If you live in the States and frequent McDonald’s restaurants, you probably know that they don’t have a vegan or vegetarian patty option on their menus yet. But if you think that McDonald’s never had meatless options on its menu, you are wrong. McD’s had and still has a variety of vegan options but it is just that they are only available outside of the US. For now, that is. Here is some interesting trivia on McDonald’s.
Most of McDonald’s meatless options were featured in European countries like McVegan in Finland and Le Grand Veggie Burger in France. McDonald’s also had a successful meatless patty launch in India. Meatless McAloo Tikki Patty made of potatoes seems to be a real success.
What about McDonald’s meatless options in the US?
Earlier in 2019 McDonald’s did a test run with their P.L.T (Plant Lettuce Tomato) sandwich with a meatless patty in Canada. Plant-based patty was custom-manufactured by Beyond Meat company. UBS (financial and market research Swiss company) reported that McDonald’s was testing its meatless burgers in that particular part of North Americas because that region “has a good representation of North American and European customers with Flexitarian preferences.” Businessinsider reports.
According to Marketwatch.com website, an analyst stated that “For new products, McDonald’s often develops its own product specifications and prefers to multi-source supplies.” Currently, McDonald’s sells only 20-30 plant-based burgers a day according to a Swiss investment and market research firm, Reuters reports.
For the world’s biggest fast-food chain to introduce a new viable product to its menu, it has got to be certain that a new item will be a success and not a loss. As restaurantbusinessonline reports, “The numbers from UBS are hardly an argument in favor of a broad national introduction soon.” Here is an interesting read on how many burgers the world’s biggest fast-food chain has sold so far.
However, the demand for a meatless option in the US McDonald’s stores is there. Recently, even a petition was organized by a vegan activist Kathy Freston through Change.org to add a meatless option to McDonald’s menu across the US. Honestly, I can’t wait for McD’s to start offering those plant-based patties just like they do in Europe.