Vegan burger launched at MOS BURGER

MOS BURGER is a Japanese hamburger chain with 37 directly managed stores and 1253 franchised stores in Japan (as of the end of January 2020). They have vegetarian options using a soy patty in their regular menu, and today they finally launched a vegan burger called MOS PLANT-BASED GREEN BURGER. If you search with this name, you can see how it looks. Unlike ordinary hamburgers, the buns are pale green as they contain spinach puree.

MOS PLANT-BASED GREEN BURGER doesn’t contain meat, egg, milk and five spicy foods (五葷). The patty is mainly made from soybean protein with konjac and cabbage added. The sauce is tomato-based sauce using carrot, burdock, and several kinds of herbs. In addition, vegetables such as tomato, greenleaf (a kind of lettuce?), and shredded lettuce are put between the buns and the patty.

The price is 538 yen + tax. It is more expensive than most hamburgers of MOS BURGER even though less expensive than double patty ones. To my mind this vegan burger is too expensive to attract attention from the general public but hopefully it will win popularity among vegetarians/vegans in Tokyo. At first, it is available only at the following 9 stores.

Tokyo: Mos Burger Osaki, Mos Burger Roppongi, Mos Burger Akihabara Suehirocho, Mos Cafe Omotesando, Mos Cafe Nishiginza, Mos Cafe Hankyu Oimachi, Mos Cafe Ginza Nine (from April 1), Mos Cafe Haneda Airport International Terminal Building (the name will be changed to Mos Cafe Haneda Airport Third Terminal on April 1).
Kanagawa: Mos Cafe Enoshima

The company says that they aim to launch it nationwide in May after analyzing the responses of customers and the sales status. I’ll be waiting for MOS PLANT-BASED GREEN BURGER to come to Hamamatsu. I appreciate their efforts. The Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed to 2021. So other hamburger or restaurant chains may have enough time to follow the example of MOS BURGER and develop vegan/vegetarian menu items.