If McDonalds ever went 100% Plant based what would the impact on the beef trade be ??

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
But are the vegan options cheaper to produce ? the prices they sell for suggest otherwise, yes the raw ingredients are less costly, but there's then the industrial process required to turn them into something that resembles meat
Well, who knows. The share prices of these companies tanking suggests to me that the market for these products is small and it’s already super-saturated. Despite the huge amounts spent on advertising and all the media hype, I believe most folks would rather eat actual meat rather than a highly processed alternative. Beyond Meat etc don’t appear to be making money (or at least not enough to stop investors running for the exit), but beyond the greenwash hype they can see the potential for absolutely massive profits (Raw Product in at one end of the factory, cost a few hundred a tonne, finished ‘Product’ out the other end with a retail price of several thousand /t). The cost of processing must be sky high to make up the difference!
I’m not naive enough to believe that companies jumping on the ‘no meat’ bandwagon are doing it out of seriously held moral convictions, or that they believe their own planet-friendly animal-friendly spin. They’re in it for the money!🤑🤑
I suspect there are also other factors at work to promote these products. I suspect that the margin being made by supermarkets on meat are not as big as they would like; probably smaller now than a year ago. I suspect they will negotiate deals with manufacturers to give fake meat shelf space, such that the supermarket makes more from those shelves than the actual meat shelves (so the markup must be huge given the slow turnover!) Also, another thing in favour of fake meat is that it doesn’t go off very quickly unlike the real stuff, which is probably just as well given the slow turnover 😆
 

Treg

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Anyone with a teenage daughter will know that they go through the Vegan / Vegetarian stage for a few years , Mc Donald's doesn't count, don't ask me why have spoken/ laughed to other parents about it, Mc Donald's is perfectly acceptable to a teenage Vegan so no need for plant based burgers.
 

Bongodog

Member
Anyone with a teenage daughter will know that they go through the Vegan / Vegetarian stage for a few years , Mc Donald's doesn't count, don't ask me why have spoken/ laughed to other parents about it, Mc Donald's is perfectly acceptable to a teenage Vegan so no need for plant based burgers.
So true, fortunately our daughter has only dabbled at the edges (oat milk, bit of Quorn etc) but still consumed meat when it suited. Relatives had it big time, daughter 1 would only eat chicken, daughter 2 turned veggie, mum went veggie along with daughter 2. Went out for a meal with them just before Christmas amnd the mum chose steak and kidney pudding, we then learnt that the veggie phase was over for both mum and daughter, it appears a bacon sandwich did the trick.
 

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
Personally I think veganism should be considered a borderline eating disorder, and from that point of view I think it’s quite dangerous.
My wife’s aunt and uncle have always been ‘a bit odd’ about food (eg my wife tells of childrens parties with leaden wholemeal birthday cakes 😑) Later, the aunt developed breast cancer (fortunately successfully treated), after which they seemed to blame it on dairy and other animal products so afaik they are vegan now.
I think that this restrictiveness about food can feed through to future generations in odd ways. One of their daughters is veggie, I assume anorexic (stick thin), and also controls her weight by obsessively exercising to excess daily. She was lucky enough to have kids but now they are being damaged by it; their mum has them marching up and down hills in the Lake District at every opportunity from waaay too young an age, to the extent that one of her children needed knee surgery when she was only 7 or 8.

‘Eat a Healthy, Balanced, Relatively Unprocessed Diet’ should be the health message from everyone. These obsessive diets do no good.
 

ColinV6

Member
Sorry- I haven’t read the whole thread. I don’t see that McDonald’s is going to go all-plant anytime soon. You just have to look at the share prices of a couple of the big players in the synthetic animal products market to see that confidence in this type of stuff is not high:
View attachment 1012253View attachment 1012252
Historically McDs has not offered much in the way of vegetarian options - not sure about in the UK but in the USA even the chips aren’t suitable for vegetarians!! McDs is also very family oriented; if Jemima has decided she’s vegan this week then the chain loses out in a whole family worth of sales.
On top of this, I’d hazard a guess that planty options are cheaper for McDs to source (due to their very cheap ingredients) than similar meat options, yet they will be presented as premium products so McDs is quids in.

It’s always the same; don’t listen to what you’re being told, think about what the money’s doing!

Not in my family it wouldn’t be. If my daughter turned round and said she was vegan I’d happily drive thru and eat a double quarter pounder like usual, there’s no way in hell I will change my diet for a vegan, immediate family or not.
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
So true, fortunately our daughter has only dabbled at the edges (oat milk, bit of Quorn etc) but still consumed meat when it suited. Relatives had it big time, daughter 1 would only eat chicken, daughter 2 turned veggie, mum went veggie along with daughter 2. Went out for a meal with them just before Christmas amnd the mum chose steak and kidney pudding, we then learnt that the veggie phase was over for both mum and daughter, it appears a bacon sandwich did the trick.
That’d be my kryptonite if I ever decided to vegan. Bet I’m not alone….
 

yin ewe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
Even vegan loonies like Russel Brand realise that meat substitutes are over processed.


Any over processed food whether vegan or not, isn't good for you. The well off and the luvvies can afford to buy better quality, more expensive plant based alternatives, ordinary people will buy the cheapest option available and at the moment that's meat based products.
 
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It’s quite simple, if you have a car full of people 4 are omnivores one is a herbivore, you will eat somewhere that allows the herbivore their fill because by definition the omnivores can eat either.
So in order to not loose out places such as maccies BK PH and dominos offer a vegan option. Now by doing so they have made 5 sales likely 4 meat and one plant based or some mix of the two. If they didn’t offer the options then a vegan only establishment would’ve had 5 sales of only vegan food.

so to put it simply, plough on. By offering a vegan option they actually drive demand for meat further
good point,but if vegan is sooo popular,where are all the 24hr a day vegan takeaways?
i have a sneaking suspicion that mcdonalds late night customer base has a fair amount of "part time vegans".
I have pointed out many times before,when have you ever heard of a mcdonalds closing because of lack of custom?,and i am sure all those folks paitiently queing round the corner in their cars aint waiting for a side salad and lolly water,so i dont think plant based is gonna be all that high on maccie dees agenda.
as an aside,has anyone seen the movie about how mcdonalds started/evolved,was a good film,darned if i can remember its title :unsure:
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
good point,but if vegan is sooo popular,where are all the 24hr a day vegan takeaways?
i have a sneaking suspicion that mcdonalds late night customer base has a fair amount of "part time vegans".
I have pointed out many times before,when have you ever heard of a mcdonalds closing because of lack of custom?,and i am sure all those folks paitiently queing round the corner in their cars aint waiting for a side salad and lolly water,so i dont think plant based is gonna be all that high on maccie dees agenda.
as an aside,has anyone seen the movie about how mcdonalds started/evolved,was a good film,darned if i can remember its title :unsure:
Book and a film?
 

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
good point,but if vegan is sooo popular,where are all the 24hr a day vegan takeaways?
i have a sneaking suspicion that mcdonalds late night customer base has a fair amount of "part time vegans".
I have pointed out many times before,when have you ever heard of a mcdonalds closing because of lack of custom?,and i am sure all those folks paitiently queing round the corner in their cars aint waiting for a side salad and lolly water,so i dont think plant based is gonna be all that high on maccie dees agenda.
as an aside,has anyone seen the movie about how mcdonalds started/evolved,was a good film,darned if i can remember its title :unsure:
The founder?

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The guy was ruthless
 

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