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McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

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Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#61

Post by alistairSH »

reaperducer wrote: post #49
abawany wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I similarly refuse to use Starbucks' cute-isms for cup sizes (Venti, etc.) but I won't have any trouble ordering a McPlant - it might even provide me another reason to visit a McD beyond the wireless-for-the-price-of-a-coffee reason.

Starbucks' cute-isms for cup sizes (Venti, etc.) Most people misunderstand Starbucks size names. They think they're all smart assuming that Starbucks calls a small drink "tall" because of marketing or whatever. But it's actually the too-cool-for-school crowd that is wrong. "Short" is in the shortest cup. It's the small size. "Tall" is the taller cup. It's the regular size. "Grande" is the large size. "Grande" means "…

All true, but the names are still "cute". Small, regular, large, XL work just fine.

That said, I'm already order what amount to a liquid dessert with a silly name, so IDGAF. Venti Frappathingamajig with extra whip and a side of the 'beetus please.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#62

Post by amanzi »

belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

"McPlant" is a fairly horrible sounding burger! Burger King here in NZ have plant-based burgers called the Rebel Whopper which is quite a catchy name. Technically, it can't be classified as vegetarian though, because it's cooked on the same grill as the beef burgers. Not sure if the McPlant will be cooked on different grills or not?

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#63

Post by sevencolors »

falcolas wrote: post #11

I had a "Beyond Burger" the other day. It was larger than you'd ever get from either BK or McD's, but it was still a licensed product. The flavor was pretty good (if a bit too "meaty" as it were), but the texture was very wrong. There were sizable globs of rubbery material in them which was a bit disturbing (think Pearl Tea style tapioca, only 2-3x more resilient). It was as if globules of gristle had made it into th…

I think they must not be cooking it correctly. I've had the Beyond Burger patties and ground meat. If you only warm it up some of the "gristle" feels like plastic bits. Yuck. If you low and slow cook it, seems like it integrates better

And salt and spices help too, I feel they purposely under season it

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#64

Post by JoeAltmaier »

reaperducer wrote: post #49
abawany wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I similarly refuse to use Starbucks' cute-isms for cup sizes (Venti, etc.) but I won't have any trouble ordering a McPlant - it might even provide me another reason to visit a McD beyond the wireless-for-the-price-of-a-coffee reason.

Starbucks' cute-isms for cup sizes (Venti, etc.) Most people misunderstand Starbucks size names. They think they're all smart assuming that Starbucks calls a small drink "tall" because of marketing or whatever. But it's actually the too-cool-for-school crowd that is wrong. "Short" is in the shortest cup. It's the small size. "Tall" is the taller cup. It's the regular size. "Grande" is the large size. "Grande" means "…

I thought it had something to do with the day they changed their prices by changing the names - what was a short became a 'tall', and the tall became a 'venti'. Essentially charging more for each size (charging the tall price for what used to be a short) etc.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#65

Post by JoeAltmaier »

amanzi wrote: post #62
belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

"McPlant" is a fairly horrible sounding burger! Burger King here in NZ have plant-based burgers called the Rebel Whopper which is quite a catchy name. Technically, it can't be classified as vegetarian though, because it's cooked on the same grill as the beef burgers. Not sure if the McPlant will be cooked on different grills or not?

What on earth? Why would that matter? Does somebody lose their vegan powers if a particle of fat gets into their burger?

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#67

Post by shafyy »

danpalmer wrote: post #31
belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

> Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. Moreover, to many "McPlant" will sound like a healthy alternative, when in reality many plant-based meat replacements are a similar number of calories or higher than meat, and are unlikely to be healthier in general.

Many plant-based meats are healthier than animal-based meats, just because they don't contain cholesterol and usually few saturated fats. Somewhat related, they also hae a lower chance of giving you foodborne dieases.

Sure, they're still burgers and not kale salads.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#68

Post by abawany »

corry wrote: post #12

Here in the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario/Canada, the local McDonalds ran with Beyond Meat burgers for about a month (maybe April-ish)? From what I could tell, it was very successful (often sold-out, and anecdotally the workers told me that it was the most popular new thing they'd seen in a long time). For my family, we went from not having eaten McD's for years to getting it occasionally. However, they stoppe…

Yes, I was thrilled to see that A&W had Beyond Burgers in Canada. It is the sole reason they got my business multiple times when I used to visit that country.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#69

Post by shafyy »

elicash wrote: post #51
fullshark wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mc something it had to be. The question is what is the something. McVeggie doesn't work, because veggie burgers became synonymous with the last generation of plant based burgers. McPlant does sound awkward right now but with the full backing of mcdonalds marketing / their resturant footprint it will roll of the tongue within a few months of launch.

Did it actually need to be a different menu item? I'm just throwing this out there, but maybe there was an equivalent to what "Supersize" meant for going larger in size instead that's geared towards plant-based versions of each burger. So maybe I still want a Big Mac, but I want it with these plant-based burgers but still with the extra slice of bread and the special sauce. I don't have a name for this as clever as S…

This is actually a good point. Kind of like how BK does it with the Impossible Whopper. It's still a Whopper, but with plant-based meat.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#70

Post by Daishiman »

ttul wrote: post #59
Nbox9 wrote: post #58

I think it’ll be a big win when plant-based burgers are cheaper than animal based burgers. From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food because the costs associated with farming plants is lower than the costs associated with farming animals. Hopefully, with McDonald’s scale and with their vertical integration they can make affordable, tasty, and comparably…

I wonder to what extent farming subsidies and implicit subsidies such as the under pricing of carbon emissions make meat burgers less expensive than they ought to be.

If you priced the externalities, plant-based food is an order of magnitude cheaper, at the very least.
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