Beyond Meat nuggets and wings: KFC pilots plant-based chicken

27 Aug 2019 --- Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), in a partnership with Beyond Meat, is the latest fast food chain to jump aboard the meat-free bandwagon with its latest offering, the Beyond Fried Chicken. The restaurant follows leading foodservice brands such as Subway, Carl’s Junior and HelloFresh, which have revamped their menus with meat alternatives from the plant-based player in the past year. Customer feedback from a trial of the product in Atlanta, Georgia, US, will be considered as KFC evaluates a broader test or potential national rollout.

Available in nuggets or as boneless wings, Beyond Fried Chicken comes with a choice of dipping sauces such as KFC's signature Finger Lickin' Good sauce, or Nashville Hot, Buffalo or Honey BBQ.

“Our customers will find it difficult to tell that it's plant-based,” says Kevin Hochman, President and Chief Concept Officer, KFC US.

Beyond Meat began developing its plant-based meat in 2009 and has since introduced several product varieties across the brand’s imitation beef, pork and poultry platforms. KFC’s plant-based chicken offering is noted by the brand as being the first of its kind in the US quick service restaurant space.

In April this year, the company went public with an initial public offering (IPO) of 8,750,000 shares of common stock. At the time, the company said it is looking to raise up to US$183.8 million.

Beyond Meat meets fast food
Globally, the sphere of plant-based innovation is heating up with heavyweight food service giants taking notice of the ample opportunities within this space. Innova Market Insights data reports 14 percent of global meat launches in 2018 being meat alternatives, compared to 6 percent in 2013.

Earlier this month, global meal kit delivery service HelloFresh announced the September rollout of the Beyond Burger as part of its premium Craft Burger menu items. The Beyond Burger patty is marketed as having less total and saturated fat than a regular beef burger made with a ratio of 20 percent fat to 80 percent lean meat. It is also designed to “look, cook, and satisfy like beef,” while being made without GMOs, soy or gluten. The Beyond Burger has 20g of plant protein derived from a blend of peas, mung beans and brown rice.

Also this month, fast food sandwich chain Subway entered a new culinary innovation partnership with Beyond Meat to test the Beyond Meatball Marinara sub in 685 participating restaurants in Canada and the US in September this year. The new Beyond Meatball Marinara takes its inspiration from the brand's classic sandwich but with a plant-based twist. The sub is served with marinara sauce, Provolone cheese, Parmesan cheese, along with the Beyond Meatball. The sub offers the same flavor as Subway's traditional meatball sub and is packed with protein – 24 grams per six-inch sub.

Similarly, Beyond Meat partnered with Carl’s Jr. earlier this year in launching a plant-based burger, The Beyond Famous Star, to keep pace with the growing appetite for flexitarian food.

By Benjamin Ferrer