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McDonald’s McPlant range to debut next year

Fast food giant McDonald’s has announced it will debut a “McPlant” range — made from plant-based meat alternatives — but will it be available in Australia?

WANT to wrap your chops around a McFake burger? Well you might have to wait — in Australia at least.

Global fast food giant McDonald’s last week announced it would debut its “McPlant” range – made from plant-based meat alternatives – next year in a number of markets including the US.

Included in the McPlant range is expected to be burgers, chicken substitutes and breakfast sandwiches. Last year McDonald’s trialled its PLT – plant, lettuce and tomato – in Canada.

A McDonald’s Australia spokesman later said there were no immediate plans for the range’s launch Down Under.

Australian McDonald’s restaurants churn through more than 25,000 tonnes of beef and more than 13,000 tonnes of chicken a year.

“Plant-based products are an ongoing consumer trend. It’s not a matter of if McDonald’s will get into plant-based, it’s a matter of when,” McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said.

But it appears the move into meat alternatives hasn’t appealed to everyone’s appetite. Shares in meat substitute behemoth brand Beyond Meat tanked almost 20 per cent in a day last week after a tough third-quarter earnings report.

Beyond Meat said the results – including a loss of $19 million or six times the average forecast – were due to “a meaningful slowdown” in its food-service business and weaker demand from retail customers, as coronavirus-forced panic buying eased.

During the early stage of COVID-19 restrictions, sales of plant-based meats reportedly increased more than 250 per cent.

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Original URL: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/mcdonalds-mcplant-range-to-debut-next-year/news-story/9e5ca922ce09277e5bfff43166c707c6