A LACK of consumer interest was given as the reason behind burger giant, McDonald’s decision to drop plant based burger patties in the company’s vast US restaurant network.

Just as the company has done in Australia, McDonald’s has backed out of its McPlant plant-based offering in its US restaurant outlets.

The head of McDonald’s US operations, Joe Erlinger, told a business conference that the company discontinued the pilot program in 600 restaurants after customers in San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth panned the McPlant, produced by Beyond Meat.

The plant-based burger was not successful in either market, Mr Erlinger told the Wall Street Journal’s Global Fast Food Forum in Chicago last week.

“I don’t think the US consumer is coming to McDonald’s or looking for McPlant or other plant-based proteins from McDonald’s right now,” he said.

The plant-based patty is made from ingredients including peas, rice, potatoes and beetroot. Initial testing had shown some success in Texas, Iowa, California and Louisiana, but after expanding to 600 locations in San Francisco and Dallas, sales dropped from 500 burgers per week to 20 burgers a day per store, according to an industry analyst.

Perhaps in a reference to contrasting chicken/beef raw material prices, McDonald’s US said it plans to focus on chicken, as protein consumption drives demand.

“We sell more chicken today as a brand than we sell beef,” Mr Erlinger told the forum. “We’re poised to serve that trend well and that’s where we’re making investments.”

“Our chicken category now represents $25 billion in annual system-wide sales, on par with beef,” McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said in the company’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call in February.

McDonald’s operates some 13,600 outlets in its US operations, either directly owned or via franchise.

Australian experience

In July 2022, McDonald’s Australia made a second attempt to launch a plant-based pattie to its local burger menu. The ‘limited time’ trial ended in October that year, and the McPlant option quietly disappeared without trace. There was no sign of a plant-based burger pattie option on McDonald’s Australian online menu when Beef Central searched earlier today.

Under the 2022 trial, 270 restaurants across Victoria offered the McPlant burger to customers.

The McPlant, co-developed with Beyond Meat, is made with a “juicy, plant-based patty made from peas, rice, potatoes, and beetroot. The patty is served on a sesame seed bun with tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise-style sauce, ketchup, mustard and a slice of American cheese,” the company said.

A year earlier in July 2021, McDonald’s Australia quietly pulled its original McVeggie burger from its menus less than two years after it was first introduced. A spokesperson said the decision was made because not enough people were buying it.

“The McVeggie burger was removed from menus in response to changes in customer demand,” the spokesperson said at the time.

The original McVeggie was launched in 2020 and marketed as McDonald’s first ever plant-based burger.

McDonald’s Steakhouse Stack burger

UK favourite features in Macca’s winter specials

Meanwhile, in other McDonald’s news, the burger chain’s Australian winter menu specials will feature the Steakhouse Stack, a new hearty beef burger packed with rich, savoury flavours.

“Hailing from the UK as a favourite and hitting the Australian menu for the first time, the Steakhouse Stack is arriving to tantalise the taste buds of Aussie beef burger lovers,” the company’s promotion said.

The burger, pictured above, features two 100pc Aussie beef patties and shredded lettuce, Jack cheese, crispy golden onions and slivered red onions topped with a creamy peppercorn mayo, served on a toasted gourmet bun – the perfect indulgent winter feed.

Liz Whitbread, Senior Brand Manager for McDonald’s Australia said, the winter menu was all about giving customers a seasonal spin on Macca’s iconic flavours.