McDonald’s is releasing this month its highly anticipated plant-based patty, the McPlant, at selected locations throughout the United Kingdom. Developed as a joint venture with vegan brand Beyond Meat, the McPlant features a Beyond Meat patty topped with ketchup, mustard, vegan special sauce, onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and vegan cheese on a vegan based sesame-seed bun.
McDonald’s also confirmed that the burger will be prepared on a separate grill and that they will use especially dedicated utensils for its plant-based offerings. The burger has been certified vegan by the country’s Vegetarian Society.
The McPlant will launch in 10 select McDonald’s locations by the end of September and will expand to more than 250 locations by middle October. By the beginning of next year, the vegan patty will be rolled out across the UK.
McDonald’s signed a three-year deal and partnership with Beyond Meat to co-develop the fast-food chain’s McPlant platform, this is expected to be the launch of various plant-based options worldwide. The range starts with the McPlant burger but will develop into new items such as plant-based chicken burgers and vegan egg breakfast sandwiches.
The Beyond Meat partnership had a limited launch of a McPlant burger in Europe which included test locations in Sweden and Denmark and Austria where it is served with dairy cheese and mayonnaise.
Though McDonald’s is just beginning to add a plant-based burger option to its menus, we have many fast-food chains worldwide already offering plant-based options. Burger King offers the plant-based Impossible Whopper in more than 7,000 locations in the United States. The Impossible Whopper features a flame-grilled Impossible Burger 2.0 patty topped with sliced tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, and onions on a toasted sesame seed bun.
Last August, Burger King added a new all-vegan burger option, the Version 2 Whopper, in Japan. It featuring vegan meat patties with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mustard, and ketchup. The new vegan Whopper was made to showcase the meatiness of the soy-based vegan patties, which are made by Australian company v2food.
Another company was Wendy’s who tested back in 2019 The Plantiful Burger in Canada. It was made with a pea protein-based patty which is the key ingredient used by many vegan meat brands, including Beyond Meat. While the chain has since removed The Plantiful Burger from its menu, in June, Wendy’s got back into the plant-based game with the introduction of the Spicy Black Bean burger to the US, the build includes a patty made from a blend of vegetables and grains, topped with tomato, a spring mix, along with dairy-based pepper jack cheese and parmesan-ranch sauce, that was served on a vegan-friendly toasted seven-grain bun.
