Former McDonald's CEO Joins Vegan Startup

At the start of 2015, McDonald's decided to give itself a fresh start after over a year of plummeting profits by getting a new CEO. Since then, the Golden Arches have been upgrading menus with "artisan," customizable burgers and firing up fast food fans with all-day breakfast.But what about ousted CEO, Don Thompson? Apparently his career has taken quite a turn, as the former fast food head honcho has joined the board of advisors at Beyond Meat, a vegan burger startup.

Although Thompson had only served as McDonald's CEO for three years, he had worked at the company for 25, and will now take his expertise to Beyond Meat, the very company whose founders and customers most likely do not set foot in a McDonald's. When Thompson left, he had signed a non-compete clause, but as it turns out, McDonald's does not consider vegan burgers competition, according to the Associated Press.

Beyond Meat is just one of several popular "fake meat" companies out there, specializing in getting plant proteins to taste like meat, appealing to both carnivores and staunch vegans.

"We look forward to working with Don to bring our plant-based meats to consumers here in the United States and abroad," Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown said in a statement.