After Burger King, KFC, Dunkin‘, White Castle, Subway, Qdoba, The Cheesecake Factory, Tim Hortons, Carl’s Jr., Red Robin, TGIFriday’s, Little Caesar’s, Del Taco, and pretty much every other fast food and quick-serve restaurant introduced a plant-based meat option, McDonald’s is finally starting to think it might be a good idea to add its own.
To that end, McDonald’s is testing a new “plant, lettuce, and tomato” sandwich using Beyond Meat’s patties in 28 restaurants next week. Unfortunately, for U.S. vegetarians those test burgers are only available in Canada. While a PLT doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, get used to it for now, because Beyond Big Mac is apparently not confirmed yet.
News of the sandwich testing sent shares of Beyond Meat soaring upward, adding 10% before the bell. McDonald’s shares stayed flat, though, probably because the company is so late to the game that everyone (not you, Arby’s) already has a veggie option. Basically, this is much better news for Beyond Meat and vegetarians eager to pair something with McDonald’s fries.
As NBC News points out, McDonald’s already sells plant-based burgers in Germany and Israel in partnership with Nestlé, which is launching its plant-based Awesome Burger at retailers and restaurants in the United States. That burger, which is owned by Nestlé offshoot Sweet Earth Foods (doesn’t that sound wholesome?), is made of yellow pea protein. It will be sold at supermarkets nationwide, including Giant Eagle, Safeway, and Wegmans starting October 1.
Perhaps McDonald’s will run a few tests with Awesome Burgers in U.S. outlets—and in my stomach.
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