KFC Sells One Million Vegan Burgers in a Month as Veganuary Hits 400,000 Sign-Ups

Veganuary has smashed its own record with just over 400,000 official sign-ups for January 2020, and KFC has revealed it sold one million vegan burgers across the UK in the same month.

The figures were announced today (Monday, February 3) by Veganuary, the UK charity that challenges people to try vegan for the month:

"Just over 400,000 people signed-up, compared to 250,000 in 2019, far exceeding our 2020 target of 350,000."

"KFC sold one million vegan burgers in the first month they were on sale."

Veganuary's head of communications Toni Vernelli told The Grocer the response had "exceeded all of our expectations". And the people who sign up are only part of it. Plenty more try the challenge without registering.

KFC's burger is the star of the month. The chain added the Vegan Burger to the menu at all 900 UK locations on January 2. It's a Quorn fillet coated in the Colonel's Original Recipe 11 herbs and spices, served in a soft-glazed bun with lettuce and vegan mayonnaise. Ira Dubinsky of KFC UK and Ireland summed it up neatly: "It's the flavour of KFC, just with zero chicken."

One million burgers works out at one sold every three seconds since launch. It's a remarkable result for a product that only began life last June as the 'Imposter' burger, a four-week trial in London, Bristol and the Midlands that sold out in four days. (Somewhere, a chicken is breathing a sigh of relief.)

Every one of those burgers counts. A University of Oxford study published in PNAS found that global adoption of a vegan diet would save around 8 million lives by 2050, and the same research found plant-based diets could cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70%.

This is another sign of the plant-based revolution Google predicted. Last year a record 250,000 people signed up for Veganuary, Greggs' vegan sausage roll sold out across the UK, and in the US KFC's vegan fried chicken sold out in under five hours. Back in 2016 we were excited about London's first vegan fried chicken shop. Now the Colonel himself is frying Quorn in every branch.

It's never been easier to go vegan, and Veganuary 2021 starts in eleven months. This is just the beginning.