Little Big Burger, American Burger Company, BGR add meatless option
Little Big Burger, American Burger Company and BGR – Burgers Grilled Right will be serving Beyond Meat on their menus starting July 1. Chanticleer Holdings, the parent and franchisor of the burger brands, made the announcement in advance of the rollout. Fast-casual and fast-food restaurant chains have been adopting plant-based meat alternatives at a breathtaking pace.
Chanticleer selected Beyond Burgers for its brands, in part, because of the non-GMO, no-gluten, no-soy attributes. Chanticleer burger chains, like BGR – Burgers Grilled Right, will benefit from expanding meatless options. BGR, which cooks-to-order its signature offerings in restaurants designed with rock-and-roll memorabilia, has a cult-like following and continues to expand. As BGR adds Beyond Meat to its menu, the pace of meatless options on typically-meat-centric chains will only accelerate.
Little Big Burger and American Burger Company, which are also part of Chanticleer’s Beyond Meat rollout, should benefit, as well.
Update: Chanticleer to spin-off restaurant operations, list on OTC
Rise of the plant-based patty
Carl’s Jr.and Del Taco are just two of the quick-service chains that have added Beyond Burger to their menu this year. Meanwhile, Qdoba and Muscle Maker Grill have added patties made by Beyond’s competitor, Impossible Foods. Burger King has successfully tested Impossible’s patty and will roll out the product nationwide by the end of the year.
“With roughly one-third of consumers identifying as flexitarians, we’re excited to now officially have our menus offer consumers burgers that provide a plant-based alternative to our current menu offerings,” said Fred Glick, Chanticleer Holdings president. “With recent notable traffic increases cited by brands like Del Taco and Burger King, who too, have launched plant-based alternatives in their menus, we are cautiously optimistic we have the potential to see similar results as this new offering replaces our previous already popular veggie burger offerings.”
[Related story: Qdoba adds Impossible nationwide]
What’s more, NPD, a Chicago-based research firm, reported that shipments of meat-alternative proteins to smaller foodservice outlets, comprising independent restaurants of two units or less, and micro chains, increased 19 percent in the trailing months ended March 2018. At the same time, 60 percent of U.S. consumers desire more protein in their diet.
Beyond Burger’s patty contains 20 grams of plant-based protein. Also, the patty possesses similar texture and flavor to a flame-broiled burger. Over 45 of the restaurants in Chanticleer’s burger-centric franchises take on the new Beyond Burger option. In addition to the burger brands, Chanticleer also franchises Just Fresh and Hooters.
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