{"id":14427,"date":"2019-11-08T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=14427"},"modified":"2019-10-31T10:52:39","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T14:52:39","slug":"johnny-rockets-gardein-burger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2019\/11\/08\/johnny-rockets-gardein-burger\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Rockets\u00ae Gardein\u00ae Burger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving mostly burgers\nand fries, Johnny Rockets is a fast casual chain located in the majority of\nU.S. states as well as many other countries. See here<\/a> for all locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VRG noticed that a\npicture of a Gardein Black Bean Burger<\/a> is on the website menu. So we contacted Johnny\nRockets to find out about the veggie burger option, including the bun it was\nserved on as well as cooking prep protocol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tried contacting their PR firm\nand sent our questions to the website contact page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We received a response\nfrom Chris Heaton, Franchise Operations Director at Johnny Rockets. He was very\nwilling to assist and quite prompt with his replies. This is what we discovered\nwhen we asked about their vegan menu options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c…[W]e cook all of our\nproducts on the same flat top grill and fryolators. So beef, chicken, or turkey\nprotein could be still present. We do not have separate equipment to cook our\nvegetarian options due to our current kitchen and equipment layout. If you\nwould like me to look further into your questions with knowing that, please do\nlet me know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then asked if it were\npossible to get a vegan burger microwaved or request a sanitized grill surface\nand clean kitchen tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris replied:\n\u201cUnfortunately our restaurants are not equipped with microwaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure no previous\nprotein is present we would need to use cleaner and during operational hours,\nthat would potentially stop all production in the kitchen with the majority of\nour kitchens only having one flat top grill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do apologize that I\ndidn\u2019t have better news, but I certainly want to be sure you are safe with your\nfood. If there is a specific location you are inquiring to visit, I certainly\ncan connect you with the general manager to see if they have a recommendation\nfor you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, The VRG\nreplied by presenting a hypothetical situation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if I were in a party with non-vegans, which could happen, I could opt for veggies + avocado on a bun? Better than just sitting there with nothing. So I’d like to know if your buns are made with L-cysteine dough conditioner. And, if so, what’s the source of it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris responded to our\nquestion with a question: \u201cWhich location were you planning on attending? The\nreason I ask, is some locations utilize a local bakery for certain breads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then stated: \u201cWe live\nclose to the Inner Harbor (Baltimore) but sometimes travel for business. Good\nto know to ask when dining out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any guidance on what the\nJohnny Rockets suppliers use as the default would be helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris then wrote to us\nthat he had passed on our questions to the \u201cChef and Supply Chain\u201d who replied\ndirectly to our questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRG:<\/strong> Do either the Gardein or Boca contain dairy-derived\n<\/em>or egg-derived <\/em>ingredients like sodium caseinate or albumin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Rockets:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRG:<\/strong> Buns: Your hoagie roll, sourdough, regular, and\nwheat buns have no egg, no dairy. Correct?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Rockets:<\/strong> The wheat bun is manufactured on a line that\nhandles product with milk, otherwise all our buns are egg- & dairy-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRG:<\/strong> Do any of the buns contain L-cysteine (a common\ndough conditioner)? If so, is your source for the L-cysteine duck feathers or\nhuman hair? These are the most common sources for L-cysteine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Rockets:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRG Recommendation for\nVegans at Johnny Rockets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got the impression\nfrom Johnny Rockets that they are sincere in their efforts to cater to vegans.\nThe chain at least has vegan burgers on its menu by comparison with several\nother chains that don’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our experience, when\nenough customers request a change for better accommodation as vegans,\nmanagement listens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So The VRG encourages\nyou to request (politely) that a microwave be available or that a section of\nthe grill be easily sanitized to avoid cross contact with meat products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are ever in a\nJohnny Rockets restaurant, requested a microwaved burger or one prepped on a\nsanitized surface and received one, please let us know. We’d be happy to add it\nto this article for other future vegan diners at Johnny Rockets.\n\nThe contents of this posting, our website, and\nour other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to\nprovide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a\nqualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient\ninformation from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a\nstatement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be\nmade. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for\nyou. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

\nFor information on other chains, visit https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/fastfoodinfo.htm<\/a>

\nFor info vegetarian\/vegan restaurants, visit https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/restaurant\/index.htm<\/a>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS Serving mostly burgers and fries, Johnny Rockets is a fast casual chain located in the majority of U.S. states as well as many other countries. See here for all locations. The VRG noticed that a picture of a Gardein Black Bean Burger is on the website menu. So we contacted Johnny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14429,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14427\/revisions\/14429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}