The "Macro-Centric" Menu: Why 2026 Diners Want Stats, Not Stories
The conversation around plant-based dining has evolved well beyond tofu and salads — and on this episode of Fast Casual Nation, host Paul Barron sits down with two operators who are proof of that. Chris Treloar, CEO of PLNT Burger, and Trace Miller, founder of Konala Protein Bowls, represent two distinct but complementary visions of what health-forward fast casual looks like in practice. Between them, they’ve built brands that put flavor first and let the nutritional payoff speak for itself — a philosophy that may be more strategically sound than any trend-chasing alternative.
PLNT Burger, which launched in 2019 out of Silver Spring, Maryland, has grown to 12 locations, 10 of which operate within Whole Foods through the retailer’s Friends program. Treloar, who came to the brand two years ago after a career at La Madeleine, is candid about the business model’s strength: those small-footprint locations — some under 100 square feet — are generating anywhere from $600,000 to $1 million in annual revenue. “We probably still lead their sales per square foot metric,” he notes. The brand uses Beyond Meat for its burgers and Tindle for its chicken, with the B.I. burger consistently ranking as the top seller. For Treloar, the goal isn’t to convert — it’s to remove the barrier entirely. The food tastes so close to what diners already love that the plant-based angle becomes almost incidental.
Konala, now three years old with four open locations and several more slated to open this year, operates on a different but equally deliberate model. Miller, who spent 15 years in the meal prep space before launching the brand, built Konala around a simple premise: make healthy eating as convenient and delicious as a drive-thru run to McDonald’s. His locations are freestanding — including two Carl’s Jr. conversions — with drive-throughs at every unit. Average ticket fulfillment is under three minutes. The average bowl delivers 46 grams of protein and 654 calories, with all macronutrients listed on the menu and integrated into MyFitnessPal. Roughly 60% of Konala’s customer base is moms and families, not fitness enthusiasts — a demographic that Miller sees as the brand’s real growth engine. “We have moms send us videos of kids in the back asking for Konala over McDonald’s,” he says.
Both operators agree that the consumer is changing faster than the industry is moving to meet them. The rise of apps like Yuka — which lets users scan barcodes for instant health ratings — and the integration of AI into meal planning are accelerating nutritional literacy in ways that would have seemed far-fetched a decade ago. Barron notes that his own 12-year-old recently asked whether Yuka had a restaurant menu version, a moment that underscores just how early this education is now taking root. Miller believes micronutrients and fiber are the next wave after macros, and that the GLP-1 trend reinforces rather than threatens their model — customers eating less still need to maximize what those calories deliver. Treloar echoes the sentiment, pointing to a broader cultural shift post-COVID where diners are scrutinizing ingredients the way previous generations simply never did.
On the question of whether traditional fast food faces an existential threat, both guests push back on the binary framing. The more likely future, Treloar suggests, is acquisition — large QSR brands absorbing healthier concepts rather than overhauling their core menus, much the way Coke and Pepsi have expanded into adjacent beverage categories. Miller frames it as an access problem above all else: people aren’t choosing the drive-thru at a legacy fast food chain because they prefer it, they’re choosing it because nothing else is convenient enough or close enough. “No one plans to eat at McDonald’s,” he says. “You’re tired, you’re hungry, and you see the golden arches.” The solution isn’t to shame that behavior — it’s to make the better option just as frictionless.
Looking toward 2030, both operators see the trajectory continuing in the same direction, not reversing. Consumers will be more educated, more AI-assisted in their dietary choices, and more demanding of transparency from restaurant brands at every price point. Miller draws the parallel to how attitudes toward cigarettes shifted over generations — once the information is widely available and culturally absorbed, behavior follows. Treloar agrees, pointing to how his own adult children now actively track protein intake and seek out the PLNT Burger menu with a sense of intention that simply didn’t exist in earlier generations. The operators who will win, both suggest, are those who treat good taste and nutritional integrity not as competing priorities, but as the same commitment — because that’s exactly what the next generation of diners expects them to be.
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