Quick-service chains added more plant-based items this quarter than in all of 2023 combined

Major quick-service restaurant chains collectively added more plant-based menu items in Q1 2025 than they did during the entire calendar year of 2023, according to a new analysis from the Good Food Institute's quarterly menu tracker. The data covers the 50 largest QSR chains in North America by revenue and paints a picture of an industry that's done recalibrating after the post-hype correction — and is now quietly doubling down.

The numbers are striking. Between January and March, 37 new permanent plant-based items hit menus across chains including Taco Bell, Chipotle, Panda Express, and several regional players. For context, all of 2023 saw just 29 additions across the same set of restaurants. The shift isn't driven by one blockbuster partnership either. While Beyond Meat remains the most common supplier — appearing in roughly a third of the new launches — the field has diversified considerably. Brands like Hungry Planet, Daring Foods, and Meati are showing up on drive-through boards in ways that would've seemed unlikely two years ago.

So what changed? A few things converged. Consumer data from Technomic's 2025 foodservice outlook report suggests that "flexitarian" traffic at QSRs jumped 18% year-over-year, driven largely by Gen Z diners who treat plant-based options the same way they treat oat milk — as just another choice, not a statement. Chains are responding to that energy. Operators also report that plant-based proteins have become significantly easier to work with from a supply chain perspective, with more stable pricing and better flavor profiles than the first-generation products that launched during the 2019-2020 boom.

The menu strategy has evolved too. Gone are the days of a single "veggie burger" parked at the bottom of the menu like an afterthought. Chains are integrating plant-based proteins into existing popular formats — think bowls, wraps, breakfast items, and even kids' meals. Panda Express's new plant-based orange chicken, which moved from a limited test to a permanent offering in February, reportedly outsold two of its traditional chicken dishes during launch week. That kind of performance data gets corporate attention fast.

There's a broader context here worth noting. As VegOut recently reported, climate change is already reshaping agricultural maps across North America, with growing zones shifting faster than projected. Several QSR executives cited supply chain resilience as a factor in diversifying their protein sourcing — plant-based options offer a hedge against the kind of commodity volatility that traditional animal agriculture is increasingly exposed to. When global food security models are being redrawn around 2°C of locked-in warming, having menu flexibility becomes a business strategy, not just a marketing one.

The investment community has noticed. After a brutal 2022-2023 that saw plant-based company valuations crater, QSR adoption is exactly the kind of signal that analysts at Barclays and JPMorgan flagged as necessary for sector recovery. Consistent foodservice placement drives trial, and trial drives repeat purchases — the flywheel that the retail-first strategy of early plant-based brands struggled to create on its own.

Nobody's calling this a second hype cycle, and that might be exactly why it works. The plant-based menu boom of 2025 looks less like a trend and more like infrastructure quietly being built — one drive-through window at a time.

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