My sister is a vegan and on my urging she tried an impossible burger when it first came to San Francisco and she loved it.
But Burger King is cooking the impossible burger on the same grill upon which they're grilling the meat. I haven't asked her but I'm guessing most vegans won't be buying their impossible burgers at Burger King for that reason.
You only have to walk into a supermarket to see this is nonsense, meat vs veggie options are like 10 to 1.
You're referencing one widely debunked survey (this is about the vegan part of it, but it applied to the whole study and the vegetarian percentage claim (of 14%, not 20%), is discussed and debunked later in the article):
https://fullfact.org/health/vegans-uk/
I know 1 vegan and 1 vegetarian, but I know at least 6 ex-vegetarians.
I think it's a two-parter: There's a degree of social pressure within groups, but it's also a function of where you live. As part of a university-dense area there's a lot of eco-conscious vegetarians here - which makes it easier to market to vegetarians - so they have more options - which makes it easier to be vegetarian. Feedback loops.
I live in Nottingham, which has two big universities. There are a few vegan cafes and bars around. I don't know how old you are, but a lot of my ex-veggie friends stopped being so in their 30s.
Most people aren't going to worry about incidental "contamination".
Why is the corporate world so hopelessly stupid?
I can't say I agree with this sentiment. This sort of thing happens in other food service outlets and it's never bothered me. The one that comes to mind is grocery stores having separate slicers for meat and dairy to accommodate those who keep kosher. I'm not Jewish, and neither am I a vegetarian, but I wouldn't call those who do keep such lifestyle choices unreasonable.
Also, the word demand here commands more than one meaning. If there is demand for such a separation, and money to be made from accommodating that demand, those practices will find their way into the market.
Look it, no one is demanding anything. They're mis-representing their product. That's all that I'm saying. The end.
Everything else you're saying, your railing against the so-called "vegan moral framework," etc..., is, to me, just you grinding an axe.
They are flame broiled, not grilled. They aren't cooked in any type of grease.
Many fast food places (McDonald's, Wendy's) use a flat surface similar to this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Flickr_X...
Typical ground beef is 20% fat (80% lean), and if you cook it on that, the fat will melt, it will hang around on that surface, and whatever else you cook next will be cooked in animal grease left over from the beef patty.
If you flame broil, the burger sits on a wire mesh, and the grease drips away.
I'm not just picking nits. I'm really trying to make a sincere point that I think one method will have significantly less transfer (not zero) than the other.
They are fairly large and probably expensive, so a separate broiler may not be an option.