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McDonald’s to test McPlant, which includes its own meat-free burger

Walter White Walker

Walter White Walker

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Oct 27, 2017
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www.cnbc.com

McDonald's unveils McPlant line, which includes meatless patty co-created by Beyond Meat

McDonald's will test a meat-free burger in several markets next year as it adds plant-based menu offerings, which it has coined "McPlant."
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
McDonald's will test a meat-free burger in several markets next year as it adds plant-based menu offerings, which it has coined "McPlant."

International President Ian Borden said that McPlant was created "by McDonald's and for McDonald's." Borden said that the McPlant line could also include chicken substitutes.
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Looks like they want to use their own meat substitute instead of Beyond Burger and so on. Except veggie burgers they're using in Germany and presumably elsewhere made by Nestle.
 
Bigkrev

Bigkrev

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Oct 25, 2017
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Surprised it's taken them this long, I feel that the Impossible Whopper has been nation-wide for a year now. Only question is are they going to to make the patty approx the size of it's normal burgers- so you can do a Plant-based Big Mac-, it's quarter pounders, or if it's going to be a unique size and a completely new menu item
 
Transistor

Transistor

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Oct 25, 2017
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They already have the McRib, though? I'm pretty sure there's no meat to be found in that thing.

Seriously, though, the more plant based stuff the better. Happy to see them exploring this.
 
nujabeans

nujabeans

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Dec 2, 2017
961
This is a good step forward. Honestly, why couldn't they just make the McNuggets vegan? They could easily make a plant-based version that tastes exactly the same and has the same texture.
 
jph139

jph139

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Oct 25, 2017
14,368
Smart to go in-house with this sort of thing. I think Burger King has proven there's a long-term market for plant-based meat at fast food restaurants. I mean, it just makes sense - if the consumer isn't expecting top-shelf beef, they're not going to mind a reasonable facsimile.

Honestly, there's something about McDonalds burgers - the greasiness, the buns, the onions - that just hit different. Probably the biggest thing I've missed since cutting out beef.
 
Mantrox

Mantrox

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Oct 27, 2017
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Is this drastically different from the Mc Veggie?
Or is it the fact that it's trying to mimic meat?
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

Eating crackers
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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't know who is in charge of their branding on this, but McPlant is a terrible name, as was the PLT they tested in Canada. Incase you didn't hear about that one, PLT stood for Plant, Lettuce, Tomato.

Like... hey aren't those other things also plants?
 
Gemüsepizza

Gemüsepizza

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Oct 26, 2017
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Will probably taste horrible. Did it occur to McDonalds that not all vegetarians and vegans want to eat a burger that tastes like meat? It's so mindboggling how they don't understand this.

I used to like going to McDonalds in the past, they had a Veggie burger (with vegetable patty) where I live (Germany), which was nice. But then they removed it from their menu and replaced it with a new Vegan burger, which tastes disgusting. I almost pucked when I tried it. Thankfully Burger King still has a burger with vegetable patty here.
 
Owlet

Owlet

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Honestly if it tastes good and doesn't cost exponentially more, I'd eat it over a normal burger.

But... I have my doubts on the taste.
 
AnansiThePersona

AnansiThePersona

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Oct 27, 2017
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First bite into the McPlant lookin like

450
 
BebopCola

BebopCola

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Jul 17, 2019
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If they were to simply slide it into a McGriddle I'd eat three a day (until I died two weeks later)
 

Deleted member 8468

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McPlant hahahahaha what an awful name.

Glad this is happening, especially at somewhere as huge as McDonald's.
 
OrangeNova

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Oct 30, 2017
12,631
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Gemüsepizza said:
Will probably taste horrible. Did it occur to McDonalds that not all vegetarians and vegans want to eat a burger that tastes like meat? It's so mindboggling how they don't understand this.

I used to like going to McDonalds in the past, they had a Veggie burger (with vegetable patty) where I live (Germany), which was nice. But then they removed it from their menu and replaced it with a new Vegan burger, which tastes disgusting. I almost pucked when I tried it. Thankfully Burger King still has a burger with vegetable patty here.
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An important thing to remember with these, they are more to transition people who eat meat regularly to eating more alternatives, less for people who are already vegan/vegetarian.
 
Bladelaw

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Oct 25, 2017
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nujabeans said:
This is a good step forward. Honestly, why couldn't they just make the McNuggets vegan? They could easily make a plant-based version that tastes exactly the same and has the same texture.
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Cost and/or getting the flavor right.

If they can get flavor/texture to match I'd expect a Pepsi Challenge like ad campaign and some free trials to get people to switch over so they can hopefully retire the standard McNugget.

EDIT: a McPlant sounds like a THPS trick name.
 
Gemüsepizza

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Oct 26, 2017
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OrangeNova said:
An important thing to remember with these, they are more to transition people who eat meat regularly to eating more alternatives, less for people who are already vegan/vegetarian.
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Well if this is the case, why not offer both? Where I live they have replaced the old Veggie burger with this new Vegan burger that tastes like meat. Haven't been at McDonalds for a long time now.
 
pants

pants

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Oct 27, 2017
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This is the logical endgame of fast food; people still want the convenience, but are wising up to the horrifying long term effects of a bad diet. The first company that can make fast food healthy, cheap, and sustainable is going to save America.

There's a chain already trying it in my neck of the woods — called Bryn and Dane's — but I'm not convinced its even close to its final form yet. Would love to be involved in the business development of it, partly because I find it fascinating, and partly because I think it really is a big deal for the proliferation of better food in general. Done sustainably and right this kind of thing will change lives.
 
Camwi

Camwi

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That's actually kinda cool that a big company is doing their own version. Competition should hopefully increase the taste and bring down the cost of these meat alternatives.
 
Bigkrev

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Gemüsepizza said:
Will probably taste horrible. Did it occur to McDonalds that not all vegetarians and vegans want to eat a burger that tastes like meat? It's so mindboggling how they don't understand this.

I used to like going to McDonalds in the past, they had a Veggie burger (with vegetable patty) where I live (Germany), which was nice. But then they removed it from their menu and replaced it with a new Vegan burger, which tastes disgusting. I almost pucked when I tried it. Thankfully Burger King still has a burger with vegetable patty here.
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This isn't really designed to be eaten by Vegans- Burger Kings impossible Whopper comes with Mayonase and is cooked on the same surface as their normal burgers. It's more for people who aren't Vegans to reduce their red meat consumption.
 
Mehdren

Mehdren

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Oct 27, 2017
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Greggs, in the UK, have been offering vegan sausage rolls and steak bakes for a while now and they're great. Surprised it took McDonalds so long to join the party.
 
collige

collige

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Oct 31, 2017
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1. That name is awful
2. I'm curious to see whether or not their in house substitute can compete with Beyond/Impossible
 

HylianMaster2020

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When it's all said and done people will try it and go back to the main appeal to McDon's the Big mac, quarter pounder, etc.
 
ned_ballad

ned_ballad

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oh thank god, something other than Egg McMuffins that I can eat

McVeggie would have been a better name

HylianMaster2020 said:
When it's all said and done people will try it and go back to the main appeal to McDon's the Big mac, quarter pounder, etc.
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I can't go back to those things. It's either McPlant or Egg McMuffin for me lol

Until they can tell me 100% that their fries don't use meat base flavoring (they won't confirm it 100% in the US for some reason), I can't even eat those...
 
P-MAC

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Gemüsepizza said:
Will probably taste horrible. Did it occur to McDonalds that not all vegetarians and vegans want to eat a burger that tastes like meat? It's so mindboggling how they don't understand this.

I used to like going to McDonalds in the past, they had a Veggie burger (with vegetable patty) where I live (Germany), which was nice. But then they removed it from their menu and replaced it with a new Vegan burger, which tastes disgusting. I almost pucked when I tried it. Thankfully Burger King still has a burger with vegetable patty here.
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Not that I disagree with you or this helps your issue at all but as far as I've seen that seems to be a regional issue, most McDonalds here in the UK still have the veggie burger
 
Gigglepoo

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I'm really not into the Beyond/Impossible meats. They taste fine (though a little uncanny valley), but they're all really unhealthy. I'd much rather have a traditional vegetarian option that doesn't try to replicate meat but instead tastes good in its own right and is actually healthy.
 
ss1

ss1

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Oct 27, 2017
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The vegan burger here in Germany is not very good to be honest. Unless something has changed since when I last tried after it launched in 2019. I was very disappointed. Hopefully, this will be better.
 
Cats

Cats

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Oct 27, 2017
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The more this happens the better. We need to keep pushing meat substitutes.
 
ss1

ss1

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Gigglepoo said:
I'm really not into the Beyond/Impossible meats. They taste fine (though a little uncanny valley), but they're all really unhealthy. I'd much rather have a traditional vegetarian option that doesn't try to replicate meat but instead tastes good in its own right and is actually healthy.
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Yep agreed. Variety is key. I want "beef" like burgers, but also tasty traditional vegetarian burgers. I really liked the Halloumi burgers that Burger King were selling this year.
 
RecRoulette

RecRoulette

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Hold up, they're doing their own thing? Interesting.

They have the money to do so, and if they pull it off they save on a ton of money that competitors are spending to license Impossible/Beyond

Gigglepoo said:
I'm really not into the Beyond/Impossible meats. They taste fine (though a little uncanny valley), but they're all really unhealthy. I'd much rather have a traditional vegetarian option that doesn't try to replicate meat but instead tastes good in its own right and is actually healthy.
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This has been a disappointing thing in a lot of places. A place I used to go to had a really great black bean burger that they got rid of for an Impossible burger.
 
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