Face Plant

At Portland’s New Vegan Burger Drive-Thru Face Plant, Fast-Food Classics Get the Molly Baz Treatment | Eater Portland

"An all-vegan drive-thru will debut in a former McDonald’s location in Portland in January 2025, occupying 3110 N. Going Street, and will serve familiar classics like cheeseburgers, fries, nuggets, and shakes developed by cookbook author and mayo influencer Molly Baz, who is the head of culinary development. The project has been in the works since 2021 after founder Matt Plitch went vegan and found his quick, convenient options limited; as he recalls, “I’ll never forget going through the drive-thru and ordering my number six, no dairy, and feeling a bit like being nourished by a company that didn’t really resonate with me in terms of what [I’m] all about.” Baz — who is not vegan but took on the challenge of reimagining vegan hamburgers — says, “I had never been someone who had taken pleasure in eating a plant-based burger before,” she says, “I feel like there has been just so much innovation in plant-based foods, but somewhere along the way, flavor got a little overlooked and lost.” She adds, “It’s amazing that companies like Impossible have innovated and come as far as they have,” she says. “We have fake meat that bleeds, and that’s incredible, but if it doesn’t taste as good as [meat], then we’re never going to change the eating behaviors and patterns of meat eaters in America, myself included.” Using an Impossible Foods patty as the base, Baz experimented for three years on seasoning mixes and techniques, noting, “I’m kind of like the perfect target for it, because I try not to eat anything that’s not delicious,” she says. “Frankly, I avoid things that aren’t delicious.” The team landed on a proprietary spice blend for both the burger and chicken-less nuggets intended to “create a mouth-watering kind of sensation of juiciness, smokiness, brightness, and fattiness,” Baz says. “All those things that you associate with eating a beef burger.” The burgers will resemble a McDonald’s-style sandwich — the patty cooked somewhere between a smash and a char-grill — with a classic topped with ketchup, mustard, pickles, and cheese and a deluxe adding tomatoes and a vegan mayo–based burger sauce; nuggets will use Impossible as the base and come with a developed dipping sauce, with Baz testing success by asking, “For me, the litmus test is, do I want another bite? Am I just dying for another bite? Because if not, then we failed at the mission.” Plitch envisions the drive-thru model as a direct alternative for typical fast-food customers, keeping interactions personal by having staff come out to cars In‑N‑Out style rather than relying on intercoms, and pricing items competitively—burgers between $5 and $7 and combos around $10–$11—aiming to be within 50 cents to a dollar of meat-based competitors. Beyond convenience and price, Plitch frames the concept as a way to reduce carbon emissions and shift eating habits: “We are not trying to build the best vegan fast-food chain, or fast-food chain for vegans or vegetarians or people who are plant curious,” he says. “The only way we achieve the mission is by building a better fast-food experience and menu than the meat-based competition.” Both founders express hope for broader impact: “If I can successfully create something that people find really delicious, then I have participated in what could be a massive change … changing habits around the world in terms meat consumption,” Baz says, and Plitch adds, “Nothing matters more than finally having this gift and incredible honor of serving people delicious food.”" - Rebecca Roland