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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

#121

Post by petra »

gonehome wrote: post #25
petra wrote: post #19

From what i've read, the impossible burger is pretty close to meat, unlike other plant based burgers. On the other and, burger king already sell those. So i'm curious, why doesn't McDonald's sell those too ? Is the supply restricted to burger king ? or do they think it's not woth the more expensive price, and and meat eaters will still prefer to eat a McD burger, while plant easters don't care that much about closene…

I'd guess because vertical integration is way better for margins at scale. Why be dependent on another company if you don't have to? It's way better to own your own product. McDonalds partnered with Beyond briefly probably to test demand in the market. They're better off investing in their own recipe if they're able to pull it off. I'd guess they can afford to pay the people they need to do it. When I first had an im…

The impossible has v2. Did you taste that ? How is it compared to beef for you?

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

#122

Post by thehappypm »

Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #100
adrian_mrd wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good way to think of this problem is that there are two solutions: Option A, farmers continue to receive government subsidies, or, Option B, consumers pay the ‘real’ price for food (which factors in the cost of externalities eg climate change, no factory farms, etc)

It is strategically important for a country to be able to feed itself (vs importing food). Farm subsidies are the current method that enables this. At least that's what the internet told me, I have no insight into that industry.

It’s less about importing food but ensuring that food is cheap enough that the entire populace can cheaply access food.

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

#123

Post by thehappypm »

iknowstuff wrote: post #86
danpalmer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Can we decouple the idea of "healthy" from calories? Calorie density doesn't make a meal unhealthy.

In a very real sense, calories are the only thing that make a meal unhealthy, too, though.

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

#124

Post by cavisne »

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…

You still need to process those plants to mimic what the animal did (ie fermenting the grass to extract bioavailable protein and stripping out fibre).

Veggie (black bean/lentil) burgers can already be cheaper than meat. But the meat replacement (ie similar protein to meat) burgers are more expensive.

I'm not sure why mcdonalds would bother making a meat replacement burger, its fast food so they can just use flavouring to make it taste like meat without incurring the expense of adding protein. It probably will be cheap.

As a plus side their customers will still be starving for protein afterwards. Large fries please!

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

#126

Post by azinman2 »

> “ McDonald's had been running small tests of plant-based options in Canada since as early as last year, and was reportedly canvassing customers in the UK recently for their thoughts on vegan options at the Golden Arches”

In 2001 I had a vegetarian (vegan?) burger at McDonalds in the UK. McDonalds in India already has plenty of unique veggie items on their menu. I’m confused by these statements.

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

#127

Post by VoxPelli »

azinman2 wrote: post #126

> “ McDonald's had been running small tests of plant-based options in Canada since as early as last year, and was reportedly canvassing customers in the UK recently for their thoughts on vegan options at the Golden Arches” In 2001 I had a vegetarian (vegan?) burger at McDonalds in the UK. McDonalds in India already has plenty of unique veggie items on their menu. I’m confused by these statements.

Yeah, we've had a McVegan (actual name) in Sweden and Finland since 2017: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpellmanrowland/2017/10/1...

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

#128

Post by motives »

azinman2 wrote: post #126

> “ McDonald's had been running small tests of plant-based options in Canada since as early as last year, and was reportedly canvassing customers in the UK recently for their thoughts on vegan options at the Golden Arches” In 2001 I had a vegetarian (vegan?) burger at McDonalds in the UK. McDonalds in India already has plenty of unique veggie items on their menu. I’m confused by these statements.

India is a more unique market due to the extremely high number of Hindus, who do not eat beef due to the revered status of the cow. This has a significant impact on the provisioning of products, as McDonalds would not be able to survive on beef alone.

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

#129

Post by VoxPelli »

chucky wrote: post #6

In several countries in Europe, McDonald's has served plant-based alternatives for years. In Sweden they serve the McVegan, for example: https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/product/mcvegan.html

Made in cooperation with Orkla's Anamma brand: https://www.orkla.com/news/mcdonalds-chooses-vegetarian-burg...

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

#130

Post by warent »

cavisne wrote: post #124
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…

You still need to process those plants to mimic what the animal did (ie fermenting the grass to extract bioavailable protein and stripping out fibre). Veggie (black bean/lentil) burgers can already be cheaper than meat. But the meat replacement (ie similar protein to meat) burgers are more expensive. I'm not sure why mcdonalds would bother making a meat replacement burger, its fast food so they can just use flavourin…

I'm at a loss for what you're suggesting here or what your point is. No consumer is going to buy meat flavored rice cakes, and standard plant-based meat has as much protein as animal meat.
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