The plant-based fast-food chain Plant Power Fast Food, with 11 restaurants in California and other US states, has dropped the price of its burgers as it may be struggling to compete with plant-based burgers from animal fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, which are producing some plant-based options and therefore driving away customers from vegan businesses.
Plant Power Fast Food has now reduced its classic burgers from $7.95 to $4.95 and its classic cheeseburgers from $8.95 to $5.95. The chain is now within $1 to $2 for similar-sized animal-based meat burgers, but it remains to be seen if this price drop will be sufficient to stop vegans to spend their money in meat restaurants. If the move is successful, the San Diego-based plant-based chain hopes to grow to 15 restaurants by the beginning of 2023.
Zach Vouga, founder and Chief Operating Officer of Plant Power Fast Food, said in a statement, “One of the core criticisms of plant-based food is that it is expensive…Our goal is to remove that barrier and make plant-based fast food an easy choice.” They were able to lower their prices thanks to a partnership with vegan brand Alpha Foods, which created a new proprietary gluten-free pea-protein burger patty. Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of Plant Power Fast Food, told VegNews, “By leveraging the growth of our business and deepening our strategic relationship with co-packer and R&D partner Alpha foods, we’ve been able to reduce the costs of our burger patty and pass that savings onto our guests…This really is a groundbreaking development that will allow us to broaden our appeal to an ever-increasing group of consumers.” These sorts of partnerships can save the big-enough plant-based companies from the competition of big meat restaurants that try to steal their customers, but the small independent vegan businesses may not have that option, and if vegan customers do not support them by buying their products instead of buying the products of the animal agriculture industry, they may not be able to survive for long.
