On this day in vegan history · January 10, 2022
Beyond Fried Chicken Goes National at KFC
After a five-hour Atlanta sellout and two and a half years of testing, KFC put plant-based fried chicken on the menu at thousands of restaurants across the country.
The facts
- Nationwide launch
- January 10, 2022
- First test
- August 27, 2019, single Atlanta-area KFC; sold out in under 5 hours
- Test expansion
- About 65 restaurants starting February 2020
- Price
- Starting at $6.99, plus tax
On January 10, 2022, KFC began selling Beyond Meat's plant-based fried chicken nationwide across its roughly 4,000 U.S. restaurants, sold as a combo with fries and a drink or à la carte in 6- or 12-piece orders starting at $6.99. The rollout capped a testing run that began on August 27, 2019, with a single Atlanta-area location that sold out of Beyond Fried Chicken in under five hours, then expanded to about 65 restaurants in February 2020 before the pandemic stalled a wider launch. KFC and Beyond Meat used the two-plus years between those tests to keep reworking the recipe. The chain's parent company, Yum Brands, had also struck a broader plant-based partnership with Beyond Meat the year before.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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The mission from day one was simple – make the world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken from plants
Kevin Hochman, President, KFC U.S., in a Beyond Meat press release announcing the nationwide launch, January 2022
Source: Beyond Meat -
We couldn't be prouder to partner with KFC to offer a best-in-class product that not only delivers the delicious experience consumers expect from this iconic chain, but also provides the added benefits of plant-based meat
Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO, Beyond Meat, in the same press release
Source: Beyond Meat
Why it still matters
A chain with roughly 4,000 U.S. locations betting shelf space on plant-based chicken told millions of non-vegan customers, many trying a meat alternative for the first time, that this was no longer a niche product. It was a real test of whether plant-based meat could hold up at fast-food scale, not just in a lab or a single Atlanta parking lot.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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