Chick-fil-A's goes Cauli: fuelling the plant-based meat "fad" debate
The Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich shows it's not Beyond Impossible to create a tasty burger with whole-veggies
Chick-fil-A Cauliflower
Yesterday (FEB 09, 2023), Chick-fil-A announced the newest addition to their menu - a “plant-forward entrée” made from cauliflower.
In the announcement, there were four noteworthy facts:
The motivation for introducing Chick-fil-A was health-driven. Chick-fil-A’s customers wanted more vegetables in their diet without sacrificing the Chick-fil-A taste.
Chick-fil-A spent four years developing the sandwich in-house. This was a significant amount of time spent on research and development, meaning the final ingredient choice was well tested and thought out, rather than a rushed decision to catch the plant-based wave.
Chick-fil-A settled on whole, real cauliflowers as the centrepiece, over “fake meats”, advertising that the food is made with “ingredients you can trust”; and
The sandwich is not vegan and may not even suit vegetarians, because “milk and eggs are included in the preparation process” and Chick-fil-A does not “designate vegetarian-only preparation surfaces”.
Launched amidst the ongoing plant-based meat “fad” debate
Following a brutal year in which plant-based meats retreated instead of grew, the plant-based meat sector has been under relentless criticism from mainstream media.
In September 2022, Financial Times published a well-written report on how “Inflation kills off hopes for return of plant-based meat boom”, highlighting that the sector struggled to win back love from consumers who felt cash-strapped in a highly inflationary environment.
In January 2023, Bloomberg’s Businessweek threw another heavy punch with “Fake Meat Was Supposed to Save the World. It Became Just Another Fad”. The article was met with outrage from Impossible Foods, who labelled Bloomberg as “subjective, one-sided”, as well as Plant Based News, who grouped the Bloomberg article with “hit pieces” and fake information.
How Chick-fil-A contributes to the debate
One of the main arguments for plant-based meats is that there is a market for them among flexitarians and those who are in the transitioning phase of their diet. For example, a 2022 study would point out that 86% of plant-based meat buyers are in fact meat-eaters, and only 2.79% of plant-based meats are bought by vegans or vegetarians.
Leslie Neslage, director of Menu and Packaging for Chick-fil-A, was quoted by USA Today saying that “it was becoming more and more prevalent that customers really want to find ways to increase vegetables in their diet."
The fact that Chick-fil-A added a “plant-forward” sandwich that was requested by their own customers and not necessarily aimed at vegans & vegetarians adds validity to the mainstream popularity argument for eating plant-based.
Choosing whole veggies sets Chick-fil-A apart
Up to now, most fast-food brands have adopted plant-based meat brands as their partners for providing plant-based options. For example, McDonald’s partnered with Beyond Meat for the McPlant (now a permanent item in the UK and Ireland, even with a Double McPlant version). Burger King has enjoyed big success with their Impossible Whopper by Impossible Foods.
Chick-fil-A, however, has opted for using whole, real cauliflowers rather than proceed plant-based meat alternatives. By highlighting the “ingredients you can trust”, Chick-fil-A underlines the general consumer concerns about the list of incomprehensible ingredients added to make plant-based meats.
Anyway, “who needs a 'plant forward' sandwich”?
Of course, it would not be a “plant-forward” announcement without denouncement by anti-vegan media commentators. Enjoying a Piers-Morgan-vegan-sausage-roll moment, Jimmy Failla calls out to “stop this nonsense right now” on Fox News. Failla fumes that “Chick-fil-A is adored the world over for world-class chicken and they should act like it” and points out that the cauliflower sandwich is not actually healthy anyway - “that's breaded and fried and marinated in Buffalo Sauce”.
However, Eve Chen from USA Today tasted the cauliflower sandwich and gave it thumbs up. Chen is not a fan of chicken breast, but “ate every bite of that Cauliflower Sandwich”, as the cauliflower “was perfectly pressure cooked with a nice crunch and hearty mouthfeel.”
Further Readings on the plant-based meat debate
For this ongoing debate, I also recommend reading “Plant-based meat sales - what's happening?” by Michal Klar on Substack, who provides an investor’s perspective, and “Plant Based Fail: The Empty Promise Of Animal Meat Displacement” by Michele Simon on Forbes. Both authors have extensive experience in the plant-based industry, offering differentiated insights.
Sonalie Figueiras makes a compelling argument for plant-based meats in this Green Queen article, with an excellent point that “the world’s largest fast-food chain, McDonald’s, sells over 2.36 billion burgers a year. That’s the industrial meat we desperately need to convert to plant-based.”
Finally, this Futurity’s interview with Stanford’s David Lobell is very interesting. Lobell highlights that while “alternative proteins can make a meaningful contribution to reducing climate change, it will likely be a very slow process in terms of global protein supply.”
Stay Tuned
❤️🔥 A candle-lit dinner for two? We are reviewing the most interesting plant-based menus from restaurants in London for Valentine’s.
🍔 Beyond Meat, Within Bust? We will publish an analytical piece on Beyond Meat’s struggles and what they have to do to survive, with further commentary on the plant-based meat industry.
📰 Monthly roundup - We provide a quick update on interesting product launches, news, and regulatory development in the plant-based space for February.
From Plantwise:
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