Vegetarians may be out of burger luck this Fourth of July weekend. (And apparently, meat eaters as well). The Times reports that Gardenburger meatless patties are disappearing from Seattle area supermarket shelves and restaurant menus due to production delays. As a result, chief competitors Boca Burger and MorningStar Farms can't keep up with the increased demand and their supplies are dwindling as well. QFC, Fred Meyer, Metropolitan Market, PCC and TOP Food & Drug all report the veggie burger shortage, and Red Mill Burgers in Phinney apparently ran out of meatless patties over the weekend. Kellogg's, which bought the Gardenburger brand in November, said the production delays were due to quality-control issue at its Gardenburger plant in Clearfield, Utah; they've now resumed production. (Via Voracious)
The Nickerson Street Saloon makes their own vegetarian patty in-house and it is mighty tasty. I'll bet they haven't experienced a shortage!
Well that explains it...I've been looking everywhere for Gardenburgers - glad they'll be back on the shelves soon - Morning Star is a distant second, Boca - gak.