Pizza Hut offering Beyond Meat’s meatless pepperoni in five markets

Pizza Hut debuted its latest meatless option Tuesday, unveiling meat-free pepperoni as a topping in five U.S. cities.

Pizza fans can now find Beyond Meat’s pepperoni substitute at nearly 70 locations across Houston; Albany, New York; Macon, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida, CNBC reported.

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The limited-time offer is the latest partnership between the El Segundo, California-based meat alternatives maker and Yum Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell.

According to Forbes, pepperoni is Pizza Hut’s top selling pizza, as well Americans’ overall favorite pizza topping, and the chain’s Beyond Pepperoni is made from such ingredients as peas and rice but contains no soy, gluten, hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or genetically modified organisms.

Although the formal partnership between the two companies was announced in February, Pizza Hut tested the waters in November by rolling out two limited-time pizzas featuring Beyond Sausage.

>> Related: Pizza Hut to offer Beyond Meat sausage toppings in US, UK

According to CNBC, attracting new customers who do not eat meat or are trying to limit meat consumption could yield a “particularly valuable” new market as the chain tries to “fight pizza fatigue after the food’s pandemic boom.”

“We know there is strong consumer demand for pepperoni, and we’re thrilled to unveil a game-changing plant-based pepperoni topping as the next chapter in our innovation-focused partnership with Pizza Hut,” Dariush Ajami, Beyond Meat’s chief innovation officer, stated in a news release.

>> Related: McDonald’s will launch meatless ‘McPlant’ burger

The global plant-based meat market is projected to reach $13.8 billion by 2027, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20%, Forbes reported.

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