McDonald's May Offer Its McPlant in 700 More U.S. Locations in 2022
You could be eating one as soon as February.
McDonald's is slowly but surely rolling out its McPlant—its first plant-based burger option—and it looks like more markets could see the offering on menus in the not-so-distant future.
According to Nation's Restaurant News, McDonald's first began testing the McPlant burger in an eight-restaurant test that kicked off this November. An analyst suggests that it could soon expand to as many as 700 McDonald's restaurants nationwide due to the rollout's success.
So far, the meatless burger is in several California restaurants, including El Segundo and Manhattan Beach. It's also in Cedar Falls, Iowa; Jennings and Lake Charles, Louisiana; Irving and Carrollton, Texas, and overseas in several countries.
The burger includes a meatless patty made from ingredients such as peas, rice, and potatoes. It's served on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and a slice of American cheese, and priced similarly to other burgers on McDonald's menus, including the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder.
Peter Saleh, a BTIG restaurant analyst, said that "following several channel checks over the past couple of weeks, 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." He added that his contacts suggested that a systemwide rollout—that is, a rollout to all McDonald's restaurants—is unlikely until 2023. He chalked it up to marketing calendars and the sheer amount of restaurants McDonald's has.
"Our conversations indicate McDonald's plans to expand the test from eight locations currently to approximately 700 restaurants in several markets through a six [to] eight week limited-time offer in February/March," he said in a note to investors according to the outlet.
He noted a lack of marketing for the McPlant during its limited test period. If testing does expand as he believes it will, he says that test would be "supported by local and regional advertising, funded by McDonald's, franchisees, and potentially even Beyond Meat." In other words, you may not have seen much about the McPlant the first go around, but you will next time.