Hasta La Creative!

Illustration by Andrea D’Aquino

At first blush, White Castle and vegetarians hardly go together like Harold and Kumar. But marketing at the hamburger chain was actually run by a vegetarian for an entire year. Chief Marketing Officer Kim Bartley embraced the plant lifestyle as a way to get a better handle on how the fast-feeder, long known for its ground-beef sliders, could adapt to a world where people are shunning meat more often, even if they’re not completely giving it up. Bartley says her year as a vegetarian (she went back to eating meat in February 2018) was eye-opening. “I was able to see a customer in a very different light,” she says. “I observed and experienced how hard it is, especially in fast-food restaurants, to have an option that wasn’t basically the same thing all the time.”

Adding variety has emerged as a major trend at restaurants and the larger food industry, as brands seek loyalty from a growing number of “flexitarians,” those who have strong vegetarian tendencies but also mix in meat or fish on occasion.

Continue reading at AdAge.com