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McDonald’s to test Beyond Meat-made ‘P.L.T.’ burger

Shares Beyond Meat Inc. soared Thursday, after McDonald’s Corp. said it was testing a plant-based burger made by the company in Canada. Read More...

Shares of Beyond Meat Inc. soared in early Thursday trading, after McDonald’s Corp. said it will launch in Canada a test using a plant-based burger patty made by the company.

The burger is called the P.L.T., which stands for plant-lettuce-tomato, and will be sold in 28 restaurants starting Sept. 30 in southwestern Ontario. The trial is slated to run for 12 weeks.

Beyond Meat’s stock BYND, +9.88%  shot up as much as 16% before paring some gains to be up 10% in morning trading. Trading volume topped 4.4 million shares, which was already more than the full-day average of about 3.1 million shares.

McDonald’s shares MCD, +0.65% gained 0.6%.

The P.L.T. will be made with a plant-based patty from Beyond Meat that has been crafted by McDonald’s, with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, and will feature a sesame seed bun. It will cost C$6.49 ($4.90), before tax.

“McDonald’s has a proud legacy of fun, delicious and craveable food—and now, we’re extending that to a test of a juicy, plant-based burger,” said Ann Wahlgren, McDonald’s vice president of global menu strategy. “We’ve been working on our recipe and now we’re ready to hear feedback from our customers.”

McDonald’s is the latest fast-food chain to test plant-based meat items made by Beyond Meat. Yum Brands Inc.’s YUM, +1.10% KFC piloted a Beyond Fried Chicken in Atlanta last month, CKE Restaurant’s Carl’s Jr. launched a Beyond Famous Star burger with cheese in Canada and Subway said it would test a Beyond Meatball Marinara in 685 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

Don’t miss: Beyond Meat is a ‘disrupter’ as plant-based meat industry sales poised to reach $100 billion.

Also read: Here’s how Beyond Meat can lose the lead in the plant-based meat category to Tyson.

In July, Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. DNKN, -0.51%  said it would add a plant-based dining option from Beyond Meat to menus in Manhattan, and Del Taco Restaurants Inc. TACO, -3.10% said in June that it will offer two new burritos containing Beyond Meat’s plant-based protein.

Shares of Beyond Meat, which went public on May 2, have lost 4.7% over the past three months, but Wednesday’s closing price of $138.32 was about 6-times the initial public offering price of $25. Read more about Beyond Meat’s biggest-popping IPO since 2000.

Over the same time, McDonald’s stock has gained 4.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.37%  has tacked on 1.4%.

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