Photo: Steffen Mokosch via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped. This adapted image is also licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.

McDonald's Announces the McPlant, Its Own Plant-Based Burger, for 2021

The world's biggest burger chain says McPlant could grow into a whole line of plant-based burgers, chicken and breakfast sandwiches

November 11, 2020

McDonald's has announced the McPlant, a plant-based burger it has developed itself, and says it will be the first of a whole line of plant-based products.

The news came at the company's investor day on Monday (November 9). Ian Borden, McDonald's international president, told investors, as reported by VegNews:

In the future, McPlant could extend across a line of plant-based products including burgers, chicken-substitutes, and breakfast sandwiches.

The company says it has "created a delicious burger that will be the first menu option in a plant-based platform we are calling McPlant", and that "McPlant is crafted exclusively for McDonald's, by McDonald's." According to Restaurant Dive, select markets will pilot the McPlant burger in 2021. CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC it will be a "global core menu optional item", which means each country can choose to add it when its customers want it.

McDonald's hasn't named a supplier, but a Beyond Meat spokesperson said the company co-created a meatless patty with McDonald's. Kempczinski confirmed: "We have a relationship with Beyond Meat, where they supported us in our Canadian test market."

For a company that built its name on the beef burger, this is a big moment. Its rivals have already moved: Burger King put the Impossible Whopper in every US restaurant last year and KFC sold a million vegan burgers in the UK in January. With McDonald's on board, a plant-based burger is about to be on offer in more places than ever.

That matters. A University of Oxford study in PNAS found plant-based diets could cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70% and save more than 8 million lives by 2050. Every burger that comes from plants instead of a cow is a small win for both.

This is the plant-based revolution Google predicted arriving at the drive-thru. In 2017 we covered the world's first 24-hour vegan drive-thru. Since then Beyond Meat shares surged 163% on day one, plant-based meat sales jumped 264% during lockdown and Tesco pledged to triple its plant-based meat sales.

We're lovin' it. Bring on 2021.

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