Beyond Meat adding substitute chicken tenders at 400 U.S. restaurants

July 8 (UPI) -- Beyond Meat announced on Thursday that it's launching substitute chicken tenders at restaurants nationwide.

The company, which produces alternative beef products, said the breaded chicken substitute will be available in more than 400 restaurants.

"The demand for our beef products really started to pick up to the point where we really had to allocate all of our production capacity to it," Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said, according to CNBC.

The company said it's shifting focus to chicken after spending years working on its Beyond Burger products. It's been testing the chicken substitute -- a mixture of fava beans and peas -- with partners like Yum Brands, which operates KFC.

"We're innovating the poultry market with the new Beyond Chicken Tenders -- the result of our tireless pursuit for excellence and growth at Beyond Meat," the company's chief innovation officer, Dariush Ajami, said in a statement.

The company, which reports annual sales of about $400 million, first tried a plant-based "chicken" product a decade ago.