Tomato Troubles: Burger King Temporarily Removes Tomatoes From Menu Due To Quality And Supply Challenges

New Delhi, 17th August 2023: Burger King, a popular fast food chain, has decided to cease the use of tomatoes in its food preparations, aligning with other quick service restaurant (QSR) establishments like McDonald’s and Subway. This move comes in response to the escalating costs of tomatoes, a staple ingredient in their menu items.

Burger King, which is operated by Restaurant Brands Asia and has around 400 stores in the country, communicated through a message on its support webpage that “quality” and “supply” challenges are the driving factors behind the omission of tomatoes from its food offerings. The message emphasized the brand’s commitment to delivering genuine and authentic food of high quality. It attributed the temporary absence of tomatoes to the unpredictable conditions affecting tomato crop quality and supply. The message assured customers that tomatoes would be reintroduced in the future and requested their patience and understanding during this situation.

Some Burger King outlets in India are said to have displayed light-hearted notices acknowledging the absence of tomatoes in a playful manner. These notices humorously stated, “Even tomatoes need a vacation… we are unable to add tomatoes to our food.” The QSR industry is grappling with supply chain disruptions due to the substantial rise in tomato prices, along with difficulties in sourcing tomatoes that meet their quality standards.

Tomato prices in certain regions of the country have surged to as high as Rs 200 per kilogram due to disruptions caused by heavy rainfall. This situation prompted the Indian government to initiate tomato imports for the first time, with imports being sourced from Nepal. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently informed the Parliament about India’s decision to import tomatoes from Nepal due to the unprecedented surge in domestic prices.

In July, McDonald’s, another fast food giant, had already disclosed that it had suspended the use of tomatoes in its food offerings in the northern and eastern parts of India. The rationale behind this move was the inability to acquire tomatoes that met the brand’s stringent quality specifications due to seasonal crop issues in specific regions. Subway India followed suit by discontinuing the use of tomatoes in response to the surging prices in major cities.

As per official government statistics, the mean wholesale cost of tomatoes throughout India exhibited a decline to Rs 88.22 per kilogram on August 15, marking a reduction from Rs 97.56 per kilogram noted in the preceding month. Similarly, the average retail price of tomatoes had decreased to Rs 107.87 per kilogram from Rs 118.7 per kilogram in the same time frame, as indicated by the data. The arrival of fresh tomato crops in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh wholesale markets has led to a reduction in prices.