Like most quick-service restaurant brands these days, McDonald’s has spent a lot of time reinventing the customer’s dining experience. He says you can expect to see innovations in how you order, where you pick up your food, and even if you interact with an employee.
But arguably one of the biggest changes to the burger maker’s DNA in eight decades is the introduction of McPlant, its first big foray into meat alternatives, co-developed in partnership with Beyond Meat. Since February, McDonald’s has been testing this plant-based burger at about 600 Bay Area and Dallas-Fort Worth locations, keeping the details of that pilot close to its chest. But on a panel with Beyond Meat in fast company‘s Summit of most innovative companies This week, McDonald’s shared that it hopes the sandwich will be part of the brand’s reimagined dining experience.
Morgan Flatley, director of global marketing for McDonald’s, paints a picture in which “the restaurant customer experience is going to change dramatically in the coming years” and predicts this will include “very established products with Beyond” that build on the McPlanta.
McDonald’s understands the role its brand equity can play in popularizing alternative meat. That’s why McPlant spent months in a unique research and development facility where teams from McDonald’s and Beyond worked side by side, says Flatley. Ethan Brown, founder, president and CEO of Beyond Meat, jokes that there’s actually a well-trodden path between LAX and O’Hare thanks to all his trips back and forth to each other’s kitchens, testing burger formulations and toppings.
His view is that McPlant is a “combination of strengths.” Beyond brings the scientific knowledge, applying the heat, cooling and pressure that give plant materials the taste and sensory experience of animal protein, while McDonald’s brings its iconic flavor and unmatched ability to scale the products it features.
“We know our product is healthy, we feel great about it,” Brown explains, but says his biggest question recently has been “How do we get to that flavor that people are going to crave?”
Combined correctly, Beyond and McDonald’s believe their strengths can make McPlant a gateway plant burger: the first truly available at scale, in multiple markets, and at an affordable price for billions of people to taste.
Brown sees this as something bigger than just a business opportunity. “It’s an opportunity to do something really important for the world,” he says.
By working with McDonald’s extensive supplier network, Beyond has begun to envision how its own plant-based burgers could go global. “That’s important from an economic development perspective and an innovation perspective,” adds Brown. “The ability to work with farmers around the world to grow the crops that go into our products and work with suppliers to bring those core parts of the meat directly from the plants is exciting to me.”
The Gateway Sandwich
Based on the data so far, McDonald’s says that McPlant is more popular with flexitarians and other health-conscious consumers, and is an additional purchase. “What we’re seeing is that, for several weeks, this is an option in addition to other traditional McDonald’s products,” says Flatley. “They’re coming for an incremental visit, that’s what we’re seeing in some of the European markets, and they’re adding McPlant as that incremental visit on top of their traditional burger or chicken.”
Last month, analysts reported that McPlant’s sales were “disappointing” in some test locations. Some stores were supposed to sell 20 a day, and the ones in that Lone Star State bastion of red meat moved as few as five. But Flatley says McDonald’s isn’t intimidated. He points to the UK, where McPlant has “tremendous success”: after half a year on menus, it is now rolling out market-wide, in all 1,400 outlets. The burger is also a permanent menu item in the Netherlands and Austria.
“We’re confident this product will stay in restaurants,” says Flatley unambiguously. “This is not a fad. It is a product that will continue to grow.”
Meanwhile, trends suggest that branching out beyond the traditional American burger is a smart business strategy. Beef consumption is declining across the country, but chicken consumption is higher than ever. Beyond Meat’s plant-based chicken offerings have also become a top grocery seller, with KFC just starting testing Beyond Fried Chicken in January.
McDonald’s hinted that he and Beyond are aware of this, and are already in the process of discussing new collaborations. Neither would divulge what, exactly, though Flatley scoffs: “Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that we continue to work with Ethan and his team on a full range of protein products. . . We definitely see those trends and we want to make sure we continue to develop a portfolio of products.”
“What we are learning today is the speed at which those products will come to market,” he explains. “That’s a bit of the unknown. But we will be ready when the consumer is ready.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article described the McPlant Burger as a “permanent” menu item; a McDonald’s spokesperson clarifies that it is a “major menu item” available in local markets depending on consumer demand. The timing of a test in Canada was also wrong. We are sorry for the mistake.
Reference-www.fastcompany.com