McDonald’s Has Just Released An All New Chicken Nugget
McDonald's is rolling out its plant-based McNuggets in Germany next week, but there is no official release date for the US, as of yet.
McDonald’s is not one to be a follower in any aspect of the restaurant business, in fact, they always look at themselves as pioneers. In the last few years, they watched other fast-food chains roll out variations of their menus trying to incorporate some plant-based products to substitute in some of their meat dishes. Starting next week McDonald’s will be rolling out plant-based Chicken McNuggets for their customers to feast on.
However, if you are in the United States and you just got really excited about chowing down on these Plant nuggies next week, you will have to wait a little while longer as these delicacies will only be available in Germany. According to AP News, “the nationwide nugget rollout to more than 1,400 restaurants in Germany follows a limited-time test at nine restaurants in the Stuttgart area in August. McDonald’s will also start selling the McPlant burger in Germany next week.” Whether the McDonald’s plant nuggets ever make it to the US market remains to be seen.
Availability of the plant nugget in any other worldwide market will depend on customer interest and demand. European diners have simply been more open-minded about plant-based substitutes than consumers in the US. It may be the first time you are even hearing about a McPlant burger but it has already become a permanent menu item in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, and the Netherlands.
It was tested in select markets in the United States but McDonald’s pulled the plug on the testing last summer without announcing any future plans for any sort of nationwide release. They partnered with the El Segundo, California company Beyond Meat to develop Mickey D’s offering and they began selling their own plant-based chicken in 2021. Beyond Meat has been extremely active in the plant-based meat substitute game as they have also partnered and co-developed plant-based tenders and nuggets with other fast-food chains, KFC and Panda Express.
As many different restaurants are trying to get the American market to take a big bite into these plant-based substitutes, the product has not gotten much traction on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Over in Europe, it is a much different story, so much so that McDonald’s rolled out a double McPlant burger last month in the United Kingdom and Ireland. One plant patty was not nearly enough for them their customers wanted more and McDonald’s delivered double the plant patties for their enjoyment.
Now if they are wanting to get into shoveling down some plant nuggets, they are going to need to hop on a boat and get themselves across the English Channel. From there it’s a short two-hour car ride to the German border where they can get in on some plant nuggets. It will be a little bit more of an obstacle for us Americans to get to the land of the plant nuggets and even if it does do well over in Europe, there is no guarantee that we may ever see them over here in the states.
