• by Todd Wasserman , January 6, 2023

Image above is Burger King's plant-based Bakon King, available only in the U.K.

In January, the time of diets and New Year’s resolutions, veganism gets an uptick. Currently there are just one-half of one percent of Americans who are vegan, but about 8 million have tried it and lapsed.

Fast-food brands have been eager to test the growth in meat- and dairy-free eating. Last year, we saw McDonald’s test the McPlant burger (made in cooperation with Beyond Meat) at select stores in California and Texas. Taco Bell also tested Beyond Carne Asada steak in Dayton, Ohio, and Birmingham, Alabama. For its part, Burger King tested a meat-free Chick’N Sandwich in Cincinnati. Others, including Chipotle, also tested plant-based meat substitutes.

In January, we’re not seeing a ton of fast-food vegan entries, but there is at least one, from Domino’s.

Domino’s this month launched American Hot Pizza, which features specially created Pepperoni from The Vegetarian Butcher, along with sliced red onions, jalapeno peppers, vegan mozzarella and tomato sauce on vegan dough.

Unfortunately, this Domino’s offering is only available in England.

Another UK-only vegan option is provided by Burger King, which has launched three plant-based bacon cheeseburgers, including the Bakon King, which is served on a Whopper bun and features vegan bacon and vegan cheese. Those sandwiches were added to the Burger King UK menu after successful trials in London and Bristol.

A YouGov survey recently found more than a third of Britons believe eating a vegan diet was “an admirable thing to do.” Kantar found that 1.9% of households had at least one vegan.

In the U.S., there are pockets in which veganism is on full display—there are 111 vegan restaurants within a five-mile radius of New York City. But beyond such enclaves as New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland, the U.S. is behind the U.K., much of Europe and many other places when it comes to embracing veganism.

Such findings come in contrast to an Ipsos Retail Performance study that found between 2004 to 2019 there was a 30-fold increase of vegans in the U.S., from 290,000 in 2004 to about 10 million in 2019.

In other words, veganism is a growing movement in the U.S., but it hasn’t quite hit the level in which fast-food chains are ready to market vegan food at scale.