Beyond Meat shares jump as McDonald’s tests plant burgers

Beyond Meat shares spiked after McDonald’s announced that it will test the company’s plant-based burgers in a handful of restaurants in Canada.  

Beyond Meat’s stock price jumped about 10% in early trading on Thursday to nearly $152 per share.  

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Starting Sept. 30, McDonald’s said it will sell what it calls the “P.L.T.” — for plant, lettuce and tomato —sandwich for 12 weeks in 28 restaurants throughout Ontario, Canada. The fast-food giant said it formulated the item, which will sell for $6.49 in Canadian dollars, to mimic the taste of McDonald’s regular meat patties. 

As customer interest in plant-based options accelerated rapidly, our curiosity piqued, too,” Ann Wahlgren, vice president of global menu strategy at McDonald’s, wrote in a post on the company’s blog. “We’ve kept an eye on this emerging trend, and now we’re ready to learn more by running a test in one of our markets.”