Chick-fil-A is testing a cauliflower sandwich

Chick-fil-A is tests a cauliflower sandwich inspired by its famous chicken sandwich. / Photograph courtesy of Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A’s newest rooster sandwich doesn’t aspect chicken.

The Atlanta-primarily based speedy-foodstuff chain on Thursday explained it is screening a cauliflower sandwich in 3 marketplaces: Charleston, S.C., the Greensboro-Triad location of North Carolina and Denver.

The sandwich is manufactured with a fillet of whole cauliflower that is marinated, breaded, seasoned, pressure cooked and served on a toasted bun with two dill pickle chips.

“Cauliflower is the hero of our new sandwich, and it was influenced by our initial Chick-fil-A Hen Sandwich,” Leslie Neslage, director of menu and packaging at Chick-fil-A, stated in a statement. “Guests explained to us they desired to add additional veggies into their diet programs, and they desired a plant-forward entree that tasted uniquely Chick-fil-A.”

The company explained its cooks worked for nearly 4 several years to build the sandwich, acquiring the ideal substances and the suitable recipe. Chick-fil-A’s culinary workforce explored a wide range of vegetables to provide as the centerpiece of the sandwich, including mushrooms, chickpeas or chopped veggies shaped into patties.

“We explored each individual corner of the plant-dependent place in lookup of the perfect centerpiece for our plant-ahead entree,” Stuart Tracy, culinary developer of the cauliflower sandwich, explained in a assertion. “Time and yet again, we stored returning to cauliflower as the base of our sandwich. Following a major total of advancement, we understood we had a a person-of-a-form entree.”

The check arrives amid an evolution in the plant-dependent meat trend. Chains experienced been pushing solutions built with meat choices generated by corporations such as Impossible Foods or Outside of Meat.

But lots of major rapid-food stuff chains have possibly analyzed items with no announcing a major expansion, this kind of as McDonald’s, or they pulled their plant-based products, such as Dunkin’. And each Difficult and Further than have been laying off employees amid disappointing product sales.

Meanwhile, makes surface to be developing various variations in the hope of capturing a segment of consumers that say they want far more plant-based meat options—but have nevertheless to absolutely endorse the principle. Taco Bell, for instance, has tested its very own proprietary plant-primarily based meat in addition to assessments it has completed with Past Meat and its own choice of vegetarian alternatives.

Chick-fil-A could give this craze a boost on its very own. It is the third-major restaurant chain in the U.S. and the next-most significant standard fast-food concept. It is also just one of the swiftest-growing. The enterprise in 2021 created about $17 billion in international program income, just about all of that in the U.S., the place it is at the rear of only McDonald’s and Starbucks.

The problem, having said that, is regardless of whether shoppers in the chain’s core Southeastern markets will go for the product or service sufficient to warrant a much larger-scale start. McDonald’s, for occasion, struggled to earn around consumers in extra rural areas with its McPlant check.

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