In an industrial pocket of North Portland, Oregon just some minutes off I-5, there’s an previous McDonald’s that was given a stunning second life.
The acquainted structure is now dwelling to Face Plant, a vegan burger joint that opened earlier this yr and goals to “develop into the perfect quick meals worldwide,” based on founder Matt Plitch. It’s a lofty objective—but it surely’s pushed by an excellent greater one. “Quick meals is [a huge source] of meat consumption outdoors the house,” he says. “And so the purpose is to alter the trajectory of worldwide warming for 8 billion folks.”
Face Plant was almost 4 years within the making—from creating a marketing strategy and bringing in buyers, to discovering the proper location, to creating an alt-meat mix that “tastes higher than a Massive Mac.” On that final entrance, Plitch had some severe assist: The meals influencer and cookbook creator Molly Baz did all the restaurant’s recipe improvement.
And this labor appears to be paying off: Within the first few months, Plitch says they’ve served “tens and tens of hundreds of shoppers,” far exceeding expectations, with the typical ticket operating 50% greater than they anticipated and greater than double that of McDonald’s.
Plant-based merchandise are a part of a rising trade, one which was valued at $8.1 billion in 2024, greater than double that of 2017. Nonetheless, there have been strong headwinds—each Inconceivable Meals and Beyond Meat have seen gross sales decline as they battle to determine a broader buyer base past simply vegans and vegetarians.
However Plitch says his goal buyer really isn’t vegan in any respect. ”We constructed this to serve individuals who love quick meals and eat a ton of meat,” he says. “And whereas we’ll be so grateful for vegans and vegetarians who’re and wish to help us, the complete mannequin is round stealing the McDonald’s buyer.”
For starters, which means not broadcasting Face Plant’s sustainability bona fides. The colour scheme is a brilliant purple (no greens or browns in sight); the emblem is an overview of two palms holding a burger; the font is chunky and informal—all of it feels inviting and acquainted, not prefer it’s making an attempt to coerce folks into altering their consuming habits to avoid wasting the planet. Which, Plitch says, is precisely the purpose.
This can be a significantly resonant objective, particularly given the place Face Plant is situated. On the base of a peninsula known as Swan Island, the realm is dwelling to various warehouses, port staff, UPS and FedEx amenities, a Coast Guard station, and the Daimler Truck North America headquarters. “It’s slightly little bit of a distinct taste than your typical Portland neighborhood,” he says. (It’s additionally a part of the Portland Harbor Superfund website, which brings an added poignance to Plitch’s environmental hopes for his restaurant.)
What’s on faucet
Face Plant’s menu is deliberately small and features a burger (with 4 completely different variations, relying on how loaded you need it), nuggets, french fries, and milkshakes. “We wish to do a couple of issues exceptionally properly,” Plitch says, including that they’re including a plant-based rooster sandwich to the menu this fall.
The buns are from the identical bakery as In-N-Out Burger, whereas the bottom of the burger is Inconceivable meat. Nonetheless, it took three years to get the style the place he wished it to be. And that’s the place Baz got here in. When Plitch was rising up, Baz’s now-husband, Ben Willett, was one among his closest buddies, so after he got here up with the thought for Face Plant, she was his first—and solely—culinary name.
He says along with Baz being “probably the greatest recipe builders on this planet,” it was additionally important that she was an omnivore. “It was so vital to us that Molly got here into the check kitchen each day and requested herself, ‘Is that this pretty much as good because the Double-Double Animal Fashion I had at In-N-Out yesterday?’”
“Molly’s superpower is craveability. She makes issues that stick with you after you’ve had them,” he says.
On this entrance, he had some severe assist: Meals influencer and cookbook creator Baz did all of the recipe improvement for Face Plant, turning Inconceivable’s customary combine into “one thing fully distinctive by new meals science,” he says.
Her workforce additionally developed the vegan milkshakes, that are made utilizing pea protein. Plitch says whereas espresso, chocolate, and strawberry took “a matter of days,” vanilla took a yr to develop. “You possibly can’t masks the coconut, oat, or soy.”
Plitch says Baz continues to be concerned in Face Plant, not simply with creating new gadgets just like the forthcoming plant-based rooster sandwich however in strategic planning as they have a look at increasing the enterprise.
Baz, who’s additionally a shareholder within the firm, isn’t the one high-profile companion. Face Plant raised about $4 million in enterprise funding, together with from former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario’s ReGen Ventures. (AgFunder, Bread & Butter Ventures, and Ceas are additionally backers.)
Why quick meals?
Vegan eating places have been gaining reputation—and clout—lately, maybe most notably when Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park transitioned to a plant-based menu in 2021. Nonetheless, fast-food forays into meat alternatives haven’t been a powerful success. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King all launched plant-based burgers over the past 5 years, however solely Burger King’s Inconceivable Whopper remains to be round in any significant method—and even then, prospects on-line have complained that they’re not broadly obtainable.
However Plitch isn’t turned off by these tendencies. “I actually, actually really feel like meals service and quick meals is the best platform for hospitality on this planet.” Earlier than Face Plant, he launched a carbon-neutral meals model, however he couldn’t shake the space between what he was creating and the patron. “You don’t personal the connection with the shopper; you don’t get to regulate your worth. You’re form of successfully within the voice of Entire Meals or Fred Meyer,” he says. “One of many issues I actually yearned for was being entrance and heart by way of the connection with the shopper.”
That relationship is a precedence for Face Plant. With greater than 45 workers, Plitch says they spend about eight instances extra hours coaching them than the competitors does. At $17 an hour, the pay can also be greater than many quick meals joints (Portland’s minimal wage is $16.30).
A key a part of orientation is watching the Mr. Rogers documentary Gained’t You Be My Neighbor collectively. “It’s the best two-hour abstract of all the things we have now to do as an organization,” he says. “The burgers, the shake, the fries, these are our little Trojan horses lined in particular sauce to do our actual job, which is what I believe he was getting down to do, of exhibiting folks they deserve love.”
And, in a marked distinction to the overwhelming majority of his quick meals opponents, Plitch is pushing again towards automated know-how as an alternative of embracing it. “[Their] perception, so far as I can inform, is that if we reduce that connection, we will scale back labor to extend revenue. Our entire job is to do the precise reverse of that,” he says. “We’re not a tech firm. We’re a human firm. And that’s the complete wager we’re making.”
A hungry viewers
Within the months that Face Plant has been opened, Plitch says their expectations have been “blown away.” Within the first month alone, gross sales had been 5 instances what he anticipated; they’re planning to proceed increasing their nighttime hours, finally staying open till 2 a.m., and so as to add supply and catering quickly.
And prospects appear impressed to this point: The vegan joint has over 600 opinions on Google, the overwhelming majority of them 5 stars. “You’ve obtained truckers ordering subsequent to College of Portland children and all the things in between,” Plitch says. On this entrance, the placement is a giant assist: It’s a serious funnel for folks heading to or from the interstate freeway and is in a little bit of a restaurant wasteland, which probably makes it an much more enticing choice for individuals who work close by.
The worth is an element as properly, which was Plitch’s purpose from the beginning. He says their objective was simply to be round a greenback greater than a comparable McDonald’s menu merchandise. “We spent three years to verify the associated fee may very well be aggressive with the large nationals,” he says. “Our costliest meal is $13.49.”
He additionally stresses the significance of style and freshness in comparison with their opponents. The fries are made with a little bit of white vinegar; the chilly brew shakes have instantaneous espresso crystals. Face Plant workers slice the onions, lettuce, and tomatoes each day in home; additionally they make between 1,000 and 1,500 patties each day—hand-mixing the Inconceivable meat with their very own proprietary mix of spices.
And as a meat eater myself (who’d like to be consuming much less meat), I used to be proper there with them after I tried Face Plant’s burger (I went with the “fancy”). The bun was fluffy, the patty had a smashburger high quality to it, and the sauce had simply sufficient tang. However apparently, what struck me essentially the most had been the veggies: The iceberg was completely crisp, the onions had been thinly sliced, and the pickles instantly despatched me again to the 39-cent McDonald’s cheeseburger of my childhood. I used to be consuming a quick meals burger, and it was good.
Whereas Plitch doesn’t plan to dramatically develop the menu, he has large plans to increase Face Plant’s presence. He hopes to open a second location within the subsequent yr and a half (probably additionally in Portland or elsewhere in Oregon or Washington), however he has international ambitions far past that. “Our purpose is to develop into essentially the most cherished quick meals worldwide and take down McDonald’s,” he says. “It’s going to be insanely arduous however that’s the hope.”
