This McDonald’s item failed in the US but is a global success

McDonald’s is one of the largest food franchises in the world with its restaurants having opened in more than 30,000 locations worldwide and more than 100 countries.

With so many different countries and food preferences to account for, McDonald’s fans have been fascinated with international McDonald’s menu items for a long time, wishing some of them would be introduced in the US. On the flip-side, there are more than a few items which failed to take off in the US, but have gone on to be global success.

As reported by TheStreet, one of McDonald’s items which had failed in the US but has been very successful worldwide is its plant-based burger.

McDonald’s plant-based burgers

Interestingly, McDonald’s locations like India, Switzerland and New Zealand have had a plant-based burger, McVeggie for years but it wasn't launched in McDonald’s US.

McDonald’s introduced the McPlant burger in the US at the end of 2021. Partnering with the company Beyond Meat, these burgers were designed to satiate the desire for meat burgers while being completely plant-based. However, these burgers just failed to take off in the US.

As per the report, sales of this plant-based burger tanked so hard that even popular McDonald’s locations in California and Texas were only selling only about 20 of these vegan burgers a day. For now, this burger has not yet been made a permanent menu item in McDonald's US.

Plant-based burger are a global success

Way different from the US experience, the McPlant burger did very well internationally. In fact, this was made a permanent menu item in McDonald’s UK way back in January 2022.

Michelle Graham-Clare, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s UK and Ireland, is quoted as saying,

We saw a remarkable response to the trial period back in October.

And now McPlant is on the high-street, in retail parks and service stations all over the UK and Ireland.

So strong has its appeal been that McDonald’s is set to launch Double McPlant burger across the UK and Ireland from January 4. You can find all the information about it here.

While McDonald’s US competitors such as Burger King have been successfully selling plant-based burgers for years, it remains to be seen what McDonald’s does next to replicate its plant-based burger success abroad, in the US.

Sources used:

The Street: A McDonald's U.S. Failure Becomes a Global Hit