Arby's Says They Will Never Offer Plant-Based Meat

Arby's declared "We have the meats" as their slogan in 2014 — and the fast food chain is sticking to that promise. According to a recent statement, real meat is the only kind they'll have. 

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While other fast food chains, including White Castle, Qdoba and Little Caesars, are glomming on to the plant-based food trend, Arby's refuses. Never, an Arby's representative told Food & Wine, will the chain serve plant-based meat.

VegNews, a site self-described as "the ultimate source for all things vegan," reported on May 21 that Arby's was looking to add plant-based Impossible Meat to the chain's menu, an assumption based on an article in The Information that reported Arby's was included on a list of restaurants that had reached out to Impossible Foods.

When Arby's saw the article, though, they responded with the following statement: "Contrary to reports this week, Arby's is not one of the restaurant companies interested in working with Impossible Foods. The chances we will bring plant-based menu items to our restaurants, now or in the future, are absolutely impossible."

This may be the only time in restaurant history that a chain has gone out of its way to completely disavow a vegetarian option — though if anyone would do it, it's Arby's. Though there are ways to order meatless from their meat-heavy menu, Arby's has historically had some beef with vegetarians. They once released a marketing campaign specifically to poke fun at them, launching a "vegetarian support help line" 1-855-MEAT-HLP for vegetarians to call when they found themselves craving Arby's meat. But this time, their snub to anything plant-based doesn't seem to be just a marketing stunt.

You might think that "absolutely impossible" seems a little dramatic, and you would be right. Anything is possible if you truly believe! But when The Daily Meal reached out to Arby's, a representative confirmed the chain's statement. No Impossible Meat sandwiches will ever, ever be sold at the fast food chain. Only time will tell whether or not that's a smart business move — especially because plant-based options are one of the biggest food trends this year.