Beyond Meat has announced a global strategic partnership with Yum! Brands to co-create and offer plant-based protein menu items that can be found at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell over the next several years.
Beyond Meat and Yum! Brands expect to leverage their industry-leading research and development capabilities to meet the evolving tastes of the consumers of today and tomorrow.
“We are honored to enter into a global strategic partnership with Yum! Brands, one of the world's largest restaurant companies,” says Ethan Brown, founder and chief executive officer, Beyond Meat. “We look forward to expanding our work with the teams at Yum's iconic KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands to together bring truly delicious plant-based product innovation to consumers.”
Beyond Meat’s strategic partnership with Yum! Brands will be an expansion of the companies’ growing track record of collaborations to offer plant-based products. KFC was the first national U.S. quick-service restaurant to introduce plant-based chicken when it tested Beyond Fried Chicken at an Atlanta-area restaurant in 2019. Since the initial rollout, KFC has expanded testing of Beyond Fried Chicken in other U.S. cities. In 2020, Pizza Hut U.S. launched the Beyond Italian Sausage Pizza and the Great Beyond Pizza nationwide, becoming the first national pizza chain to introduce a plant-based meat pizza coast-to-coast.
Through this collaboration, Yum! Brands will build on its tradition of food innovation and creating new consumer markets for industry-defining items and increase the number of plant-based options that appeal to flexitarians, those looking to incorporate plant-based meat or more diverse protein options into their diets.
“Today’s announcement builds on our strong relationship with Beyond Meat and given the consumer response during recent tests with Beyond Meat, we’re excited about the long-term potential plant-based protein menu items have to attract more customers to our brands, especially younger consumers,” says Chris Turner, chief financial officer, Yum! Brands. “We expect this Beyond Meat partnership to strengthen our brands’ capability to offer delicious, plant-based menu items that are driven by consumer demand for more diverse protein options and our brands’ strategies in local markets.”