Beyond Burger Debuts at TGI Fridays

Vegan company Beyond Meat’s plant-based Beyond Burger patty will be available starting this week at participating TGI Fridays locations in the greater Boston area. “We tested many concepts,” TGI Fridays chief marketing officer Stephanie Perdue said, “and the Beyond Burger was far and away the favorite plant-based burger among both our guests and chefs, making it the ideal addition to our popular Burger Bar.” Customers can request the new plant-based patty as a substitute to meat in any of TGI Fridays’ burgers. Boston-area restaurants—including Dartmouth, Mansfield, Attleboro, Providence, Seekonk, and Taunton locations—will be the first to sample the new burger option, while a nationwide introduction at TGI Fridays’ more than 470 locations nationwide is expected in early 2018. The Beyond Burger first debuted in the meat department at a Colorado Whole Foods Market last year and has since reached more than 3,500 points of distribution. Continuing its expansion into new distribution channels, Beyond Meat teamed with food service giant Sysco last week and announced its new partnership with meal delivery service Chef’d, which will now offer customers the Beyond Burger in two of its cook-at-home meal packs.