a trend right now.”
“I understand businesses feeling like they need to do whatever they can to survive. For us, it wouldn’t be an option to add meat because being vegan is woven into our core values,” he said.
Yearwood believes that the motivations for this change are financial. “I’m sure they did it because they have investors who needed more of a return on their investment and they’re not seeing the profits they need in order to stay solvent,” Yearwood said. “It’s difficult to see a business abandon their ethics in this way, and know the needless death that this decision will incur.” Yearwood also disagreed with the notion that businesses must sacrifice vegan values to attract meat-eating customers. “Capturing that small market can be really difficult. But the good news is that omnivores can eat vegan food, so if you make delicious vegan food, everyone will want it.
“So many of my concerns are environmental. On a planet beset by catastrophic climate change, how can we still support a form of agriculture that we know is so harmful for the planet?” Yearwood asked.
Despite this backlash, Robinson-Leon remains confident in the vision of Moonburger. “Our goal has been to create the fast food of the future. That means helping to chart a path for society, to reduce the impact of what we eat — through great food and hospitality,” he said. “Our approach to that mission has evolved as the currents in society have evolved, but the mission today is the same as it was the day we launched in 2021.”