McDonald’s Announces the McPlant Menu
Fast food giant McDonald’s will soon find out if their loyal customers are willing to try a taste of their new meat alternatives as they launch their “McPlant” menu, beginning with a plant-based burger – no doubt to compete with their long-time rival, Burger King’s “Impossible Burger,” which has met with considerable success.
McDonald’s tested the new plant-based burger in Canada, using a plant-derived protein source from Beyond Meat; an increasingly popular grocery store meat alternative. The company stated it will be ready for a full launch of the new McPlant Burger sometime in the new year. If successful, international division president, Ian Borden, said the new McPlant menu could soon include plant-based chicken sandwiches as well as alternative plant-based breakfast meals.
The company told investors it is hoping to capitalize on consumer trends for meat alternatives, while enhancing their popular traditional menu at the same time. They are currently in the process of expanding their famous McChicken sandwich selections to entice Chick-fil-A consumers to associate McDonald’s with chicken. Their spicy chicken nuggets flavor, launched in September, has already been successful in boosting overall monthly sales. McDonald’s USA president, Joe Erlinger, said new chicken options will hopefully give McDonald’s more “credibility” with fast food consumers, as they regularly test-market variations on their classics in select markets.
Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.