Tim Hortons is adding Beyond Meat sausages to its menu
New York(CNN Business) Tim Hortons is best known for its coffee and doughnuts, but it's now expanding to fake meat.
The Canadian fast-food chain announced Wednesday it's testing Beyond Meat's sausage patty in three of its breakfast sandwiches. The new menu items are available now at select locations in Canada.
"As Canadians' tastes and culinary preferences evolve, Tim Hortons is looking to provide new options for guests with a new Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich test," the company said in a release.
Tim Hortons is selling the sausage in three sandwiches, including a Beyond Meat Breakfast Sandwich, which is similar to McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin. It will also serve a Beyond Meat Farmers Breakfast Wrap, and it is adding a vegan sandwich option, which doesn't have egg or cheese.
The sausage patty is made from plant-based proteins that has a texture and taste similar to the real thing.
If the test is successful, Tim Hortons will expand the Beyond Meat menu items across its roughly 4,000 locations in Canada by the end of the summer.
The announcement comes one day after Tim Hortons' sister restaurant Burger King announced it's expanding the Impossible Whopper to four new US cities before eventually expanding across the country. Burger King's meatless, plant-based burger patty is produced Impossible Foods, a Beyond Meat rival.
Burger King and Tim Hortons are both owned by Restaurant Brands International (QSR). The company, which also owns Popeyes, announced Wednesday it plans to expand its global footprint from 26,000 restaurants to 40,000 within the next decade.
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have both been growing rapidly over the past month.
Beyond Meat (BYND) went public earlier this month and is trading well above its $25 IPO price. It closed at nearly $80 per share Tuesday.
Impossible announced Monday it has raised another $300 million from both institutional investors and big-name celebrities, such as Serena Williams and Jay-Z, to help it keep up with demand. The company said it was a experiencing a shortage because of growing demand.
