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Chick-News.com Poultry Industry News, Comments and more by Simon M. Shane

Carrols Restaurant Group Claim Plateau in Sales of Meat Alternatives

01/20/2020

Carrols Restaurant Group, a major franchisee of Burger King and Popeye’s Chicken reported a leveling of sales of the meatless whopper at their Burger King locations.

CHICK-NEWS has frequently noted that initial demand for alternatives to conventional beef burgers may attributed to a curiosity factor.  Even if meatless burgers are equivalent in texture and taste, which is debatable, they are still marked up by approximately 25% above conventional burgers.  Restaurant Brands International will be testing an impossible Croissan’wich® with meatless sausage in Burger King stores

It is considered significant that McDonald’s Corp has been slow to introduce a meatless equivalent to beef although a trial is currently underway in Ontario, Canada offering the P.L.T. Burger® with a Beyond Meat patty.  It is understood that three restaurants involved in the market evaluation will not continue offering the non-beef alternative after the test is concluded.

Initial consumer reaction and sales volume following introduction of a test may well be misleading.  Producers and aspirant manufactures of vegetable-based meat substitutes are using extrapolations from early data to convince investors of the large potential market for their products. They claim that vegetable alternatives will displace beef justified by unsubstantiated claims for health and sustainability.  The demand for beef substitutes in 2025 will only become apparent at the end of 2021 when consumers have had an opportunity to evaluate offerings from numerous companies including the existing leaders, Impossible Foods and Beyond Burger and the competitors including Nestle, Cargill and Maple Leaf Foods.  The largest market in the world for meatless quick service products will be China but it is anticipated that U.S. technology will be purloined and that domestic companies will dominate the market.


 
Copyright © 2024 Simon M. Shane