McDonald's will introduce its new plant based burger next year. They will call it the "McPlant."
"McPlant?" I'm not in marketing but I think I could do better.
What do you think of the name?
Burger King has the plant based Impossible Burger. They started it!
Quote from: Cheerful on November 09, 2020, 12:11:33 PM
McDonald's will introduce its new plant based burger next year. They will call it the "McPlant."
"McPlant?" I'm not in marketing but I think I could do better.
What do you think of the name?
I don't care about the name.
Will it really taste like meat (at least at the same level as the current meat at McDonald's) or will it still be the case of blind taste tests yield the result of "there's something off with this burger"?
Is there really a market for people who want McDonald's food, but somehow want it as plant-based, whether or not it tastes like meat?
I didn't like the name iPad when it first came out. We all got used to it. I would have gone with GreenMac or the like.
Is it their proprietary blend? That should be interesting. I tried the Impossible burger and didn't like the raw-ish texture and the iron aspect of the flavor.
This won't make me any more likely to eat at a McDonalds.
We rarely eat at McDonald's or the like. But occasionally on a road trip, we'll stop at a fast-food place, so it is nice to have an vegetarian option. I think the name is silly, but I assume we'll get used to it.
If they had teamed up with Impossible burger instead of Beyond, perhaps it would have been the McPossible.
Impossible Burger sounds a lot more fun than McPlant.
Like it could be the title of an adventure story or mystery for children.
The Hamburglar!
For Pete's sake, they already own the name!
I had a plant based burger in a McDonalds a while ago (in Canada). I dont know if it is the same as this one, but it was quite horrible.
Quote from: fishbrains on November 09, 2020, 01:36:37 PM
The Hamburglar!
For Pete's sake, they already own the name!
That would be awesome...
Quote from: hmaria1609 on November 09, 2020, 12:28:13 PM
Burger King has the plant based Impossible Burger. They started it!
Fast food veggie patties have been around a while, but I believe that the recent upsurge in popularity started with A&W's 'beyond burger'.
Quote from: polly_mer on November 09, 2020, 01:01:05 PM
Will it really taste like meat (at least at the same level as the current meat at McDonald's) or will it still be the case of blind taste tests yield the result of "there's something off with this burger"?
I'd say they can actually be pretty similar. But, frankly, a meatish patty is a waste of a veggie patty, which can have an incredible texture (specifically: a very satisfying crunch).
Quote
Is there really a market for people who want McDonald's food, but somehow want it as plant-based, whether or not it tastes like meat?
Definitely. Vegetarians eat fast food, too, and there are more of us out there than you might think. When A&W introduced their 'beyond' patties, my partner, who has been a life-long vegetarian, was
incredibly excited. In particular, she was excited to finally be able to have a breakfast sandwich. If we're on a road trip, we'll often stop by for one. And, frankly, it's way better than the regular meat version.
I thought that Impossible Burger is a brand name, and that Burger King started carrying them and didn't invent the name? I know a number of restaurants near me that serve Impossible Burgers, and they were miffed when BK started having them too, because it messed up their supply chain and they couldn't source them for a while after that.
I liked the name iPad--because it was like using a pad of legal paper. I never figured out why so many didn't see that and thought it sounded like a feminine hygiene product. That never crossed my mind, and I'm female.
Quote from: fourhats on November 09, 2020, 03:13:20 PM
I thought that Impossible Burger is a brand name, and that Burger King started carrying them and didn't invent the name? I know a number of restaurants near me that serve Impossible Burgers, and they were miffed when BK started having them too, because it messed up their supply chain and they couldn't source them for a while after that.
You are correct.
Impossible™ Burger
I only go to McDonald's on the rare occasions when I'm with somebody else who's looking to go. When I do go, I stay away from their burgers, which I've never liked. I normally get chicken nuggets
I would assume that they've taste-tested the new product seven ways from Sunday before announcing a big rollout. The name's no doubt been tested too. If reaction to this public announcement is negative enough, they may revisit that before the launch.
Why would anyone think this would taste good? Come to think of it, McD's is the worst fast food joint out there-- virtually nothing they serve tastes good.
really bad name.
They don't knock it out of the park every time. There was that burger in the styrofoam container where the toppings stayed cool but the burger stayed hot...?
And there was a more "adult" menu for a while, brought to commercial life by Ronald McDonald strolling over the golf course with a few friends (not sure if the Hamburglar was there or not).
Quote from: kaysixteen on November 09, 2020, 11:55:57 PM
Come to think of it, McD's is the worst fast food joint out there-- virtually nothing they serve tastes good.
Well, that's the issue, really. I'm sure it'll taste just fine, especially compared to the rest of the menu.
Frankly, after years of veggie patties, I now think meat patties are pretty crap. At most (real-not-fast-food) restaurants with a burger, the veggie burger far outperforms the meat burgers. Sometimes you get a real dud that doesn't hold together, but that's actually relatively rare.
FYI for those who don't know. Both the Impossible and the Beyond Burgers are brand name products from startups. Their goal is to provide a plant based alternative for those who like meat. Why? To decrease unsustainable meat farming globally.
So the appropriate point of comparison is to compare these to a normal Big Mac/Whopper etc, rather than to compare it with a "veggie burger" patty. The target market is the usual burger eater, not really the vegetarians. The Impossible burger goes so far as to contain yeast engineered to express plant heme, which gives it the red color, and red "juice". This is why I don't like them, as they have the texture and look of a greatly under-cooked hamburger IMO.
Our local hamburger place has a great tasting veggie patty burger. I order it often, with bacon.
Next thing you know, Taco Bell will be advertising a taco with no beef. And people all over the country will be saying "Since when did Taco Bell have anything to do with beef?"
Quote from: mythbuster on November 10, 2020, 12:09:37 PM
FYI for those who don't know. Both the Impossible and the Beyond Burgers are brand name products from startups. Their goal is to provide a plant based alternative for those who like meat. Why? To decrease unsustainable meat farming globally.
So the appropriate point of comparison is to compare these to a normal Big Mac/Whopper etc, rather than to compare it with a "veggie burger" patty. The target market is the usual burger eater, not really the vegetarians. The Impossible burger goes so far as to contain yeast engineered to express plant heme, which gives it the red color, and red "juice". This is why I don't like them, as they have the texture and look of a greatly under-cooked hamburger IMO.
Our local hamburger place has a great tasting veggie patty burger. I order it often, with bacon.
As a life-long vegetarian I can confirm I'm not the target audience for these burgers, which really creep me out with how much they look and smell like meat (having no basis of comparison I can't say how much they taste like meat). I much prefer veggie burgers that are just delicious in themselves and not trying to emulate meat. But, most people will continue eating meat, and anything that reduces that to a more sustainable level is a good thing, so if meat-eaters like these burgers I'm all for them.
If you're in a part of the country with Smashburger, try their black bean burger -- it's really good, especially with the sweat potato fries.
Even the most committed life-long vegans would have to ask the key question--- why would you think anything at McDs is likely to be of decent quality, however much you value the fact that they are trying to serve your demographic.
I'm eating this. Ha ha.
Quote from: Puget on November 10, 2020, 12:41:04 PM
Quote from: mythbuster on November 10, 2020, 12:09:37 PM
FYI for those who don't know. Both the Impossible and the Beyond Burgers are brand name products from startups. Their goal is to provide a plant based alternative for those who like meat. Why? To decrease unsustainable meat farming globally.
So the appropriate point of comparison is to compare these to a normal Big Mac/Whopper etc, rather than to compare it with a "veggie burger" patty. The target market is the usual burger eater, not really the vegetarians. The Impossible burger goes so far as to contain yeast engineered to express plant heme, which gives it the red color, and red "juice". This is why I don't like them, as they have the texture and look of a greatly under-cooked hamburger IMO.
Our local hamburger place has a great tasting veggie patty burger. I order it often, with bacon.
As a life-long vegetarian I can confirm I'm not the target audience for these burgers, which really creep me out with how much they look and smell like meat (having no basis of comparison I can't say how much they taste like meat). I much prefer veggie burgers that are just delicious in themselves and not trying to emulate meat. But, most people will continue eating meat, and anything that reduces that to a more sustainable level is a good thing, so if meat-eaters like these burgers I'm all for them.
If you're in a part of the country with Smashburger, try their black bean burger -- it's really good, especially with the sweat potato fries.
Could I get that with perspiration tater tots instead?
I used to make a habit of eating whatever specialty burger/sandwich McDonald's offered in whichever country I was visiting. This was back in the good ol' days, when travel was still a thing. Anyway, I know that on Dutch McDonald's menus, there were three or four vegetarian burgers, mostly faux chicken / soy, if I recall correctly. Twenty years ago, Austrian McDonald's menus offered a veggie burger that had peas, corn, and beans.
I'm vegetarian and on occasion I'll cook fake meat, mostly chickenless nuggets. I see it as an admittedly unhealthy convenience food for when I don't feel like actually cooking. I tried an Impossible Burger once and it was too meatlike for my tastes, but I can see how omnivores might enjoy it. I'll probably skip the McPlant.
The rumor was that a big chain like BK had a veggie burger for many years but hid it from the main menu due to pressure from the beef industry.
I tried some sample from Beyond Meat and spit the stuff out. It tasted like cardboard. I have had good veggie burgers but they were at restaurants that specialized in vegetarian food and knew what they were doing. I can't for the life of me understand why McDonald's is so popular.
McPlant does sound dumb. Will it come with McFries and a Coke?
Quote from: Anselm on November 11, 2020, 11:13:41 AM
The rumor was that a big chain like BK had a veggie burger for many years but hid it from the main menu due to pressure from the beef industry.
I tried some sample from Beyond Meat and spit the stuff out. It tasted like cardboard. I have had good veggie burgers but they were at restaurants that specialized in vegetarian food and knew what they were doing. I can't for the life of me understand why McDonald's is so popular.
McPlant does sound dumb. Will it come with McFries and a Coke?
McFries are not vegetarian. They are flavored with beef.
I haven't eaten at McDs for about 20 years I think. I avoid most chains because while convenient, they put more interesting places out of business. And the burger industry is just part of the meat industry, which is evil, to be simple about it.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of all the new "realistic" burgers. Very fatty and processed. They are interesting because of the threat they pose for the meat industry.
Burger King's Impossible Whopper is reportedly cooked on the same grill as their beef offerings. This seems like a problem. You can request that it be cooked separately. That doesn't sound like fast food. Raise your hand if you've had the joy of being told to pull over and wait (and wait....) in a fast food drive through.
When on a road trip hungry and fast food is all that's available, well, fast food it is. Too bad the quality has declined so much from the good ol' days.
I'd be curious to find out how McDo's in France is handling this.
In other cases I heard of, they had to adjust both their customer service expectations and their menus to get a foothold there.
The one upstairs near the Grenouille Metro station in the Paris 7th. was always full of kids when I went there; the one near the train station in Strasbourg not so much--or only on weekday lunchtimes.
Veg/veganism is huge among the younger population, though, so it might take (they might also be making a better product out of necessity.
M.
For everyone who says McDonalds all tastes like garbage, millions of people disagree.
The meatless burgers meant to taste like beef are interesting, but they are too meaty for some vegetarians yet not meaty enough for most omnivores. The beyond meat sausage patty is the one exception IMO, they are a pretty good facsimile of a real sausage patty. I know many here will say they wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole, but despite how horrible they are, they are delicious.
I saw a new company recently that is making fake milk by producing milk proteins in yeast (or something similar). I think this is particularly interesting as alternative milks are ok, but no replacement for cow milk. This is especially true for yogurts, cheeses, etc.
You are right, millions of folks eagerly hit the Golden Arches daily.
So why do we think this is?
Quote from: mamselle on November 12, 2020, 08:53:50 AM
I'd be curious to find out how McDo's in France is handling this.
In other cases I heard of, they had to adjust both their customer service expectations and their menus to get a foothold there.
The one upstairs near the Grenouille Metro station in the Paris 7th. was always full of kids when I went there; the one near the train station in Strasbourg not so much--or only on weekday lunchtimes.
Veg/veganism is huge among the younger population, though, so it might take (they might also be making a better product out of necessity.
M.
Do they still call it a
Royale with cheese?
Quote from: kaysixteen on November 13, 2020, 09:22:28 PM
You are right, millions of folks eagerly hit the Golden Arches daily.
So why do we think this is?
Because people generally fail to account for Some People Are Different From You (SPADFY) as really, truly, no-foolin' meaning some people (not just one or two in the whole wide world of 7+ billion, but likely millions if not actual billions) are different from you in meaningful ways that gets translated into specific actions that aren't what you'd choose, but are logically consistent and based on equally strong beliefs.
When I was poor enough that any food we didn't make ourselves was a big treat, McDonalds once per year on the way to visit my grandparents was a huge treat. Nothing we had at home was anywhere near as sweet as the strawberry shake, nothing was as textured as the fries, and we had nothing like chicken mcnuggets, even though we had breaded chicken a lot.
Now that I'm an affluent adult who (pre-Covid) traveled a lot on an expense account and know about things like grilled salmon served on roasted garlic potatoes with a side of garden vegetables and ice cream that is cream, fruit, and a tiny bit of sugar, McDonalds is more like a heavy sigh to pick up something quick and convenient in the airport that is filling enough I can wait until the good supper that is coming. I can't eat chicken nuggets at this point because they are just gross now, but I can face a grilled chicken sandwich with the vegetables of my youth once in a while.
Some of us love burgers and fries and other fast food. McDonald's has far from the best examples of these out there. But it's widely available, inexpensive, and convenient. In some communities there also isn't much in the way of other choices. They're adaptable too, as their differing menus in different countries shows.
Me, I prefer Subway, of the limited number of fast-food options available locally. When traveling and in the mood for a burger, I try to find something else. Plus I happen to like Arby's, of which there are none nearby.
Quote from: kaysixteen on November 13, 2020, 09:22:28 PM
You are right, millions of folks eagerly hit the Golden Arches daily.
So why do we think this is?
Because they have a consistent product from location to location, plus marketing that reached most of us when we were kids and now has some nostalgia / comfort associated with it. Working the register at McDonald's was my first job twenty-some years ago and the fries taste the same now as they did then. Sometimes, having some salty, greasy fries just hits the spot (and bonus: they only cost a buck).
I'm pretty much a foodie. But I consider the occasional McDonald's a treat, especially when it breaks up long drives. Julia Child herself said that McDonald's french fries were the best.
Quote from: Anselm on November 13, 2020, 11:46:25 PM
Quote from: mamselle on November 12, 2020, 08:53:50 AM
I'd be curious to find out how McDo's in France is handling this.
In other cases I heard of, they had to adjust both their customer service expectations and their menus to get a foothold there.
The one upstairs near the Grenouille Metro station in the Paris 7th. was always full of kids when I went there; the one near the train station in Strasbourg not so much--or only on weekday lunchtimes.
Veg/veganism is huge among the younger population, though, so it might take (they might also be making a better product out of necessity.
M.
Do they still call it a Royale with cheese?
Don't remember hearing that, but they might. Where I was they called all the burgers "Mac-Do" (au fromage, a la tomate, etc.)
Now I'm missing France. In fact, I've been watching this at stray moments....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVfnEyLOkrM
(Mille pardons pour les avertissements)...
M.
I get that McDs can be a treat for the poor, and evoke nostalgia for many adults. That said, virtually all other fast food joints are noticeably better, which does make me wonder how McDs evolved to have so many more outlets than any other. And, of course, when Julia Child could have eaten their fries, they were fried in beef fat and tasted much better than the soggy, limp-arsed fried in polyunsaturated super tastesless plant oil that they use today. And back in the day, the Big Mac was actually a big mac, not the little mac you get today, where the #1 ingredient seems to be shredded lettuce, and the beef patties are much smaller than the buns that surround them.
McDonald's was a first mover in the industry and established a very strong brand, it exerts relatively firm control over franchisees in terms of giving customers a consistent, reliable experience, and its hyper-rationalized supply chains and sales volume deliver economies of scale that allow it to crush much of its competition.
McDonald's leveraged its distinctly American, modern cachet when it entered markets outside the USA. Eating a Maharaja Mac or a Burger Vị Phở is not a bottom-end, drive-through choice of last resort but a young, aspirational, emerging-middle-class experience.
Specific to the McPlant, McDonald's is a bit like Apple. It sees the writing on the wall and tests concepts often before the customer demand exists.
Quote from: mamselle on November 14, 2020, 07:20:41 PM
Quote from: Anselm on November 13, 2020, 11:46:25 PM
Quote from: mamselle on November 12, 2020, 08:53:50 AM
I'd be curious to find out how McDo's in France is handling this.
In other cases I heard of, they had to adjust both their customer service expectations and their menus to get a foothold there.
The one upstairs near the Grenouille Metro station in the Paris 7th. was always full of kids when I went there; the one near the train station in Strasbourg not so much--or only on weekday lunchtimes.
Veg/veganism is huge among the younger population, though, so it might take (they might also be making a better product out of necessity.
M.
Do they still call it a Royale with cheese?
Don't remember hearing that, but they might.
It's a line from the movie
Pulp Fiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7eVVG3I8s
Ah, thanks, never watched it.
I figured it was from the Champs-Elysees Mac-Do, and I was only there once, in 1973, when it opened.
We finally left the line after an hour. It was packed.
M.