Krabby Patty

Krabby Patty
Production company	United Plankton Pictures
First appearance	"Help Wanted" May 1, 1999 (1999-05-01)
Created by	Stephen Hillenburg
Genre	Comedy
In-universe information
Type	Veggie burger
Function	Food product sold at the Krusty Krab
Affiliation	Krusty Krab

The Krabby Patty is a veggie burger^[1] sold by the fictional Krusty Krab restaurant in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Created by the restaurant's founder Eugene Krabs and his archenemy Plankton, it is what the main character SpongeBob cooks throughout his job as a fry cook, as well as the restaurant's trademark food and most famous burger in Bikini Bottom. A prominent storyline throughout the series is Krabs' nemesis Plankton trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. This running gag was given a backstory in the special "Friend or Foe", where it is revealed that Krabs and Plankton created the Krabby Patty to compete with the health-violating restaurant Stinky Burgers.

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants

Krabby Patties make their debut appearance in SpongeBob SquarePants' pilot episode "Help Wanted" and have had many different variations throughout the show's run.^[2]

The Krabby Patty burger is a menu item sold by the Krusty Krab as a fast food product.^[3] It is considered to be one of the most successful foods in Bikini Bottom.^[4] The Krabby Patty formula is a closely guarded trade secret, and rival restaurateur Plankton's futile attempts at acquiring the secret formula is a major recurring theme throughout the series. The Krusty Krab usually attracts customers from Bikini Bottom because of the Krabby Patty's renowned taste and the fact that Plankton's restaurant, the Chum Bucket, has a menu consisting of mostly inedible chum.^[5] Due to the lack of viable competition, Mr. Krabs is generally free to engage in price gouging, a practice he has been known to do throughout the show.^[6] Sometimes, the Krusty Krab is shown to have a drive-thru to serve Krabby Patties, as seen in the episodes "Driven to Tears" and "Drive Thru" as well as The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.^[7][8]

Ingredients

The Krabby Patty is made with a frozen meatless burger.^[1] It is composed of the buns, the patty, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, ketchup, mustard, and onions.^[9][10] It may also contain one or more secret ingredients according to a Krabby Patty secret formula, though said secret formula has never been revealed in the series.^[11]

The Krusty Krab's menu, the Galley Grub, consists mostly of ordinary fast-food items, such as french fries and sodas. Its signature burger, the Krabby Patty, is celebrated to a comical degree by the citizens of Bikini Bottom. In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Mr. Krabs states: "The Krabby Patty is what ties us all together! Without it, there will be a complete breakdown of social order!"^[12] In the Season 1 episode Pickles, it's revealed that the burger comprises two buns, with the patty, lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, and pickles between them (in that order).^[13]

Theories

The formula has been hinted at but remained a mystery throughout the series. A running gag is Plankton's obsession with obtaining it as a way to produce the burgers and attract customers to his across-the-street restaurant, the Chum Bucket.^[14] The recipe of the patty is a closely guarded trade secret, which have led viewers to speculate about its contents.^[15][16] Several fan theories have been formed to guess the secret ingredient.^[17][18]

According to series animator Vincent Waller, "there is absolutely no meat in the Krabby Patty. There's no animal product in there", something which was always planned by series creator Stephen Hillenburg.^[1] Mr. Lawrence, a show writer and Plankton's voice actor, explained that the show's writers are not allowed to depict fish as food, or at least fish eating each other as food (as episodes such as "Hooky", "Wishing You Well", and "My Leg?" depict or allude to fish being consumed by humans); he stated that there is no meat served in Bikini Bottom except at the Chum Bucket.^[19] Tom Kenny, the voice actor for SpongeBob, joked: "Krabby Patties are hummus!"^[19] Some commentators suggest that there is actually no secret ingredient, pointing to Mr. Krabs' miserliness. A writer for Hollywood.com believes that it is "all a ruse that crafty Mr. Krabs came up with in order to stop Plankton from focusing on [t]he Chum Bucket. It's legitimately brilliant marketing!"^[20] The episode "Patty Caper" shows that there is truly a secret ingredient in the Krabby Patty, which is delivered to the restaurant with high security.^[21] On the possibility that the secret Krabby Patty formula will be revealed in future episodes, Waller said in 2017 that he "would not count on it".^[22] In 2019, Waller stated that Hillenburg, who died in 2018, is the only person to have seen it.^[23]

Real-life inspirations

A gummy candy version of the Krabby Patty

Publications such as USA Today have named it among other fictional foods that many have wanted to exist in real life,^[24] but according to the New York Daily News, there are four restaurants which serve a similar burger to the one seen in the show. These burgers include the Snow Crab Crispy Rice, Phuket Fantasy, Angry Crab Benedict, and Soft Shell Crab Taco.^[25]

The Krabby Patties have also inspired real life gummy confectionery treats, primarily in New England.^[26][27] In 2008, a doctor with Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine warned parents to be aware of where the candy their child consumes is produced due to contamination then found in Chinese milk; SpongeBob Gummy Krabby Patties were among those candies produced in China.^[28] In 2019, a reporter with the student newspaper of Capital University gave the gummy candies a rating of a 2 out of 10 in their review of Halloween candy.^[29]

The Krabby Patty Meal as served by Wendy's during the SpongeBob 25th anniversary celebration

The Krabby Patty has been used by Katy Perry as a second costume on the red carpet at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[30] In The SpongeBob Musical, the Krabby Patty was portrayed by an actor on stage at the Palace Theatre.^[31] Various merchandise depicts SpongeBob and the Krabby Patty such as HipDot, as make-up,^[32] and as dog toys.^[33]

In celebration of SpongeBob's 25th anniversary, Wendy's offered a limited-time Krabby Patty burger as a special menu item—which included fries and a pineapple-vanilla swirled “pineapple under the sea” Frosty—as part of its “Krabby Patty Kollab” promotion from October 8 to November 11, 2024. The collaboration drew criticism from some of the show’s fans because Hillenburg had conceived the canon Krabby Patty as a veggie burger, whereas the Wendy’s version contains the chain’s signature square beef-based patties, and personally opposed the use of his characters (and animated characters in general) to market fast food items to children, having stated that restaurants conducting marketing tie-ins with the show should not market food items as though they were actual Krusty Krab fare or have the characters appear in contact with the food.^[34][35]

References

1. Joest, Mick (22 July 2017). "What's In A Krabby Patty? Here's What The Spongebob Producer Knows". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
2. Frank, Allegra (1 May 2019). "SpongeBob SquarePants' 20 years of brilliance, explained in 3 episodes". Vox. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
3. Writers: Luke Brookshier, Nate Cash, Steven Banks (26 March 2010). "The Play's the Thing". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 7. Episode 138a. Nickelodeon.
4. Springer, Aaron; Greenblatt, C. H.; Osborne, Kent (writers) (May 10, 2002). "Krusty Krab Training Video". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 3. Episode 50b. Nickelodeon.
5. Writers: Sean Charmatz, Dani Michaeli (10 May 2002). "Chum Bucket Supreme". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 6. Episode 122a. Nickelodeon.
6. Writers: Luke Brookshier, Nate Cash, Steven Banks (3 April 2004). "Krabby Land". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 3. Episode 57a. Nickelodeon.
7. Writers: Paul Tibbitt, Kent Osborne, Mark O'Hare (10 May 2002). "The Krusty Sponge". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 5. Episode 89a. Nickelodeon.
8. Hoffman, Jordan (3 February 2015). "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water first look review – superhero slugfest drags a good sequel down". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
9. Writers: Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Derek Iversen, Andrew Goodman (25 November 2011). "The Way of the Sponge". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 8. Episode 166b. Nickelodeon.
10. Rolli, Bryan (31 May 2017). "Some genius finally figured out how to make the perfect Krabby Patty". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
11. Bryan, Chloe (8 April 2018). "Why is SpongeBob so damn meme-able?". Mashable. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
12. Tibbitt, Paul (director) (February 6, 2015). The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (film). Aibel, Jonathan; Berger, Glenn (writers). Paramount Pictures.
13. Fonti, Steve; Mitchell, Chris; Burns, Peter (writers) (21 August 1999). "Pickles". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 1. Episode 6b. Nickelodeon.
14. Barner, Katherine (18 March 2018). "The Latest Spongebob Meme Features the Krusty Krab vs. Chum Bucket Rivalry". Complex. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
15. Rocha, Isai (18 July 2017). "People Think The Krabby Patty's Secret Was Crab Meat, And It Makes So Much Sense". Foodbeast. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
16. Moore, Sam (14 January 2019). "People think that the secret ingredient in SpongeBob Squarepants' Krabby Patty is cocaine". Metro. DMG Media. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
17. Hood, Cooper (March 16, 2019). "SpongeBob Theory: What Are Krabby Patties Actually Made Of?". Screen Rant. Valnet Inc. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
18. Asarch, Steven (January 16, 2019). "Secret Ingredient In Krabby Patty? Cocaine! Says Internet". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
19. Kolokathis, Tina (23 July 2017). "Krabby Patty Formula, According To 'Spongebob' Cast Members, Isn't What You Expected". Elite Daily. Bustle Digital Group. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
20. Tinubu, Aramide (5 May 2016). "We Finally Know What The Krabby Patty Secret Formula Is From 'SpongeBob'!". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
21. Writers: Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eric Shaw (5 August 2008). "Patty Caper". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 6. Episode 108a. Nickelodeon.
22. Waller, Vincent [@VincentWaller72] (2 July 2017). "I would not count on it" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019 – via Twitter.
23. Waller, Vincent [@VincentWaller72] (22 January 2019). "Yes, but no human has seen it, other than Steve" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019 – via Twitter.
24. Ali, Rasha (13 June 2019). "Order up: Krabby Patties, Apollo Bars and other fictional foods we wish were real". USA Today. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
25. Pace, Gina. "SpongeBob inspiring you to find your own Krabby Patty? 5 New York eateries with fresh takes on crab sandwiches". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
26. Buchanan, Jesse (9 June 2019). "New Southington shop offers kids activities, nostalgic candy". Meriden Record Journal. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
27. Finaldi, Laura (19 June 2019). "Finaldi: Express, Candy Barrel leaving Sarasota Square mall". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
28. Sigman, Ashlea (30 October 2008). "Doctor: Be Cautious of Candy Made in China". KBTX-TV. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
29. Pasco, Shirleeah (24 October 2019). "Not all candies are created equal: Halloween candy reviews". The Chimes. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
30. Lieu, Johnny (7 May 2019). "Katy Perry, former chandelier, changed into a hamburger at the Met Gala". Mashable SEA. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
31. Salamone, Gina (30 November 2017). "Playing a giant Krabby Patty in 'SpongeBob SquarePants' musical can leave you feeling fried". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
32. Zimmerman, Kelsi (14 June 2019). "SpongeBob Is The Latest Beauty Influencer Thanks To The HipDot x SpongeBob Makeup Collection". Elite Daily. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
33. Cooper, Ryan (3 October 2018). "SpongeBob SquarePants Krabby Patty Dog Toy". Geek Alerts. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
34. Velasquez, Francisco (28 August 2024). "Wendy's and Paramount are reportedly cooking up a SpongeBob Krabby Patty burger – The new burger could come as early as this fall alongside a special guest". Retrieved 31 August 2024.
35. Keegan Kelly (October 8, 2024). "'SpongeBob SquarePants' Fans Are Pissed at Wendy's for Breaking This Sacred Rule". Cracked.