Quick service restaurant KFC successfully dipped their toes into the meat alternative market in late November – selling out of plant-based fried chicken in less than six hours in a recent test in Mississauga, Canada.
Fad or long-lasting trend?
The move comes as a growing number of quick service restaurants – including Burger King, White Castle and Qdoba – put plant-based meat products on their menus. However, no one quite knows yet if plant-based proteins will be here to stay.
“We do see [plant-based] as a bit more than a little fad, but I don’t know if it will be a major component of the business,” Tony Lowings, the CEO of KFC noted to Forbes.
Earlier this year, KFC partnered with Beyond Meat to trial a plant-based product in Atlanta. That product also exceeded demand – and the restaurant ran out of the chicken alternative in less than five hours.
Quick service rival McDonald's is taking plant-based proteins seriously and recently debuted a soy-and-wheat-based patty in Germany called the Big Vegan.
“I don’t think it’s faddish. Whether it maintains its same level of buzz I think is what’s interesting,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook told CNBC.
Consumer interest in plant-based meat
Nearly 90% of people trying plant-based foods do not identify as vegan or vegetarian. The term ‘flexitarian’ – consumers who make an effort to reduce, but not totally eliminate their meat consumption – has been a buzzword for retailers and food producers in 2019. Many of these consumers cite the environment as the primary factor behind their changing diets, with 62% stating that they are willing to reduce meat consumption due to environmental concerns in a Nielson survey.
Regardless of whether plant-based proteins are a passing fad or a long-lasting trend, being flexitarian is “no longer a niche lifestyle choice but a prominent feature of mainstream food culture,” consumer research and market analysis company, the Hartman Group, recently concluded.
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