McDonald’s plans to make the plant-based McPlant Burger available at 600 restaurants in San Francisco, California, and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, beginning on February 14, 2022.
"After planting the seed with a small-scale McPlant test in eight restaurants late last year, McDonald’s USA is expanding the test to select restaurants in your area to help us understand customer demand," the quick service chain said on its website.
The McPlant Burger is made from plant-based ingredients like peas, rice and potatoes. The plant-based patty is served on a sesame seed bun with tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and a slice of American cheese. The burger is cooked on the same grill as the chain’s beef burgers, which could be an issue for those following a vegan diet.
McPlant sees successful early trials
In November 2021, the plant-based burger initially rolled out to eight restaurant locations in Irving and Carrollton, Texas, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jennings and Lake Charles, Louisiana and El Segundo and Manhattan Beach, California.
In some locations, restaurants sold approximately 70 McPlant burgers per day during the limited time offer, well above initial predictions of 25 per day.
“Our conversations indicated the McPlant test performed exceptionally well in its handful of locations, with very limited operational challenges,” BTIG analyst Peter Saleh wrote in December 2021. “We believe the McPlant product with Beyond Meat is performing well at the handful of restaurants offering it, warranting a more expansive market test in early 2022.”
However, it is unlikely that a nationwide launch of the McPlant will occur until 2023 due to the current marketing calendar and the scale of the McDonald’s system, Saleh noted.
McDonald’s also successfully trialed the McPlant Burger, which was developed in conjunction with Beyond Meat, in Austria, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Ireland.
“As always, we’ll do what McDonald’s does best: Listen to our customers,” CEO Chirs Kempczinski said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call in October. “When people are ready for the McPlant, we will be ready for them.”
