A radical twist is what fast-food giant McDonald‘s hopes to deliver with its new line of alternative food. It is about “McPlant”, which will have a range of plant-based products, as a healthier option with respect to meat.
The fast food chain -one of the most recognized in the world- mentioned that this green variation to its dishes will be presented in almost all its products: hamburgers, nuggets and others. However, this will not affect existing lines. McDonald’s still relies on its flagship products like “Big Mac”, “McNuggets” and the classic French fries, which account for about 70% of its sales in its key markets.
This “McPlant” option will be presented as an alternative to the traditional hamburger made with beef and has been co-created with Beyond Meat, despite the fact that at one point the multinational did not want to recognize its participation in the initiative.
What’s more, Beyond Meat shares initially fell as much as 8% after McDonald’s announcement, but rallied to finish 4% lower after the plant-based meat company clarified that it was involved in the development process of McPlant.
This proposal would follow the line of the “P.L.T” hamburger, the pilot project carried out earlier this year in almost 100 establishments in Ontario (Canada) to commercialize new vegetarian products.
The announcement of this launch is part of a new McDonald’s business strategy that, under the slogan “Accelerating the Arches” will bring other important news in its food offer and its purchase and delivery services, in order to recover the sales levels that the Pandemic has taken away.
New global health food trend
The move towards meat substitutes has been driven primarily by concerns about the effects of meat on health, the environment, and animal welfare. However, McDonald’s is relatively late to the meatless market. Other fast food establishments such as Burger King, White Castle and Dunkin ‘Brands Group have already introduced plant-based burgers.
