Beyond Meat

Last updated

Beyond Meat, Inc.
Company type Public
Industry Food
Founded2009;16 years ago (2009)
Founder Ethan Brown
Headquarters El Segundo, California, U.S.
RevenueDecrease2.svg US$326 million (2024)
Increase2.svg -US$160 million (2024)
Total assets Decrease2.svg US$678 million (2024)
Total equity Decrease2.svg -US$601 million (2024)
Owner Ethan Brown (4.6%)
Number of employees
754 full-time employees and 54 contract workers (2024)
Website beyondmeat.com
Footnotes /references
[1] [2]
A Beyond burger served at a restaurant in Tuolumne County, California, United States Priest Station 2.jpg
A Beyond burger served at a restaurant in Tuolumne County, California, United States

Beyond Meat, Inc., branded as Beyond, [3] is a producer of plant-based meat alternatives founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. The company's products were first launched in the United States in 2012. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Beyond Meat's signature product is its plant-based beef "Beyond Burger". [8] It also makes plant-based chicken and pork products. [9] [10]

As of December 2024, the company's products were available at 27,000 retail outlets in the United States, 38,000 retail outlets internationally, 38,000 foodservice outlets in the United States, and 26,000 foodservice outlets internationally. [1] The company's products are available in 65 countries worldwide. [1] The company's largest customer is Dot Foods, accounting for 12% of revenue in 2024. [1] The company's products do not contain GMOs, added hormones or antibiotics, or cholesterol and are certified Kosher and Halal. [1] The primary ingredient in the company's products is pea protein, supplied by Roquette Frères. [1]

History

Founding

The company was founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown, who wanted to mitigate climate change. [11] Brown licensed technology from two University of Missouri professors, Fu-hung Hsieh and Harold Huff, who had been developing their meatless protein since the 1980s. [11] [12]

Beyond Meat launched its first product, Beyond Chicken Strips (originally called "Chicken-Free Strips"), [13] at Whole Foods Market in 2012 and expanded nationally in 2013. [11] [14] In 2014, Beyond Meat developed its first plant-based beef product, Beyond Beef Crumbles, and has since expanded into plant-based pork. [15]

Financing

Between 2013 to 2016, the company received venture funding from GreatPoint Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Obvious Corporation, Bill Gates, Biz Stone, the Humane Society [16] [17] and Tyson Foods. [18]

Tyson Foods purchased a 5% stake in Beyond Meat in October 2016 for an undisclosed amount, [19] but sold its entire stake in April 2019, ahead of the company's initial public offering. [20]

By 2018, Beyond Meat had raised US$72 million in venture financing. [21]

Celebrity and athlete investors included Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessica Chastain, Mark Rober, Snoop Dogg, Liza Koshy, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Hopkins. [22] [23] [24]

In May 2019, Beyond Meat became a public company via an initial public offering on the Nasdaq, raising $240 million. It was the first plant-based meat alternative company to became a public company. [25] On the day of its IPO, the company' stock price surged 163%, the best-performing public offering by a major U.S. company since 2000, during the dot-com bubble. [26]

Layoffs

In October 2022, the company announced layoffs of 19% of its staff, or approximately 200 employees, due to revenue declines. [27]

In November 2023, Beyond Meat announced additional layoffs after a 9% decline in sales. [28]

In February 2025, the company halted operations in China and announced additional layoffs. [29]

In August 2025, the company announced an additional 44 layoffs, or 6% of its workforce. [30]

Products

Beyond Burger (2014–present)

A Beyond Meat burger Beyond Burger 2.jpg
A Beyond Meat 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. [31] [32] [5]

The Beyond Burger patty is made from pea protein isolates, rice protein, red lentil protein, avocado oil, potato starch, pea starch, faba bean extract, apple extract, and pomegranate powder. [33] [34] Its blood-color and ability to "bleed" comes from the addition of red beet juice. [35] [36]

In 2024, Beyond Meat changed its recipe to achieve a healthier "Beyond Meat IV". This updated Beyond Burger recipe replaced the canola oil and coconut oil with avocado oil. [37] [38]

Beyond Sausage (2017–present)

In December 2017, the company announced a vegan alternative to pork sausage called "Beyond Sausage". [39] The three varieties of sausage are "Brat" (bratwurst), "Hot Italian", and "Sweet Italian". [40]

Beyond Meatballs (2019–present)

"Beyond Meatballs", a plant-based alternative to traditional meatballs, were first introduced at Subway in 2019 through the Beyond Meatball Marinara sub. [41]

In September 2020, Beyond Meat announced the rollout of Beyond Meatballs at select grocery stores across the U.S. [42]

Beyond Mince (2021–present)

In 2021, the Beyond range in the UK expanded to include "Beyond Mince". [43]

Discontinued products

Chicken strips (2012–2019)

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. [13] 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. [13] [44] 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. [13]

Beyond Meat Jerky (2022–2024)

In March 2022, Beyond Meat launched its jerky product in conjunction with PepsiCo. It was Beyond Meat's first shelf-stable product and came in original, teriyaki, and "hot & spicy" flavors. [45] [46] Beyond Meat discontinued it in February 2024. [47]

Nutrition

The original Beyond Burger patty contained 1,100 kilojoules (270 kilocalories) of food energy, 20 grams of protein, 20 grams of fat (of which five grams was saturated fat) and one gram of salt. Whilst the protein and fat content was similar to a beef patty of a similar weight, the salt content was "much higher" but without any cholesterol. [48] [49] The number of ingredients and processes involved in making the products mean they were classified as ultra-processed foods in the Nova classification, [49] although the applicability of the Nova classification to soybean-based foods was questioned. [50]

In February 2024, Beyond Meat updated its beef recipe to reduce the ingredient list and decrease the content of salt by 20% and saturated fat by 60%. [37] [38] This new recipe achieved certification from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association. [51] [52]

Beyond Meat products are certified as not containing genetically modified ingredients. [53]

Market distribution

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 6 November 2019. [54] [55]

In November 2020, Beyond Meat announced a collaboration with McDonald's for development of the McPlant option, a plant-based patty and chicken substitute. [56] It started testing the McPlant in Denmark and Sweden in February 2021. [57] Beyond Meat also announced the launch in China of a plant-based version of minced pork. [58]

In 2020, Beyond Meat launched an e-commerce site to sell products directly to consumers. [59]

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. [60]

Also in January 2021, Beyond Meat and PepsiCo announced a joint venture, called The PLANeT Partnership, to develop and market plant-based snacks and drinks. [61]

In February 2021, Beyond Meat started a partnership with McDonald's and Yum Brands. These deals will bring new choices to the food menu, such as the McPlant Burger and the plant-protein based pizza toppings, chicken alternatives and possibly taco fillings for Yum Brands' restaurants KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. [62] Testing of the McPlant burger by McDonald's in the USA ended in July 2022 after poor sales in 600 restaurants, but the product is sold in several European countries. [63]

In September 2021, Beyond Meat announced it would begin selling their vegan chicken tenders in retail stores, including Walmart. [64]

Production locations

In the United States, Beyond Meat has several manufacturing facilities in the United States, including in Columbia, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. [65] 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. [66] In 2020, Beyond Meat acquired a manufacturing facility in Devault, Pennsylvania. [65] In Europe, Beyond Meat has two facilities in the Netherlands: a co-manufacturing facility in Zoeterwoude owned and operated by Dutch company Zandbergen, and an owned facility in Enschede. These two facilities service the distribution network across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. [67]

In 2018, Beyond Meat opened a 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) R&D lab in El Segundo, California. [68] [69] In January 2021, Beyond Meat announced that it will be opening a new global headquarters in El Segundo, CA later that year. The company says the facility will house three to four times its current number of R&D team members once the campus is complete. [70]

In China, Beyond Meat operated an owned manufacturing plant in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. It is the company's first "end-to-end manufacturing facility" outside of the United States and began full-scale production in 2021. [71]

Supplier civil suit

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 in 2017, with whom Don Lee Farms alleged Beyond Meat then shared details about the manufacturing process. [72] 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. [73] In 2022, the parties settled the dispute, with neither admitting liability or wrongdoing. [74] [75]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Beyond Meat, Inc. 2024 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 5 March 2025.
  2. ↑ "Beyond Meat, Inc. Schedule 14A". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 8 April 2025.
  3. ↑ Davis, Rachael (30 July 2025). "Beyond Meat unveils new name amid major company overhaul". Food Bible.
  4. ↑ Jacobsen, Rowan (26 December 2014). "This Top-Secret Food Will Change the Way You Eat". Outside . Archived from the original on 7 October 2019.
  5. 1 2 Flanagan, Graham (7 July 2014). "This Fake Meat Is So Good It Fooled Whole Foods Customers For 3 Days". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Strickland, Julie (7 May 2013). "Fake Meat for the Masses?". Inc. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  7. ↑ Wellesley, Laura (10 May 2019). "The vegetarian 'meat' aimed at replacing the real thing". Chatham House. BBC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Mohamed, Theron. "Beyond Meat's CEO says it's 75% of the way towards matching animal meat". Business Insider. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  9. ↑ Manjoo, Farhad (26 July 2012). "Fake Meat So Good It Will Freak You Out". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  10. ↑ Toh, Michelle (18 November 2020). "Beyond Meat launches plant-based minced pork in China | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 Bronner, Stephen J. (22 January 2018). "With $72 Million in Funding, the Entrepreneur Behind Beyond Meat Pursues Innovation Over Profit". Entrepreneur .
  12. ↑ "Beyond Meat fattens up as shares more than double in IPO". AP News. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Andrews, Joe (29 July 2019). "Beyond Meat's chicken came first, and it was a failure. Wall Street and investors don't care". CNBC . Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  14. ↑ Manjoo, Farhad (26 July 2012). "Beyond Meat's Fake Chicken Tastes So Real That It Will Freak You Out". Slate .
  15. ↑ Watson, Elaine (3 April 2014). "Beyond Meat founders: 'We're a meat company that makes products from plants'". foodnavigator-usa.com.
  16. ↑ Etherington, Darrell (7 May 2013). "We're 80% of the way to fake meat that's indistinguishable from the real thing". TechCrunch . Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Where's the beef? Not in these new plant-based burgers". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  18. ↑ "Tyson Foods Invests in Beyond Meat". 10 October 2016. Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  19. ↑ Strom, Stephanie (10 October 2016). "Tyson Foods, a Meat Leader, Invests in Protein Alternatives" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 21 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "Tyson sells stake in plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat". Reuters. 24 April 2019. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  21. ↑ Bronner, Stephen J. (22 January 2018). "With $72 million in funding, the entrepreneur behind Beyond Meat pursues innovation over profit". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  22. ↑ "Snoop Dogg On How He Introduced Plant-Based Meat to His Family". The Beet. 16 June 2020.
  23. ↑ Sprung, Shlomo (20 February 2019). "DeAndre Jordan, Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul Invest in Plant-Based Food Company Beyond Meat" . Forbes .
  24. ↑ Shanker, Deena; Mulvany, Lydia; Hytha, Michael (2 May 2019). "Vegan-Friendly, Celeb-Backed Beyond Meat Has 2019's Best U.S. IPO". Time . Bloomberg News.
  25. ↑ Popper, Nathaniel (2 May 2019). "Beyond Meat's Share Price Surges on First Day of Trading". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
  26. ↑ Murphy, Mike (5 May 2019). "Beyond Meat soars 163% in biggest-popping U.S. IPO since 2000". MarketWatch.
  27. ↑ Pfanner, Eric (14 October 2022). "Beyond Meat fires nose-biting executive, cuts sales outlook, says it will lay off a fifth of its staff". Fortune. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  28. ↑ "Beyond Meat plans layoffs as US sales plummet". The Oregonian . 9 November 2023.
  29. ↑ Headlam, Truth (26 February 2025). "Beyond Meat to Cut Workers Across the Globe to Reduce Costs" . Bloomberg News .
  30. ↑ Doering, Christopher (7 August 2025). "Beyond Meat to cut 6% of its workforce as plant-based demand languishes". Industry Dive .
  31. ↑ "Beyond Meat Pitching Beast Burger to Big Leagues". VegNews. 7 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  32. ↑ Haber, Matt (9 April 2015). "How Long Before Silicon Valley Can Produce Fake Meat That Tastes Like Real Meat?". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  33. ↑ Moskin, Julia (22 October 2019). "How Do the New Plant-Based Burgers Stack Up? We Taste-Tested Them". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  34. ↑ "Plant-Based Ground Beef – Beyond Meat". FoodSocial. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  35. ↑ Hawthorne, Mark. "A Plant-Based Meat-Lover's Guide to Beyond Meat (Plus, 5 of Our Favorite Recipes)". VegNews.com. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  36. ↑ "How Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Make Their Plant-Based Burgers". Science Meets Food. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  37. 1 2 Lucas, Amelia (21 February 2024). "Beyond Meat launches new, healthier version of burger in bid to bring back customers". CNBC. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  38. 1 2 McCarthy, Kelly (18 April 2024). "New Beyond Meat plant-based beef made with avocado oil for nutrient-dense, simplified ingredients". ABC News. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  39. ↑ Kowitt, Beth (18 December 2017). "Food Tech Startup Beyond Meat Is Rolling Out a Plant-Based Sausage". Fortune . Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  40. ↑ Minton, Melissa (18 December 2017). "Beyond Meat Debuts First Plant-Based Sausage in Three Flavors". Bon Appetit . Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  41. ↑ Tyko, Kelly. "Subway will test plant-based Beyond Meatball Marinara sub at select locations". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  42. ↑ Leggate, James (15 September 2020). "Beyond Meat selling plant-based meatballs at grocery stores". FOXBusiness. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  43. ↑ "Beyond Meat launches plant-based mince with more protein than beef in UK supermarkets". www.veganfoodandliving.com. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  44. ↑ Alton Brown (September 2013). "Tastes Like Chicken". Wired. Archived from the original on 21 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  45. ↑ "Beyond Meat Is Now Making Plant-Based Jerky". Foodandwine.com. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  46. ↑ Buxton, Amy (25 March 2022). "Beyond Meat Bets On Vegan Jerky As Initial Product Launch For PepsiCo Partnership". Green Queen. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  47. ↑ Watson, Elaine (28 February 2024). "Critics are 'poisoning plant-based well,' says Beyond Meat CEO as firm ditches jerky, plans price increases in US". AgFunderNews. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  48. ↑ "Plant-based meat substitutes may be healthier for the heart than real meat, new analysis suggests". NBC News. 26 June 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  49. 1 2 Fernstrom, Madelyn (17 October 2019). "Impossible and Beyond: Are meatless burgers really healthier?". NBC News. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  50. ↑ Bolotnikova, Marina (19 December 2024). "You're being lied to about "ultra-processed" foods". Vox. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  51. ↑ Greenfield, Beth. "How a campaign attacking plant-based meat led to a Beyond reformulation". Fortune Well. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  52. ↑ Caminiti, Kasey. "Go Beyond Beef in 2025: Try plant-based steak, chicken and more". USA TODAY. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  53. ↑ Starostinetskaya, Anna (24 July 2018). "Beyond Meat Obtains Non-GMO Certification". VegNews. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  54. ↑ Genovese, Daniella (21 October 2019). "Dunkin' announces nationwide rollout of Beyond Sausage Sandwich". FOXBusiness. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  55. ↑ Danielle Wiener-Bronner. "Dunkin' is launching a breakfast sandwich with Beyond Meat sausage". Cnn.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  56. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (9 November 2020). "Beyond Meat shares rise on news that it collaborated with McDonald's on the McPlant options – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  57. ↑ Sanchez, Kait (2 February 2021). "McDonald's is testing the 'McPlant' burger in Denmark and Sweden". The Verge. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  58. ↑ Michelle Toh (18 November 2020). "Beyond Meat launches plant-based minced pork in China". CNN Business. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  59. ↑ Lyons, Kim (27 August 2020). "Beyond Meat launches website to sell plant-based meat directly to people online". The Verge. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  60. ↑ TL Stanley (14 January 2021). "As Taco Bell Brings Back Potatoes, a Plant-Based Partnership With Beyond Is in the Works". AdWeek. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  61. ↑ Matthews, Dylan (27 January 2021). "Beyond Meat and Pepsi are teaming up to make plant-based snacks and drinks". Vox. Archived from the original on 5 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  62. ↑ Jordan Valinsky. "Beyond Meat strikes partnerships with McDonald's and Yum Brands". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  63. ↑ Lucas, Amelia (28 July 2022). "Beyond Meat stock falls after conclusion of McDonald's McPlant test". CNBC. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  64. ↑ Starostinetskaya, Anna. "Beyond Meat's Vegan Chicken Tenders Are Coming to a Walmart Near You". VegNews.com. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  65. 1 2 "Beyond Meat acquires co-packer to tackle unit costs". Supply Chain Dive. 11 November 2020.
  66. ↑ Watson, Elaine (29 June 2018). "Beyond Meat triples manufacturing footprint". foodnavigator-usa.com. William Reed Business Media. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  67. ↑ White, Martin (11 June 2020). "Beyond Meat expands plant-based meat production in Europe". Foodbev.com.
  68. ↑ Raphael, Rina (19 July 2018). "Inside Beyond Meat's innovative future food lab". fastcompany.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  69. ↑ Pomranz, Mike. "Beyond Meat's Massive New Lab Sounds Like Something Out of a Sci-Fi Novel". foodandwine.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  70. ↑ Hunt, Rhian (15 January 2021). "Beyond Meat Leases Gigantic New Headquarters Building". Nasdaq.com.
  71. ↑ Agomuoh, Fionna (7 April 2021). "Beyond Meat Opens China Plant, First Facility Outside U.S." TheStreet.
  72. ↑ 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. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  73. ↑ Beyond Meat Sued by Former Partner Don Lee Farms Archived 26 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine , Specialty Food News 3 November 2019, accessed 25 April 2019
  74. ↑ "Beyond Meat settles legal battles with Don Lee Farms | Food Dive". www.fooddive.com. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  75. ↑ Harvey, Simon (19 October 2022). "Beyond Meat, Don Lee Farms settle contractual court dispute". Just Food. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
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