Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Shake Shack's 2018 veggie burger test never rolled out nationally.
- For years, veggie burgers and vegan menu items have failed to break into mainstream fast food.
- Recently, however, chain after chain has announced partnerships with Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat to roll out meat-free options.
- Analysts, executives, and other industry insiders point to five ways that Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are succeeding where traditional veggie burgers failed.
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Vegans and vegetarians have been pushing for fast-food chains to add veggie burgers to the menu for years. Now, with the rise of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, plant-based burgers are going mainstream.
Burger King is selling the Impossible Whopper nationally. KFC ran a test of plant-based fried "chicken" with Beyond Meat. And, McDonald's just kicked off a test of a vegan burger in Canada.
It seems like every week a new fast-food chain is announcing a deal with Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat. It's a rapid turnaround after years of petitions without results from vegetarians and vegans.
On Tuesday, Cowen released a report diving into how exactly this new crop of meat alternatives differ from traditional vegetarian fare, and what it might mean for the future of plant-based "meat." These differences are key to understanding why the Impossible Whopper is making headlines in a way that Burger King's Morningstar Veggie Burger never did.
Here is why analysts, executives, and other industry insiders say that Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat's veggie burgers are finally taking over fast food.