Fast food chain Shake Shack is rolling out a new meatless burger using a medley of vegetables rather than alternative proteins like soy.
“Born out of testing many different veggie burger iterations in our NYC Shacks, the Veggie Shack is made from a proprietary blend of real garden vegetables and grains, seared to perfection,” it wrote in a statement on Tuesday, adding it will be added to the core menu beginning May 5. The company collaborated on the new menu items with the Not Company (NotCo.), a maker of vegetarian food products.
While the patty is entirely plant-based, the burger itself is not vegan, as the cheese, sauce, and bun include dairy products.
Replacing beef and dairy can reduce the impact food has on climate since animal husbandry is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas.
NotCo claims its NotBurger, for example, can reduce CO2 emissions by 95% over a conventional one.
For some of its other food, NotCo says it uses an A.I. algorithm called “Giuseppe” to help come up with recipes. The technology was not used on Shake Shack’s new veggie burger. Created by NotCo’s resident computer scientist and cofounder Karim Pichara, the A.I. hunts for patterns in the attributes of food otherwise hidden to the average food scientist with the ultimate goal of constantly learning. NotCo claims the A.I.’s inherent ability to improve should progressively help reduce a new product’s time to market.
“Partnering up with Shake Shack used to be a dream of mine and one of the most ambitious milestones for NotCo,” Matías Muchnick, CEO and cofounder of NotCo, said in a statement.
“Having a tailored NotCo product in Shake Shack stores nationwide is a clear statement of our ability to create elevated tailor-made delicious and profitable versions of products in record time that appeal to the mass market.”
May 3, 2023: Correction: A previous version of this story misstated that A.I. was used to create the new Shake Shack veggie burger.
