The demand for Beyond Meat products at restaurant chain Tim Hortons has not been strong enough to justify keeping the plant-based protein products on its menu, a company spokesman said.
According to The Motley Fool, Tim Hortons, a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International (RBI), rolled out the plant-plant based products in the form of breakfast sausage and burger patties at about 4,000 restaurant locations in Canada.
Then, in September 2019, the company removed those products from the Tim Hortons menu at all locations, with the exception of those in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. Now the plant-based products will be removed from all Canadian locations.
According to the report, a Tim Hortons spokesperson said the Beyond Meat sausage product, which is pea-protein based, was “not embraced by our guests as we thought it would be.”
The spokesperson added that it is still considering offering plant-based meat alternatives in the future.
Other RBI brands
While plant-based protein was largely rejected by Tim Hortons customers, another RBI restaurant chain continues to serve alternative proteins.
Burger King in 2019 rolled out the Impossible Whopper, a plant-based version of the chain’s signature burger.
Speaking during the RBI quarterly earnings call on October 28, 2019, RBI CEO Jose Cil expressed his enthusiasm for Burger King customer’s reception to the plant-based burger.
“We couldn't be happier with the performance of the Impossible Whopper both during its initial launch phase and on a sustained basis over the course of the quarter. We're very pleased with the mix of growth between check and guest counts and have seen really healthy rates of repurchase intent in-line with those of the original Whopper. We're especially proud to have been on the leading edge of launching the plant-based trend in QSR nationally and see a great deal of momentum for continued growth in the category going forward, as adoption continues to spread across the U.S. and beyond,” Cil said at the time.
“We believe the Impossible Whopper gives us one of the best plant-based platforms in the industry and look forward to building further on the success over time. We're already working to expand our platform outside the U.S., as we don't believe the impact of the plant-based trend is unique to the U.S.”
RBI is also the parent company of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
