McDonald's Is Bringing This New Burger To 600 More U.S. Restaurants
The rollout of McDonald's major new burger has been a slow and cautious process, but the company is finally ready to bring the McPlant to a wider audience.
After being available at only a handful of nationwide locations for several months, the plant-based item will be landing at approximately 600 additional McDonald's restaurants in February, the company said in an updated press release on Thursday.
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Starting February 14, customers in the San Francisco Bay and Dallas-Fort Worth areas will finally be able to get their hands on the chain's first-ever plant-based burger, developed in partnership with Beyond Meat.
"There are other plant-based burgers out there, but the McPlant delivers our iconic taste in a sink-your-teeth-in (and wipe-your-mouth) kind of sandwich," McDonald's said of the new creation. "It's made with a juicy, plant-based patty and served on a warm, sesame seed bun with all the classic toppings."
On November 3, the McPlant became available at eight U.S. restaurants in Irving and Carrollton, Texas, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jennings and Lake Charles, La., and El Segundo and Manhattan Beach in California.
Prior to the limited domestic rollout, the burger was tested in several European countries. Customers in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, and the U.K. first tried the McPlant in 2021 and had one overwhelming response: it tastes very much like a typical McDonald's experience.
Reviewers in the U.K. have likened it to a Big Mac, which is quite an achievement for the chain, considering the U.K. version of it took longer to develop as is completely vegan. In fact, the burger has received the UK's Vegetarian Society vegan accreditation, meaning that it is not only completely free of any animal products but is also cooked and prepared separately from McDonald's non-vegan items.
The version served in American test markets, however, stops at plant-based—it includes the classic sesame bun, slices of real American cheese, and a mayo-based sauce. It's also worth keeping in mind that it will be cooked on the same grill as the meat and dairy products, so it might not even check the vegetarian box, depending on your definition.