Restaurant Chains That Won’t Give the U.S. the Vegan Goods

Isn’t it so annoying when restaurants don’t eagerly hop on the vegan bandwagon? Yes. But I’ll tell you what’s even more annoying: when they are hopping on it in other countries but not in the U.S.! Why? What gives? Are we not vegan enough for them? Did we offend them with our desire to have a healthy, sustainable, and ethical lifestyle? What is it?

The seven restaurant chains below have a lot of explaining to do. Except not. We just want them to update their menus across the U.S. with the vegan goods. See which ones are doing us dirty, and click on the links to take action while you’re at it.

Domino’s

Domino’s Australia offers dairy-free cheese Down Unda. Does that sound fair to you? Narr! We’re sick of drooling, and the amount of fluid we’re losing is just not sustainable. 🤤 Domino’s, we need you to get it together in the U.S., and we will talk in a fake Aussie accent about koala bears and dingoes just to get your attention if we have to.

Papa John’s

Brits can choose from several different vegan pizzas at Papa John’s U.K., including a jackfruit “pepperoni” pie and The Vegan Works, which comes with jackfruit “pepperoni,” vegan sausage, chestnut mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and black Herrera olives. . Leading sustainability consultant Bioregional even analyzed the environmental footprint of two vegan Papa John’s U.K. pizzas and found that producing them uses 36% less water and 65% less land as well as emitting 58% fewer greenhouse gases than a pizza made with animal flesh and cow’s milk cheese. What’s Papa John’s in the U.S. waiting for?! Papa John’s: better ingredients, better pizza, better make this stuff available in the U.S.

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut has proudly served dairy-free cheese to its U.K. customers for years, and it’s been offering Violife shreads on pizzas in Germany, too! The chain has several vegan-as-is options available, including the Vegan Veggie Supreme, the Vegan Veggie Sizzler, a vegan margherita, and even customizable choose-your-own options! . The changes to the menu came after a PETA Germany petition pushed the chain to offer more animal-friendly options. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut in the U.S. has had successful tests of Beyond Meat Italian Sausage Crumbles and Beyond Meat Pepperoni but has yet to launch the offerings nationwide (or with vegan cheese). The Hut needs to get with the times and give us what we want: hot, cheesy vegan pizza delivered to our door by someone wearing a cool hat and a warm smile.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s already offers a vegan burger in Germany, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden, and Finland.. In addition, Norway gets vegan nuggets in its Happy Meals. But then there’s the U.S.—crickets. Come on, McDonald’s—just roll out a permanent vegan burger in all U.S. locations already! We’re waiting. And make the fries here vegan, too, will ya?

Burger King

Burger King offers several vegan options at various locations worldwide, including on menus in South Africa, where it serves the , Vegan Royale (a vegan chicken sandwich). Burger King Germany, in partnership with Dutch brand The Vegetarian Butcher, even opened a temporary all-vegan location in Cologne, Germany, which served everything from vegan Whoppers with Hellmann’s vegan mayonnaise to Ben & Jerry’s nondairy ice cream. The chain serves other animal-friendly options, including vegan chicken nuggets, at all of its locations across the country. We think that Burger King should offer these options stateside, especially since vegan chicken is gaining popularity in the fast-food market following KFC’s Beyond Chicken test. Your move, Burger King.

KFC

In the U.S., KFC stands for one thing: Kentucky Fried Cruelty. But in Canada, Germany, and the U.K., the fast-food chain offers vegan-friendly fried chicken sandwiches at select locations. At one point,  even served Oatly’s vegan ice cream in restaurants across China. KFC, we get it—these are exciting places. But the U.S. is pretty great, too, and we have just as many hangry vegans as they do. KFC Germany has started testing its new Kentucky Fried Vegan Burger in Berlin, and after pressure from thousands of PETA U.K. supporters, KFC in the U.K. released a vegan chicken sandwich, complete with the chain’s famous Original Recipe herbs and spices and topped with vegan mayo. (Vegan mayo, you guys!) If you’re in any of these places, show some support and get yourself a delicious chicken-free sandwich. Meanwhile, we’ll be anxiously awaiting these plant-based options in the U.S.

Dunkin’

In the U.S., this coffee and doughnut chain offers some great vegan options, including avocado toast and oat milk lattes. While we’re still anxiously awaiting vegan doughnut options here, we’re happy to see that Dunkin’ is debuting a huge vegan menu at its stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. An impressive menu is making its way to these locations in Europe, with fun flavors like Mango Frosted and Strawberry Rainbow. . We can’t wait until some of these flavors make their way across the Atlantic. Until then, you can enjoy Dunkin’s other vegan options and grab a vegan doughnut at other shops across the country.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell is leaving the U.S. high and dry while it indulges other parts of the world with its innovative vegan options. In Finland, the chain is serving up a vegan burrito meal. . While we love Taco Bell’s vegan-friendly menu in the U.S., we’d love it even more if the company satisfied Americans’ cravings for tasty vegan meats.

📢 Attention, all restaurants hooking up Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, and several countries in Europe with vegan food while dissing the U.S.: We want to give you our money! It’s burning a hole in our pockets—but nothing burns more than these games you’re playing with our hearts. Will you quit making us jelly and just sell us the vegan food we so desperately want to buy? Please and thank you.

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