Healthy eating and staying fit is the top priority in today’s life. But keeping healthy habits is not only about being thin, but also about depriving yourself from your favourite food you love. To avoid such guilt-free indulgence, Californian premium burger brand, Carl’s Jr has recently launched “Green Burgers” for their customers. Keeping in mind the growing demand for healthy options in the burger space and sensitivities of gluten conscious patrons, Carl’s Jr will offer burger lovers a healthy indulgence by providing them the option of substituting the ‘‘buns’’ with ‘‘fresh lettuce.”
Carl’s Jr promises to offer “low-carb” or a “lettuce-wrapped” burger which will consist juicy, tender, succulent, filling patty with fresh veggies and sauces inside, wrapped by a thick layer of fresh, crispy, lettuce leaves at the guest’s choice. All the burgers in the menu can be converted into low-carb burgers at no additional cost.
Sana Chopra, Executive Director, Carl’s Jr, India talks about the newly launched green burgers and why chargrilled burgers would be a healthy option for their customers. Sana says, “We wanted to bring out the healthy side of having burgers. Food is healthy when the composition or the ingredients are fresh and healthy. At Carl’s Jr, our food is made fresh to order with healthy, premium ingredients because we strive to provide our guests an exceptional food experience. Additionally, Carl’s Jr is globally known for its chargrilled burgers which are automatically a healthier option. In India, chargrilling is a relatively new practice but a much healthier one.
Even in India, around 60% of Carl’s Jr’s burgers have chargrilled patties. Chargrilling is a process in which the patties are cooked over an open-flame without the use of any additional oils, thus ensuring the patty cooks in its own juices and is succulent and tender. These chargrilled patties are a much healthier option, one which our guests are enjoying very much.” She adds.
Carl’s Jr also offers its customers the option of choosing their own type of bun base for their burgers. To which Sana says, “We provide our guests the option of swapping the type of bun on their burgers to a honey wheat option or a low carb option. While honey wheat is a healthier alternative in terms of a healthy carb, our low-carb or “green” or “lettuce-wrapped” option has no bread at all. The low-carb option allows guests to swap their bun for a thick layer of fresh, crispy, lettuce leaves, so guests greatly reduce their carb intake with this option. This allows ideal for the gluten-conscious guest who wish to minimize their gluten intake.”
She elaborates, “Not only this, our iced-tea is also not excessively sweetened. In essence, iced tea is meant to be unsweetened. We have kept our audience in mind when we decided to just lightly sweeten our iced tea, with the option of adding a sweetener to the drink if an individual guest wishes to. This allows the iced tea to be another healthier beverage option.”
Talking about “Chargrilling” and how it is different from other burger offerings in the industry, Sana says,
“Carl’s Jr is unique in many ways but the like the name says, we are especially known for our chargrilled burgers. We are the primary QSR brand to chargrill our burgers. We have a large variety of burgers in the chargrilled section, such as the Mango Jalapeno Pepper Chicken, Tandoori Pepper Chicken, Famous Star, Super Star, Mile High, Jalapeño Burger, Tikka Masala, Tandoori Paneer and Paneer Tikka.”
Sana believes it would attract customers though burgers are considered as fast food. She says, “We are still a QSR or a Quick Service Restaurant with “fast food”. Fast food does not necessarily have to mean high in indulgence, although it is automatically associated with “junk food”. At Carl’s Jr, we provide QSR speed and convenience with casual dining ambience, serving premium quality food. In fact, dining at Carl’s Jr ensures, you satisfy the desire to gorge on a nice big, juicy burger, but also the desire to make a healthier choice- that is gorge on a chargrilled product over a fried one. You can choose to be healthier and get your dose of fast food in the same meal!”
“However, for those who cannot do without the crunchy, fried burger, Carl’s Jr has its crispy hand-breaded chicken menu with burgers, legs, wings, tenders as well as its crispy vegetarian section,”she adds.
Carl’s Jr promises to offer the option of customising a burger with no cheese and no mayo as an option. Talking about customising , Sana says, “Firstly, while we emphasize on this availability of customising (increasing, decreasing, doubling, swapping out one ingredients for another) for all our guests and encourage them to ask for more or allow them to reduce, we are not forcefully doing this for any of our guests. Our burger builds are made keeping flavours profiles and guest preferences in mind. However, if a guest simply does not want cheese or wants to reduce the quantity of mayo because of whatever reason, they have the right to do so. They make this choice on the basis of their own understanding of their palate preferences. “
She adds, “Secondly, our patties are very flavourful. Take our chargrilled Moroccan chicken patty for example: it is Moroccan spiced, tender and juicy. If a person decides to do away with the salad, mayo and even the bun, they will still get tasty flavour from just the Moroccan chicken patty. We have ensured that all of our patties have their own unique flavor infused in them or marinated into them. Furthermore, even our honey wheat bun has a distinctive flavour. So, just because a person customises, it does not lessen the overall quality or flavour profile of their burgers.”
“It would be healthy yet delicious.” She concludes.
Carl’s Jr has recently launched its new franchise in Pacific Mall, Subhash Nagar in New Delhi.