Fast Food Giant McDonald’s Finally Unveils a Meatless Burger – the McPlant

It’s been a year since Beyond Meat and McDonald’s had tested a meatless burger and now McDonald’s has finally unveiled it.

McDonald’s said this week that it developed a plant-based patty it will dub the McPlant. A McDonald’s spokesperson told Yahoo Finance the McPlant will be put into test in 2021 on a market-by-market basis.

“As we have worked to better understand customer demand, some markets around the world have tested plant-based products. Informed by those learnings, we have created a delicious burger that will be the first menu option in a plant-based platform we are calling McPlant. McPlant is crafted exclusively for McDonald’s, by McDonald’s,” said McDonald’s International President Ian Borden in a statement.

Borden added, “In the future, McPlant could extend across a line of plant-based products including burgers, chicken-substitutes and breakfast sandwiches. And, we expect some markets will test the burger next year. We are excited about the opportunity because we believe we have a proven, delicious-tasting product. When customers are ready for it, we are ready for them.”
Shares of Beyond Meat were tumbling on the news on Monday. Shares slid as much as 28% Monday in after-hours trading as the McDonald’s announcement of a plant-based line called “McPlant” sparked confusion among investors about whether Beyond would be a supplier for the largest U.S. restaurant chain by sales.

“We have a relationship with Beyond Meat, where they supported us in our Canadian test market,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla in an interview that aired Tuesday.

“We haven’t made a decision yet about how we’re going to be and which suppliers are supporting our global rollout, so I don’t want to comment on that.”

A company spokesperson stated to Yahoo! Finance, “Beyond Meat and McDonalds co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform.” According to Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown, getting into Mcdonald’s was a long term goal for the company.

“I will say this: Everything we said is true,” Brown said. Beyond has developed a “very long-term” relationship with McDonald’s, including creating the burger that will be a part of McPlant. He explained its up to McDonald’s to decide the extent of the collaboration.

BTIG analyst Peter Saleh wrote in a note that it’s “extremely strange” that neither management team would confirm that they intend to work together.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.