Hardee’s Testing Beyond Meat “Thickburger”

Starting October 28, fast-food chain Hardee’s will test vegan Beyond Meat products on its menu in select locations. The chain will offer two options: The Beyond Thickburger and Beyond Sausages on a biscuit. According to Bloomberg, these vegan meat products are made exclusively for Hardee’s and will not be available anywhere else. In January, Beyond Meat partnered with Carl’s Jr.—a primarily West Coast-based eatery owned by Hardee’s parent company CKE Restaurants—to launch the Beyond Famous Star, a plant-based version of the chain’s signature burger. “We’ve learned that we’re reaching a brand new guest, an incremental guest, that we hadn’t touched prior to launching it,” Owen Klein, VP of Global Culinary Innovation at CKE, said. “Since late 2018, when we launched, we’ve sold over four million Beyond patties at Carl’s Jr., and a lot of them were [sold] to new faces that didn’t frequent Carl’s Jr. prior to that launch.” Last week, a petition launched by Wisconsin resident Alishia Vavilakolanu urging Hardee’s to add a Beyond Burger option received more than 10,000 signatures in 24 hours. Currently, Carl’s Jr. has 1,112 locations, with Hardee’s coming in at 1,841 outlets.