Non-meat burgers are the most common plant-based dish, according to NPD Group; the dish’s popularity has jumped 29 percent in quick-service restaurants from 2014 to 2018.

Most (82 percent) operators still rely on pre-made plant-based burgers, according to Datassential, an important metric for companies such as Impossible Food and Beyond Meat.

But all these options are worthless to restaurants if they don’t appeal to customers’ palates, Schaefer said.

An admittedly unscientific taste test was conducted at a Washington, D.C., Bareburger, which offers both an Impossible Burger and a Beyond Meat burger, to compare the plant-based patties to a typical beef burger. The Impossible burger was a dead ringer for a beef patty, while the Beyond patty had a slight chemical taste. It went half uneaten.

Notably, operators that have introduced plant-based meat products are roughly four times more likely to say their sales have increased as opposed to decreased, according to the Datassential report. Most (54 percent) say they’ve remained the same.

ncG1vNJzZmiooqR7rrvRp6Cnn5Oku7TBy61lnKedZK6zwMico56rX5uutMCMn6aonF2nsrTAwK6pmqakqHqtu86kZK2nXanCs7qMqaOapqRir6K%2FxJ1km62inLKzv4yipa2nXZiutLSMnKawqw%3D%3D