Pizza Hut is offering meatless pepperoni from Beyond Meat as a topping in five U.S. cities starting Tuesday.
The limited-time offering is the latest expansion of the partnership between the meat alternative maker and Pizza Hut’s parent company, KFC and Taco Bell, Yum Brands. The strategic partnership was formally announced in February, but the two companies have a history of working together. Last November, Pizza Hut launched two different limited-time pizzas made with Beyond Sausage, which uses peas as a protein source.
Customers will be able to find the pepperoni substitute at nearly 70 locations in Houston, Albany, New York, Macon, Georgia, Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida.
For Pizza Hut, the limited-time offer can help attract more orders from consumers who don’t eat meat or are trying to cut back on their meat consumption. These new or returning customers may be especially valuable to Pizza Hut as it tries to combat pizza fatigue after the pandemic boom of the dish.
In the last quarter, Beyond reported $24 million in sales for U.S. food service businesses, such as restaurants and college canteens. The company generated less than a quarter of its U.S. revenue from restaurant sales, but partnerships with fast-food chains such as Pizza Hut can help introduce alternative meats to customers who have never tried them before and encourage them to look for sausage or meatless beef in grocery stores.
Beyond’s success in these partnerships has been mixed. High-profile deals like those with Yum and McDonald‘s have caused investor excitement, but many of the dishes on its menu don’t linger on fast-food menus.
Dunkin’, one of the few major chains to consistently offer its meatless sausage, recently removed the meatless breakfast sandwich from many of its restaurants as it downsized its menu. On the other hand, Beyond announced Monday that Beyond’s chicken alternative sold out in less than 10 days at Southern California Panda Express restaurants.
Beyond Meat’s stock is up 3% this year, bringing its market value to $8.12 billion. Yum’s stock is up 22% in the same time period, raising its market value to $39.8 billion.
