McDonald’s’ six-month trial run of a vegetarian burger — which began with much fanfare — has ended quietly with no current plans to add it to the menu.
Between Sept. 30 last year and April 6, McDonald’s launched two consecutive trials of the burger — made with a Beyond Meat patty — at dozens of its restaurants in southwestern Ontario.
The fast food chain dubbed the burger the P.L.T. (plant, lettuce, tomato) and said it was being tested in Canada for restaurants across the globe.
The chain publicly promoted the trial, which garnered international headlines due to its partnering with popular faux meat maker Beyond Meat to create the sandwich.
McDonald’s made no public announcements when the P.L.T. trial ended in April. It also removed information about the burger from its website with no explanation.
McDonald’s told CBC News it has no updates on the P.L.T.’s fate. Currently, the company is “evaluating learnings” from the trial “to help inform future plant-based menu decisions,” McDonald’s Canada spokesperson Veronica Bart told CBC News in an email.
When asked about the McDonald’s P.L.T. trial, California-based Beyond Meat offered a brief reply.
“We can only comment generally and share that we were pleased with the test,” said spokesperson Shira Zackai in an email on Monday.
But in a May 5 conference call with financial analysts following the release of Beyond Meat’s latest financial report, J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman inquired why the P.L.T. test had ended.
“If a test did well, the retailer wouldn’t end it. They would expand it,” he said.
McDonald’s previously introduced a vegetarian burger, the McVeggie Deluxe, in 2002 in Canada, but pulled it three years later due to weak sales. Last year, competitors Burger King and A&W each launched a plant-based burger that remains on their menus.
On April 30, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC in an interview that a veggie burger will eventually be a menu staple and that decisions will be made on a country-by-country basis.
“When we bring plant-based on the menu, we need to be confident that there’s a sufficient level of demand that really will allow it to stick on the menu,” he said.
McDonald’s already offers a vegetarian burger in some countries, including Finland, Sweden, India, South Africa and Australia.
Source: CBC
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