McDonald’s vs Beyond Meat: Who will Win Plant Based Burger Race? 

Stepping into the trend of Plant Based Burger, McDonald’s has introduced its own faux meat burger in Ontario.

With the objective of improving its popularity and introducing new menu items into its existing operations, McDonald’s will welcome plant, lettuce and tomato burger (PLT) by the end of September. The addition will be made as a test series for 12 weeks in 28 restaurants of South-western Ontario only.

The announcement made by McDonald’s on Thursday stated that the burger won’t actually be technically vegan, as it will be cooked on the same grill as meat. The recent addition is basically for people who want to make a shift from animal based foods to the vegan ones.

The food giant revealed in a statement that the plant-based patty priced at 6.49 Canadian dollars ($4.90), plus tax, will have no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

The introduction of the plant based burger can be seen as McDonald’s answer to Kathy Freston, a well-known author and vegan wellness activist. Kathy filed an online petition five years ago urging the chain to introduce a plant based burger on the menu. Highlighting that she has no issue with the fact that the same grill is used to cook meat, Kathy said, “Let’s make it as easy as we can for businesses to make the shift from animal-based food to plant-based food.”

Till this date, the petition launched with Change.org has garnered more than 229,000 signatures. In May 2019, Freston presented the petition to the executives of McDonald’s at their annual meeting in May. You can sign it too!

Commenting on the plant based burger test, Ann Wahlgren, Vice President of Global Menu Strategy said, “This test allows us to learn more about real-world implications of serving the P.L.T., including customer demand and impact on restaurant operations.”

McDonalds is not the first food company to introduce plant based burger to its menu. The initiative was first taken by Beyond Meat, which became a publicly traded company in May after listing its shares for $45 on the Nadaq. Also, KFC has partnered with Beyond Meat for the testing of plant based chicken nuggets and boneless wings at an Atlanta restaurant.

Impossible Foods, a huge competitor of Beyond Meat, announced the making of meatless “sausage” crumbles for Little Caesars pizza chain.

Recently, McDonald’s introduced an Indian version of burger as a part of its “Great Taste of the World” promotion. The sandwich is made up of two mini garlic naan breads instead of the regular burger.

However, the Indian style delicacy has received mixed response with some customers complaining of dry bread. Others said that the burger was “really messy”. Some people sharing opposite views, relished the concept and called it a “tasty delight”.