Veggie Grill’s CEO on the Explosion of the Plant-Based Protein Market

In the last year, fake meat has ballooned from a shadowed substitute on the menu tucked at the bottom of the board in italicized fine print to a regular food item worthy of equal status as the half-pound beef burger on the menu. Perhaps the best endorsement of this transition has come from the nationwide burger chains — A&W, White Castle, Carl's Jr. — that are now adding plant-based protein to the menu and creating splashy marketing campaigns around the new launches. One person who wasn't surprised to see fake meat slide its way onto White Castle's menu? Steve Heeley, the CEO of fast casual vegan chain, Veggie Grill. The California-based restaurant brand has been championing plant-based protein long before it was cool to do so, and is now riding the wave of national consumer interest in alternative meat products. "I think what we're seeing is that the innovation and development on the product side has finally caught up with and is intersecting with the consumer demand," Heel