Business Insider food correspondent Nancy Luna visits Mr.Charlie's, a plant-based fast-food chain in California whose sandwiches look like they could be found on the menu at McDonald's.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
Mr.Charlie's is a plant-based fast-food chain that opened in Los Angeles in 2022.
It immediately became known as the "Vegan McDonald's," as its menu is a parody of the brand.
I visited the chain's new location in Venice, California, to test its vegan fast-food sandwiches.
Mr.Charlie's wants to disrupt fast food.
The chain's mission is to make plant-based food more approachable. And it's making a name for itself in California by parodying the King of Fast Food: McDonald's.
The chain's logo is a bright yellow frown that is a clear nod to the Golden Arches. But the real poke at McDonald's is the menu at Mr.Charlie's. It serves anti-Happy Meals called "Frowny Meals" in bright red boxes. The limited menu of plant-based sandwiches includes the "BigChuck," a triple-bun sandwich made with special vegan sauce and two plant-based patties by Impossible Foods. It serves vegan nuggets and "British fries" served in a red carton sleeve.
Everything is an obvious parody of McDonald's. So much so, social media has billed Mr.Charlie's as the "Vegan McDonald's."
Mr.Charlie's declined repeated requests for comment for this story. McDonald's also didn't comment.
The media-shy Mr.Charlie's is expanding its menu this year to include breakfast. It's no shocker that the morning grub looks familiar. It features Mr.Muffin or Mr.Muffin Deluxe breakfast sandwiches that resemble Egg McMuffins.
Since opening its first location in Los Angeles early last year, Mr.Charlie's has added locations in San Francisco and Venice, California, and it recently opened a restaurant in Sydney, Australia.
I visited the new Venice location to provide BI readers with an up-close look at this disruptive fast-food brand. Here's everything you need to know about Mr.Charlie's.
The first Mr.Charlie's opened in Los Angeles in 2022.Mr.Charlie's opened its first vegan fast-food restaurant in Los Angeles in early 2022.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
Owner Charlie Kim told the Los Angeles Times in 2022 that he wanted to open a restaurant that offered plant-based versions of well-known fast-food items.
The chain's decor definitely screams fast food, with candy apple red and yellow hues.
The mustard yellow is reminiscent of the Golden Arches at McDonald's.
So what's the deal with the doppelganger McDonald's menu and branding? Mr.Charlie's maintains they don't know the Golden Arches.Mr.Charlie's doesn't acknowledge it knows anything about McDonald's.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
Mr.Charlie's didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about its obsession with spoofing McDonald's.
In the Los Angeles Times interview, Kim claimed ignorance when asked about the McDonald's-inspired branding.
"McDonald's who?" he told the publication in 2022.
That message is trickling down to staff. When I talked to a worker in Venice, they told me the same thing: "We've never heard of McDonald's."
The brand, a "second-chance" employer, wants to solve serious societal problems. But Mr.Charlie's also wants to have fun.A customer orders from Mr.Charlie's in Venice, California.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
"We are tackling serious issues, with a not-so-serious approach," according to the chain's mission statement. "We are about having a good time and paying it forward. Our goal is to offer more sustainable choices, connect mindfulness to everyday living, & support those who are ready for a second chance."
The company works with the Dream Center in Los Angeles, an organization that helps the unhoused and formerly incarcerated find jobs.
In an Instagram reel, Mr.Charlie's profiled Drew, whose title is "director of customer happiness."
Drew, who said he was now sober after spending time in jail, told his second-chance story. He said Mr.Charlie's is more than just a fast-food joint.
"We're changing lives one meal at a time," he said.
The Mr.Charlie's in Venice opened over the summer. It is a gorgeous location in front of the famed Muscle Beach.The Venice, California location of Mr.Charlie's opened over the summer in front of Muscle Beach.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The walk-up only restaurant is a great spot for people watching. It is a high-traffic zone next to sporting activities and an assortment of street vendors.
Diners have a great view of the ocean and the beach crowds from the outdoor patio.Mr.Charlie's Venice patio overlooks the ocean and sports activities along the beach.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
There's a stand up seating area overlooking paddle ball courts, the outdoor gym, and beach.
Mr.Charlie's is written across the wooden slats of the back of the patio benches.Mr.Charlie's patio in Venice features yellow tables, chairs and bench seats.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The patio area is outfitted with six bright yellow tables with backless metal seats and wooden bench seats. While I waited for the restaurant to open for lunch, I enjoyed watching people walk, bike, and rollerblade along the boardwalk.
I arrived early to check out the new breakfast menu. But, I was told by an employee that the restaurant had delayed the debut of breakfast.Mr.Charlie's Instagram page promotes breakfast.
Mr.Charlie's Instagram
I visited December 1, the day I was told breakfast would launch. I arrived around 10:30 a.m., but the restaurant was closed. A friendly employee told me breakfast was delayed. (Venice began serving breakfast a week later.)
I was bummed I couldn't try the breakfast menu, which first launched earlier this year at the chain's flagship Los Angeles location. The morning menu features Mr.Muffin, Mr.Muffin Deluxe, tots, and coffee.
The muffin sandwiches look identical to an Egg McMuffin, based on pictures from the chain's website and Instagram page. The Mr.Muffin sandwich is made with a plant-based egg, vegan cheese, vegan mayonnaise, and served on a vegan English-style muffin.
Mr.Charlie's lunch and dinner menu reminds me a lot of In-N-Out. It is a limited menu focusing on combo meals.The menu at Mr.Charlie's is very simple with an emphasis on combo meals, similar to In-N-Out Burger.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The menu highlights the brand's five signature sandwiches. All are served as "Frowny Meals" for a cost ranging from $15.99 to $20.99.
Why so expensive? The meal also includes four plant-based nuggets in addition to a drink and fries.
I ordered the No. 5 meal, which features BigChuck, four nuggets, fries, and a drink. It cost $20.99.
I ordered two a la carte items: the Not a Chicken Sandwich and the Not a Cheeseburger. The brand also sells a "Not a Hamburger" sandwich, which is the same as the "Not a Cheeseburger" but without the vegan cheese. I passed on that.
On the beverage side, the chain serves only bottled and canned beverages and soda. While they serve Coke in a bottle, they do not serve Diet Coke.
Mr.Charlie's serves its meals in red takeout containers that look like Happy Meal boxes.Mr.Charlie's takeout boxes look like Happy Meal boxes.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
Initially, I thought the takeout containers were reserved for the Frowny Meals. But, when I received my order, I realized this is how Mr.Charlie's presents all of its food.
When my meal was served, everything was tucked inside one of these Happy Meal-inspired red boxes. The chain's name and yellow frown logo are clearly seen on the box.
Everything was neatly packaged, with napkins sitting on top.
As I removed everything from the box, the first thing I was attracted to was the fries. The fries at Mr.Charlie's are called British Fries.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The fries, dubbed British Fries on the menu, looked exactly like the crispy salted fries served at McDonald's. They were even tucked in red-colored sleeve.
I grabbed a few of the hot-to-the-touch fries and shoved a couple in my mouth. I was instantly impressed. They were addictive, and I had to restrain myself from gobbling up the whole sleeve of fries.
The next item I tried was the Not a Chicken Sandwich. It was not so great.The Not So Chicken sandwich came with a mushy bun that easily cracked.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The fake chicken patty was not uniform. It didn't come close to looking like a fried chicken breast. But getting the look and texture right for plant-based chicken is a hard thing to do.
Mr.Charlie's uses TiNDLE Chicken for its chicken products, rather than Beyond Meat, whose plant-based chicken products have been tested by many fast-food chains like Panda Express and KFC.
On my first bite, the sandwich tasted like chicken. If this were a blind taste test, the sandwich might have momentarily fooled me. The patty was lightly breaded like a tempura-style coating.
The lettuce and vegan mayo gave the sandwich a nice flavor. But, on the second bite, the plant-based chicken became more apparent. The fake meat looked processed.
I shifted to the nuggets, and the experience was worse. The inner nugget looked like flakey tuna.The fake chicken nuggets at Mr.Charlie's tasted awful.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
They looked like chicken nuggets but they had a funky taste. I thought I was eating a tuna fish nugget instead of a plant-based product that's supposed to taste like chicken.
Chicken is tough to mimic. Because there's no muscle tissue in plant-based products, it's hard to get the texture right.
The nuggets tasted much better when I dipped them into the chain's two signature sauces – a spicy green sauce and a sweet Chipotle-style sauce.
The cheese on the Not a Cheeseburger tasted like melted nothing.
Mr. Charlie's Not a Cheeseburger came really close in presentation to looking like a McDonald's cheeseburger.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
Unlike the plant-based chicken sandwich, the Impossible Foods alt-meat patty gives Mr.Charlie's burgers an authentic look.
At first glance, you might think you're biting into a real beef burger.
The Impossible patty looks like ground beef. This sandwich was layered with chopped onions and a mix of mustard and ketchup.
Mr.Charlie's uses dairy-free cheese by Follow Your Heart. It looked like cheese, but it didn't taste anything like cheese. It didn't offend me like the plant-based chicken nugget, which had a foul taste.
The vegan cheese was flavorless.
If you want to try one of Mr.Charlie's burgers, I'd suggest saving a buck by ordering a sandwich without cheese. The Not a Cheeseburger cost $7.99 a la carte, while the Not a Hamburger cost $6.99.
The BigChuck is clearly the hero of the menu. And, it looks like a Big Mac.Mr.Charlie's BigChuck burger looks like a Big Mac from McDonald's.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
The BigChuck is a Big Mac-style triple bun burger with two Impossible Food burger patties.
This Big Mac wannabe also features vegan cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, chopped onion, and special vegan sauce. The top bun has sesame seeds.
Meat substitutes by Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are supposed to mimic the flavor of meat. But there's nothing meaty tasting about the patties on this sandwich.
I spotted Coco the food delivery robot at the Venice location.I spotted Coco at the Venice location.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
It makes sense that Mr.Charlie's is tapping robots for delivery.
Coco operates remotely piloted robots in Los Angeles County. They help reduce traffic congestion for short-range deliveries. The robots travel along sidewalks, making deliveries within a mile or two of a restaurant. Venice is a perfect spot for delivery robots.
I think Mr.Charlie's missed the mark with its McDonald's spoof menu. I loved the green sauce and the Chipotle/BBQ flavored dipping sauce at Mr.Charlie's.
Nancy Luna/Business Insider
I love that Mr.Charlie's wants to bring vegan food to the masses, but why are they doing it with highly processed products like Impossible Burgers?
I would much prefer a fast-food chain that offered portobello mushroom sandwiches and avocado toast at fast-food prices.
When they try to be original, the food is great. I loved these two sauces on the menu. They should build some sandwiches around these sauces, instead of presenting vegan versions of McDonald's ingredients.
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