McDonald’s, McCafes add OmniPork plant-based luncheon meat to menus in ‘groundbreaking’ move
- Over 400 McDonald’s and McCafes in Hong Kong and Macau have started selling six dishes featuring ‘OmniPork Luncheon’
- ‘This is the most monumental plant-based protein collaboration’ with a quick service restaurant, OmniFoods CEO and co-founder David Yeung says
Vegetarians in Hong Kong and Macau can now walk into McDonald’s and McCafe and eat something other than French fries and hash browns at the fast-food chain.
At McDonald’s, diners can try the luncheon meat fried with scrambled eggs in a burger; in a jumbo breakfast with pancakes, scrambled eggs, English muffins and a hash brown; and with a fried egg and twisty pasta soup. Meanwhile, at McCafe, the two options are OmniPork Luncheon with egg and cheese in a toastie; and with egg mayonnaise in a ciabatta.
The OmniPork luncheon meat used in the six dishes is 5mm thicker than that sold at retail and in other restaurants (15mm compared with 10mm), which gives it a meatier texture. This thicker cut will be exclusive to McDonald’s.
The prices differ depending on the franchise location, but in general the à la carte prices range from around HK$20 (US$2.60) for the OmniPork Luncheon and scrambled egg burger to around HK$28.50 for the OmniPork Luncheon and egg cheesy toastie.
“This is not a limited time offer, not a limited shop offer. This is long term for all of Hong Kong and Macau,” said David Yeung, OmniFoods CEO and co-founder, just before the official launch at the McDonald’s at the Admiralty Centre. “I’ve got to say this is the most monumental plant-based protein collaboration with a QSR [quick service restaurant]. No question this is the biggest in Asia, and absolutely one of the biggest in the world. This is groundbreaking.”
As a vegetarian for 20 years, Yeung said he doesn’t eat in McDonald’s because he can only eat French fries and hash browns. But now he said he can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the fast-food chain.
This collaboration with McDonald’s is “a dream come true” in terms of making plant-based options like OmniPork Luncheon available to the masses, he said, adding that this is the goal of Green Monday, the social venture he founded to tackle climate change, food insecurity, health issues and animal welfare.
“Per day, pre-Covid, McDonald’s served a million people daily in Hong Kong and Macau. That’s insane. One million people,” Yeung said. “Even if someone comes in [and] they don’t order it [OmniPork Luncheon dishes] today, they see it, they can order it tomorrow or the day after.
“So talk about making it common, our slogan is, ‘Make change happen, make green common.’ We use the physical Green Common store as the showcase, but we always believe that we have got to reach the masses. If this is not reaching the masses, I don’t know what is. This is the ultimate example of reaching the masses.”
Yeung said he has known several McDonald’s executives for about five or six years, but talks didn’t begin in earnest until he told them that Green Monday was about to launch OmniPork Luncheon in May.
After McDonald’s executives went to a Green Common store for a tasting, Yeung said they were “blown away” and they set about developing menu items together and arranging for the fast-food giant to get the thicker cut.
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the interest in plant-based meat, Yeung said.
“Luncheon meat is the product for this region, because we eat so much but at the same time luncheon meat is the ultimate guilty food. It’s clearly not good for you, it’s common knowledge. This is a brilliant example of why plant-based meat, plant-based protein is really fitting into the mainstream so well.”
