Veggies competing with meat at fast food chains

"We're going to see culinary treatments of those vegetables in ways that bring out their flavors without adding a lot of other things to it — so keeping things as natural as possible. Upping the percentage of vegetables in your diet — [it] is part of our job to help you with that,” said Panera Bread’s head chef Dan Kish in an interview with Business Insider.

While the additions at Panera seem to go well with the healthy chain’s food aesthetic, Taco Bell seems a less likely restaurant to add veggies to the menu, but fans of the chain have called for healthier options, especially Millennials, who helped push for the chain’s new vegetarian menu, which lets people sub beans and rice for meat in most dishes.

Chick-fil-A has also swapped out healthier veggies, adding a kale salad, which has so far proven a popular choice. McDonald’s is also getting rid of the dull iceberg lettuce in favor of more healthy greens. These chains aren’t burying the healthy stuff on a hidden menu, they’re advertising their additions in hopes to lure the more healthy conscious.

And it’s not just the traditional chains that are getting in on the veggie bandwagon. New vegetarian and vegan restaurants are opening, and not just in health conscious areas.

By Chloe is a new vegan chain which opened in New York City last year, and chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson have promoted the concept Loco’l, which provides healthy meals at fast-food prices by cutting costs through adding more grains and veggies to burgers and the like.

Using vegetables certainly helps a chain’s bottom line, since veggies are typically cheaper than meat. The trend seems to be gaining for vegetables, so don’t be afraid to be like mom and eat your veggies.