The next meat pizza you get from Pizza Hut may not contain meat.
The Plano, Texas-based pizza chain Tuesday said that it is introducing a pair of new pizzas made with Beyond Meat, making it the first national pizza concept to do so.
The company plans to start selling a line of Beyond Pan Pizzas, including the Beyond Italian Sausage Pizza and the Great Beyond Pizza. The pizzas will be available for a limited time.
The Beyond Italian Sausage Pizza is a cheese pizza topped with Beyond Italian Sausage crumbles that feature Italian seasonings and spices such as garlic, onion, paprika and fennel seeds.
The Great Beyond Pizza is a specialty pizza with veggie toppings such as tomatoes, red onions and banana peppers served on the company’s pan pizza crust and paired with Beyond Italian Sausage.
“I’d challenge anyone to go try the new Beyond Pan Pizza and tell the difference,” David Graves, Pizza Hut’s chief brand officer, said in a statement. “I shared it with friends and family, and they couldn’t.”
Plant-based food offerings have taken center stage again as fast-food brands have largely recovered sales during the pandemic—or grew them as consumers demanded more delivery and takeout.
The Pizza Hut offering represents a significant win for Beyond Meat, which took a hit earlier this week when McDonald’s revealed it is planning to test its own version of plant-based meat offerings next year.
For Pizza Hut, the plant-based test gives the company an early-mover among customers looking for more non-meat options.
The U.S. offering is also part of a broader collaboration between Pizza Hut and Beyond Meat. Pizza Hut customers in the U.K., for instance, will be able to order Beyond Meat pizzas in London as part of a limited-time offering.