Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat is a Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. The company's initial products were launched in the United States in 2012.[2][3][4][5] The company has products designed to emulate beef, meatballs, ground meat, and pork sausage links and patties.

A Beyond Meat burger

Beyond Meat, Inc.
TypePublic
NASDAQ: BYND
IndustryFood
Founded2009 (2009)
FounderEthan Brown
Headquarters
El Segundo, California, U.S.
RevenueUS$33 million (2017), 87.9 million 2018[1]
Number of employees
400 (June 29, 2019)
Websitebeyondmeat.com

History

The company was founded by Ethan Brown in 2009.[6] Brown initially contacted two University of Missouri professors, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, who had already been refining their meatless protein for years.[6][7] Beyond Meat’s first product, "Chicken-Free Strips," was released to limited locations in 2012.[6][8][9]

The company began selling its plant-based chicken products in Whole Foods supermarkets across the US in April 2013.[6][9][10] In 2014, it developed a simulated beef product.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals named Beyond Meat as its company of the year for 2013.[11][12] In 2014, Beyond Meat expanded its presence from 1,500 to 6,000 stores across the US.[13]

Financing

Over the years 2013-16, the company received venture funding from GreatPoint Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Obvious Corporation, Bill Gates, Biz Stone, the Humane Society[14][15] and Tyson Foods.[16] Tyson Foods purchased a 5% stake in Beyond Meat in October 2016,[17] but sold its 6.5% stake and exited the investment in April 2019, ahead of the company's initial public offering.[18] By 2018, Beyond Meat had raised US$72 million in venture financing.[6]

As of July 2019, Beyond Meat had a market value of US$11.7 billion,[19] following a value of $3.8 billion on the day of its IPO on 2 May 2019.[20] Beyond Meat trades on the United States NASDAQ exchange under the symbol BYND.[19]

Manufacturing and distribution

In June 2018, Beyond Meat opened its second production facility in Columbia, Missouri, resulting in a three-fold increase of the company's manufacturing space.[21] The company claimed to have 27,000 different points of distribution for their products in the United States,[22] and was rolling out their products to fifty international markets, partnering with Tesco in the UK and Tim Hortons[23] and A&W in Canada.[24] The same month, they opened a 26,000-square foot R&D lab in El Segundo, California housing nearly 100 employees.[25][26] In 2020-1, the company is opening a production facility in Shanghai.[27]

In March 2019, a civil suit was filed against Beyond Meat by its former business partner and supplier, Don Lee Farms. This was prompted by Beyond Meat's switch to different suppliers, who they then shared details with, about the manufacturing process.[28] Don Lee Farms alleged breach of contract, and further alleged that they had expressed "significant concerns" about food safety protocols for raw materials produced at Beyond Meat's facility which were then given to Don Lee Farms for further processing.[29]

In July 2019, Dunkin' Donuts announced that they would begin selling breakfast sandwiches using the Meatless Sausage product in Manhattan, with plans for national distribution beginning on November 6, 2019.[30][31]

In 2020, Beyond Meat launched an e-commerce site to sell products directly to consumers.[32]

In November 2020, Beyond Meat announced sales had only grown by 2% year-on-year compared to an expected increase of 40%. The poor results were blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic reducing foodservice sales.[33]

Joint ventures

In November 2020, Beyond Meat announced a collaboration with McDonald's for development of the McPlant option, a plant-based patty and chicken substitute.[34] It started testing the McPlant in Denmark and Sweden in February 2021.[35] Beyond Meat also announced the launch in China of a plant-based version of minced pork.[36]

In January 2021, Taco Bell announced a collaboration with Beyond Meat, initially as a test and then as a permanent option for a new plant-based protein food.[37]

Also in January 2021, Beyond Meat announced a new partnership with PepsiCo – to be called the PLANeT Partnership – to develop snacks and beverages made from plant-based protein.[38]

Beyond Meat burger serving
Beyond Sausage, raw (above) and cooked (below)

Products

Chicken strips

The company's first product launched in 2012 was designed to emulate chicken and sold frozen. The product was licensed from Harold Huff and Fu-Hung Hsieh at the University of Missouri.[39] They were made from "soy powder, gluten-free flour, carrot fiber and other ingredients" which were mixed and fed into a food extrusion machine that cooks the mixture while forcing it through a specially designed mechanism that uses steam, pressure, and cold water to form the product's chicken-like texture.[10][39] Although praised by some celebrities, journalists who tasted it said the "likeness to real chicken was tolerable, at best", and the chicken product was discontinued in 2019.[39]

Beyond Burger

The company announced in 2014 that it had begun development of a new product emulating a beef burger, which was released in February 2015.[40][41][3]

Ingredients

The burgers are made from pea protein isolates, rice protein, mung bean protein, canola oil, coconut oil, potato starch, apple extract, sunflower lecithin, and pomegranate powder.[42] Beef products that "bleed" are achieved by using red beet juice.[43] The products are certified as not containing genetically modified ingredients.[44] The number of ingredients and processes involved in making the products are classified as ultra-processed foods in the NOVA food classification scheme, indicating that more than five ingredients are used during manufacturing.[45]

One burger patty contains 1,100 kilojoules (270 kilocalories) of food energy, twenty grams of protein, twenty grams of fat (of which five grams is saturated fat) and one gram of salt. The protein and fat content are similar to a beef patty of a similar weight, but the salt content is "much higher".[45] Nutrition of the burger varies according to the restaurant chain in which it is served.[46]

As of 2019, Beyond Meat products cost more than twice as much as a same quantity of meat.[47]

Beyond Sausage

In December 2017, the company announced a vegan alternative to pork sausage called "Beyond Sausage".[48] The three varieties of "sausage" were called Bratwurst, Hot Italian, and Sweet Italian.[49]

See also

References
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  2. Jacobsen, Rowan (2014-12-26). "This Top-Secret Food Will Change the Way You Eat". outsideonline.com. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  3. Flanagan, Graham (7 July 2014). "This Fake Meat Is So Good It Fooled Whole Foods Customers For 3 Days". Business Insider. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. Strickland, Julie (May 7, 2013). "Fake Meat for the Masses?". Inc. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. Wellesley, Laura (10 May 2019). "The vegetarian 'meat' aimed at replacing the real thing". Chatham House. BBC. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  6. Bronner, Stephen J. (2018-01-22). "With $72 million in funding, the entrepreneur behind Beyond Meat pursues innovation over profit". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  7. Meredith Kile (15 January 2014). "Need to Know: Tastes like chicken, made in a lab". Aljazeera America. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. Patrick J. Hurley (June 27, 2014). ""Beyond Meat," the Mizzou-Creared Faux Chicken That Fooled the New York Times". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  9. Farhad Manjoo (July 2012). "Fake Meat So Good it Will Freak You Out". Slate. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  10. Alton Brown (September 2013). "Tastes Like Chicken". Wired. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  11. Lulu Chang (February 7, 2014). "Meet the man behind "Beyond Meat" plant-based protein substitute". cbsnews. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  12. Jane Black (February 2, 2014). "43. Beyond Meat". Fast Company. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  13. Hughes, Holly (2015-10-20). Best Food Writing 2015. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-7382-1865-6.
  14. Darrell Etherington (May 7, 2013). "We're 80% of the way to fake meat that's indistinguishable from the real thing". TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  15. "Where's the beef? Not in these new plant-based burgers". USA TODAY.
  16. "Tyson Foods Invests in Beyond Meat". 10 October 2016.
  17. Strom, Stephanie (10 October 2016). "Tyson Foods, a Meat Leader, Invests in Protein Alternatives". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  18. "Tyson sells stake in plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat". Reuters. April 24, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  19. "Summary for Beyond Meat, Inc., BYND". Yahoo Finance. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  20. "Beyond Meat Just Had the Best IPO of 2019 as Value Soars to $3.8 Billion". Fortune. 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  21. Watson, Elaine (29 June 2018). "Beyond Meat triples manufacturing footprint". foodnavigator-usa.com. William Reed Business Media. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  22. "Beyond Meat expands its Missouri production facility". meatpoultry.com. meatpoultry.com. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  23. "Beyond Meat®". Tim Hortons. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  24. Starostinetskaya, Anna (2 July 2018). "Beyond Meat Triples Production to Keep Up with Demand". VegNews. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  25. Raphael, Rina. "Inside Beyond Meat's innovative future food lab". fastcompany.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  26. Pomranz, Mike. "Beyond Meat's Massive New Lab Sounds Like Something Out of a Sci-Fi Novel". foodandwine.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  27. "Beyond Meat signs deal to open production facility near Shanghai". Reuters. 2020-09-08. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  28. Watson, Elaine (3 February 2020). "Beyond Meat hits back at former co-manufacturer as shareholders file lawsuit: 'We simply couldn't get Don Lee Farms to meet our standards'". foodnavigator-usa.com. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  29. Beyond Meat Sued by Former Partner Don Lee Farms, Specialty Food News 03/11/2019, accessed April 25, 2019
  30. Genovese, Daniella (2019-10-21). "Dunkin' announces nationwide rollout of Beyond Sausage Sandwich". FOXBusiness. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  31. Business, Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN. "Dunkin' is launching a breakfast sandwich with Beyond Meat sausage". CNN. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  32. Lyons, Kim (2020-08-27). "Beyond Meat launches website to sell plant-based meat directly to people online". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  33. Root, Al. "Beyond Meat Stock Is Sinking Because Dreadful Sales Took Everyone by Surprise". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
  34. Shieber, Jonathan (2020-11-09). "Beyond Meat shares rise on news that it collaborated with McDonald's on the McPlant options – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  35. Sanchez, Kait (2021-02-02). "McDonald's is testing the 'McPlant' burger in Denmark and Sweden". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  36. Michelle Toh (18 November 2020). "Beyond Meat launches plant-based minced pork in China". CNN Business.
  37. TL Stanley (14 January 2021). "As Taco Bell Brings Back Potatoes, a Plant-Based Partnership With Beyond Is in the Works". AdWeek. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  38. Staff, Reuters (2021-01-26). "Beyond Meat surges on PepsiCo plant-based snack deal". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  39. Andrews, Joe (29 July 2019). "Beyond Meat's chicken came first, and it was a failure. Wall Street and investors don't care". CNBC. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  40. "Beyond Meat Pitching Beast Burger to Big Leagues". VegNews. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  41. Haber, Matt (April 9, 2015). "How Long Before Silicon Valley Can Produce Fake Meat That Tastes Like Real Meat?". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  42. Moskin, Julia (22 October 2019). "How Do the New Plant-Based Burgers Stack Up? We Taste-Tested Them". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
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  44. Starostinetskaya, Anna (24 July 2018). "Beyond Meat Obtains Non-GMO Certification". VegNews. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  45. Fernstrom, Madelyn (17 October 2019). "Impossible and Beyond: Are meatless burgers really healthier?". NBC News. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  46. Capritto, Amanda. "Impossible Burger vs Beyond Meat Burger, Taste, Ingredients and availability compared". CNET. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  47. Root, Al (3 June 2019). "Beyond Meat and the Limits of a Tesla Strategy at the Grocery Store". Barrons. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  48. Kowitt, Beth (18 December 2017). "Food Tech Startup Beyond Meat Is Rolling Out a Plant-Based Sausage". Fortune. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  49. Minton, Melissa (18 December 2017). "Beyond Meat Debuts First Plant-Based Sausage in Three Flavors". Bon Appetit. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
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