Project Pollo, America’s first vegan Chikn fast casual chain, has launched TiNDLE on menus, offering the popular plant-based chicken as its brand-new chik’n patty.
TiNDLE is a juicy, plant-based chicken that offers mouthwatering taste, texture, and versatility – and uses a fraction of the land, water and energy needed to produce meat from birds, one of the many reasons Pollo decided to make the shift from their own proprietary patty. Made with only nine simple ingredients, TiNDLE is the first product by Next Gen Foods, a Singapore-founded food tech company that is developing and commercializing innovative and sustainable foods.
“I was passionate about having our own proprietary patty, but TiNDLE is superior to any plant-based chicken on the market. It’s fired by a young and inventive team with taste and texture on point – that’s why we choose to make the change.” says Founder and CEO of Project Pollo, Lucas Bradbury.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
When it comes to shaking up the fast-food industry, Lucas Bradbury isn’t “clucking” around. This vegan entrepreneur has set a lofty goal of opening 100 Project Pollo vegan chicken restaurants by the year 2024, with the hopes of eventually putting Chick-fil-A out to pasture. With the launch of his 14th restaurant, scheduled to open this week, in just a year and a half, the vegan entrepreneur is off to a strong start. But more important than his unprecedented growth is the fact that Bradbury is successfully providing the general public with access to a quality, plant-based fast-food option that is affordable, convenient, and so delicious that it’s making converts out of the carnivore crowd.
Only 20% of Project Pollo customers identify as vegan or vegetarian. The other 80% are “plant curious,” and those are the people who are helping Bradbury move the needle to a more sustainable way of mass consumption.
Why You Should Give A Cluck
A plant-based lifestyle is about more than just saving animals. It is about sustainability and environmental responsibility. When it comes to chicken, there is a common misconception that the poultry industry isn’t as harmful to the environment as cows because they produce less methane. However, the chicken industry is highly unregulated and produces excessive amounts of waste, causing hazardous runoffs that can pollute our rivers and streams. Countless studies over the years, including this Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have consistently supported the higher consumption of plant-based foods, citing that the environmental impact is less than that of animal consumption.
Some organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) even go so far as to recommend policy for reducing meat consumption, describing plant-based diets as a significant opportunity for mitigating and adapting to Climate Change. “The future is in sustainability, and there is absolutely no way that the fast-food model can continue offering animal protein as the core source of its menu,” he says. “The future of consumption in fast food is plant-based. Period.”
