Beyond Meat’s Vegan Sausage Joins the Permanent Menu at All Pizza Hut Locations in Canada

Pizza Hut Canada has made Beyond Meat’s Italian Sausage Crumbles a permanent menu fixture. It comes after the U.K.market announced a similar initiative last July. The move went live on Monday 10 January.

Last year, Pizza Hut’s parent company Yum Foods signed a partnership with Beyond Meat for three of its chains. Alongside Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC are benefitting from the plant-based brand’s popularity. The partnership is designed to offer more choices to customers who are scaling back their meat consumption. Beyond hopes to reach new fans that might not have otherwise tried its products.

Backing Beyond

The beyond sausage was trialled in two locations; Toronto and Edmonton. Following a successful soft launch, rollout has been confirmed for all 450 Pizza Hut restaurants in Canada. The U.K. has already made a Beyond product perpetually available, but the U.S. is lagging behind. A test of plant-based pepperoni was launched in five U.S. states last summer but no updates as to permanent menus additions have been forthcoming.

The pea protein-based sausage crumbles can be ordered as a topping on any pizza. A new flatbread pie and alfredo pasta item have been developed specifically to use the ingredient. 

Beyond bolstered by global fast-food deals

It’s not all good news for Beyond. The company’s stocks have plummeted by 42 percent in the last year, reducing its market value by $4.3 billion. Multiple fast-food chain deals with the company have been reported as calming investors, but some damage remains. Finance experts have questioned if the company can claw back its market share.

“We view the results as further evidence that Beyond’s business is reaching market saturation faster than expected and that the company has deeper problems that won’t be easy to fix,” Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow said in a statement.

The news of Pizza Hut and KFC adding Beyond products to their menus permanently will be encouraging. A partnership with McDonald’s has been cited as offering more promise. 

Canada ups its plant-based game

This week has proved especially promising for Canada’s vegan shift as KFC and Mary Brown’s have both unveiled new partnerships with Lightlife. For both famous chicken locations, the addition of plant-based alternatives signals a shift in demand and the booming vegan chicken market. It should be noted that cooking methods and sauces mean that neither location is offering a fully vegan meal option.

Canada has a history of disrupting the fast-food industry. Domestic success story Odd Burger revealed last year that it has been approved to receive public investment from U.S. investors. Described as one of the world’s earliest vegan-focussed fast-food chains, Odd Burger being a publicly-traded company was the plan right from the start. This would allow for management autonomy and support from those that eat in the restaurants.

Canada could be making an impact on the vegan world with export, in 2022. Wamame Foods, developers of Waygu, have announced an intention to supply the world with vegan beef. Following a C$7.6 million investment injection, led by Protein Industries Canada, global distribution is being discussed. The company specialises in high-quality beef alternatives that are comparable to Wagyu. Pork alternatives are being developed alongside.

Lead image courtesy of Pizza Hut.