TGI Friday’s Adds Plant-Based Items

TGI Friday’s the week announced a new partnership with Beyond Meat to offer new plant based menu items. TGI’s was one of the first restaurants to tap Beyond for a burger on their menu back in 2018 and this month now sees the introduction of a brand new proprietary chili recipe using Beyond Beef.

The brand writes, “Developed by TGI Fridays corporate chef, Beyond Chili™ is a warm, flavor-packed chili featuring Beyond Meat’s plant-based ground meat.”

The new chili comes as part of a variety of dishes includingL

• Beyond Chili
• Beyond Chili Loaded Potato Skins
• Beyond Chili Ballpark Nachos
• Beyond Chili Cheeseburger
• Beyond Meat Chili Cheeseburger

As part of the product’s press release TGI’s offered up the following data highlighting the huge popularity in meat free menu options.

• The presence of “‘plant-based” on U.S. menus has increased by more than 3,000% over the past four years. Furthermore, Datassential expects it to jump another 70% over the next four years. (Source: Datassential Menu Trends) 
• More than eight in 10 U.S. consumers are “aware” of “plant-based” and more than half (54%) of consumers have tried it. (Source: Datassential FLAVOR) 
• 74% of consumers are trying to eat less meat since the onset of COVID-19, and 61% of consumers are open to restaurants featuring more plant-based products. (Source: Datassential Coronavirus Report 18) 
• Plant-based protein is more than a trend, it’s here to stay. 83% of consumers believe that diets higher in plant-based protein are a “fundamental change that will last for a long time or forever.” (Source: Mattson Survey 2020) 
• About 64% of all Americans “like” or “love” potato skins with 28% saying “love.” (Source: Datassential FLAVOR)

Image credit, TGI Friday’s.