Part 1. Vocabulary
|
vegan |
/ˈvēɡən/ adj. -eating,
using, or containing no food or other products derived from animals: "a vegan diet" |
|
track |
/trak/ v. - follow the
course or trail of (someone or something), typically in order to find them or
note their location at various points: "The
secondary radars track the aircraft in flight." |
|
accentuate |
/əkˈsen(t)SHəˌwāt/
v. - to make
(something) more prominent or noticeable: accent, emphasize. Peter Travers trying to accentuate the positive aspects of the program. |
|
roost |
/ro͞ost/ n. - a place
where birds regularly settle or congregate to rest at night, or where bats
congregate to rest in the day: "Birds
were hurrying to their evening roosts" - idiom:
“rule the roost” - To be the
real boss; to be the person in charge. You just need
to accept that your daughter is going to rule the roost for most of her
childhood. |
|
circumvent |
/ˌsərkəmˈvent/
v. - to manage
to get around especially by ingenuity or stratagem; “Red tape circumvents
the problem” |
Part 2. Reading Comprehension
What have Impossible Foods and Beyond recently added to
their list of products?
What is the increase in the shipments of the plant-based
alternatives?
What is the no.1 motivator for those who choose plant-based
foods?
What rules the roost among the national fast-food chains?
What is a flexitarian eating style?
Part 3. Article
KEY POINTS
- Impossible Foods this week launched its plant-based chicken replacement for restaurants and grocery stores while rival Beyond Meat brought out a new alternative-protein chicken tender for restaurants in July.
- Local vegan quick-serve and comfort food restaurants from Atlanta to Minneapolis and San Antonio are finding success with plant-based fried chicken sandwiches.
- The food industry needs new chicken ideas for reasons beyond consumer interest in the fake meat fad as the chicken supply is constrained and prices have been rising.
Could a vegan chicken sandwich war be on the way?
Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have both recently added plant-based chicken
options for restaurants and grocery stores — just this week, Impossible
Foods debuted its first chicken nugget product; in July, Beyond Meat
launched chicken tenders for restaurants — an earlier effort to sell
frozen chicken strips in stores were discontinued in 2019, with the company
noting at the time, “Unfortunately, our Chicken Strips weren’t delivering the
same plant-based meat experience as some of our more popular products.”
Overall, consumption of plant-based alternatives is up over
the past two years, according to Darren Seifer, an industry analyst who tracks
food and beverage trends for the NPD Group. Shipments of plant-based proteins
from foodservice distributors to commercial restaurants increased by over 60%
in April 2021 year over year, a rise accentuated by pandemic
restrictions a year ago.
The No. 1 motivator for those who choose plant-based foods
is doing something healthier, Seifer said. And given that most consumers who
might occasionally eat a plant-based meat product don’t identify as vegan or
vegetarian, he added that it’s no surprise that the term “vegan” is not always
used in product marketing.
Among the national fast-food chains, the chicken still rules the
roost: Yum
Brands’ KFC posted recent sales growth that surpassed Taco Bell and Pizza
Hut — its same-store
sales increased 30% in the most recent quarter. After KFC and McDonald’s both
released new chicken sandwiches in February, fast-food CEOs suggested
that these
new sandwiches are driving strong numbers. In fact, KFC is on the rebound,
opening 428 net new locations in 62 countries during the second quarter. In
April, KFC said
it sold more than twice the volume of its new chicken sandwich compared
with past versions.
As chicken prices rise and more Americans embrace a
“flexitarian” eating style, meatless quick-serve restaurants that make their
own proprietary plant-based chicken analogues may be poised to make big
profits. For example, the soy-based “chickn” that Bradbury ships directly from
Taiwan cuts costs, circumventing the need for suppliers like Beyond Meat
or Impossible Foods, and keeps the price point reasonable.
Source: Sarah Chandler https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/11/why-the-next-fast-food-chicken-sandwich-war-may-be-a-fake-one.html