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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Beyond Meat

Report: Impossible Foods Planning to Go Public

Impossible Foods, best known for its plant-based meat analogues, is preparing for a public listing, according to sources that spoke for an exclusive report by Reuters. The public listing could value Impossible at more than $10 billion.

Those sources note that the company is exploring going public via either an initial public offering (IPO) “in the next 12 months” or through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 

SPACs, also called blank-check companies, are a route to going public that involves less regulatory scrutiny than a traditional IPO. Going public via SPAC is a current “hot trend” on Wall Street, and an option becoming increasingly popular in the food world. AppHarvest made its public debut in February via SPAC, and AeroFarms, which just announced its plans to do the same.

Reuters’ sources also warned that Impossible’s public debut is subject to market conditions, and the company may change course and instead decide to do another round of private fundraising. To date, the company has raised $1.4 billion in funding, including a $200 million fundraise from August of last year. 

Its chief rival, Beyond Meat, went public back in May 2019, becoming the first-ever plant-based meat maker to do so. Both companies are in high demand right now, as sales of plant-based proteins totaled $7 billion in 2020, with meat analogues being the leading category. 

News of a potential public debut for Impossible comes the same week the company released its first ever national TV ad campaign, which is in part aimed at converting traditional meat eaters into devotees of Impossible’s plant-based wares. 

The company has in the last 12 months opened a direct-to-consumer e-commerce store, increased its geographic reach to more than 20,000 locations, and slashed its prices, putting products a little more on par with traditional meat.

Beyond Meat Opens Its First Manufacturing Facility Outside the U.S., in China

Beyond Meat announced today the opening of its new manufacturing facility in the Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone near Shanghai, China. The plant is Beyond’s first facility outside of the U.S. and is expected to increase both the amount of product the company can manufacture in that region and the speed at which it can do so.

The new facility will produce Beyond’s beef, pork, and poultry products, including “Beyond Pork,” the company’s minced pork product made “specifically for the Chinese market.” The facility will also function as an R&D hub for the region that will develop new products.

Beyond first announced its intent to build two facilities in China towards the end of 2020. The company already sells its plant-based beef products in that region via a deal with Starbucks. For a limited time in 2020, Beyond products were also available via Yum Brands restaurants, including KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. 

In the Chinese market, it has competition from a handful of local players that includes Green Monday-owned Omnipork as well as HERO, which recently raised $850,000. Beyond CEO Ethan Brown said in a statement today that the opening of the new manufacturing facility will allow the company to “effectively compete” in China.

The U.S. still leads in terms of demand for plant-based meat alternatives, but the Asia region is catching up. China, meanwhile, is the world’s largest consumer of meat, particularly when it comes to pork. At the same time, though, the meat-replacement category is growing in that country, with Euromonitor predicting it to be worth $11.9 billion by 2023. 

Beyond’s news comes the same week its chief rival, Impossible, launched its first-ever ad campaign to sway meat eaters towards plant-based products. Impossible has yet to to start selling its wares in China, however. At last check, the company was still waiting on regulatory approval for that market.

Peet’s, Eat Just, and Beyond Meat Debut a Fully Plant-Based Breakfast Sandwich

Peet’s Coffee, Beyond Meat, and Eat Just have joined forces to launch a fully plant-based breakfast offering dubbed the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich. The item is available as part of Peet’s Spring 2021 menu.

The product launch makes for one of the first breakfast offerings on a QSR menu to be made entirely of plant-based foods. Up to now, meat, cheese, and egg analogues have been been paired with their  traditional counterparts for these meals. See examples like Impossible’s sausage sandwich at BK and Starbucks or Beyond’s sausage breakfast sandwich at Dunkin’.

This new breakfast sandwich iteration is, by comparison, fully vegan. The sandwich includes a Beyond Sausage patty, a folded egg from Eat Just, and a plant-based cheddar cheese on an everything bagel. According to the press release, the item contains 21 grams of protein.

The product is good news for the vegan crowd or those wanting to replace more of their traditional meat diet with plant-based options. More importantly, it’s another shift in the larger movement towards the plant-based QSR.

Consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives is only going to get bigger. Restaurants have been incorporating plant-based meat analogues into their products for the last couple years. Now, we appear to be at a point where it’s no longer enough to have one element of a food item plant-based; the whole thing needs to be vegan. Starbucks, for example, hinted at this sort of future with its recent test of a fully plant-based breakfast sandwich with Impossible meat, a JUST egg, and a plant-based cheese from an unnamed manufacturer. Starbucks is also testing a fully plant-based menu at a location in Seattle.

And it’s not only coffeeshops getting onboard. In China, fast-food chain Discos outright replaced their traditional eggs with plant-based counterparts from Eat Just. Meanwhile, last week, Beyond announced deals with both McDonald’s and Yum Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell). which will majorly boost plant-based meat’s visibility in QSRs.

Peet’s may be headed in that direction. The company also announced some new beverages made with oat milk to go along with the vegan breakfast sandwich. It seems like only a matter of time before it and other quick-serve coffees chains roll out full menus for plant-based wares.

For now, the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich is available nationwide at Peet’s locations.

Beyond Meat Going More Mainstream with McDonald’s, Yum Brands Deals

Beyond Meat announced global distribution deals yesterday with McDonald’s and Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) that will help push plant-based meat further into the mainstream.

Beyond and McDonald’s had previously revealed that they were working together on the appropriately named “McPlant” sandwich back in November. The McPlant debuted in 2019 in Canada and is currently being tested in select markets around the world. The two companies will extend their collaboration beyond plant-based burgers, as the McPlant is actually a “platform” for a variety of different products. Beyond will work with Mickey D’s to create plant-based options for chicken, pork and egg.

Likewise, Beyond’s deal with Yum Brands builds on an existing collaboration between the two companies. KFC introduced the plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken in Atlanta in 2019, and has since expanded that pilot to other U.S. cities. Last year, Pizza Hut launched the Beyond Italian Sausage Pizza and Great Beyond Pizza nationwide.

Beyond has been on a bit of roll with high-profile partnerships this year. Last month Beyond partnered with PepsiCo to form the PLANeT Partnership joint venture that will develop plant-based snacks.

All of these deals are obviously huge news for Beyond Meat, specifically, as it looks to grow its plant-based empire. It also alters the competitive landscape with its plant-based burger rival, Impossible Foods. Throughout 2020, Beyond and Impossible made back-and-forth news announcements around expanding retail, launching direct to consumer channels, and restaurant partnerships. For its part, Impossible, which launched its burgers at restaurants, has deals with Burger King, White Castle and Starbucks here in the U.S.

But Beyond’s expanded partnerships with giants like McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut is perhaps even bigger news for plant-based meat in general. Though sales of plant-based meat are on the rise and steadily gaining traction, being on the menus of these huge, global QSR chains will help give the entire sector a massive boost both in terms of sales and recogntion.

Beyond Meat and PepsiCo Partner Up for Plant-Based Snacks Joint Venture

Beyond Meat and PepsiCo announced today that they are forming the PLANeT Partnership, LLC, a joint venture that will develop snacks and beverages made from plant-based protein. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

The PLANeT Partnership will lean on Beyond Meat’s plant-based protein food expertise and PepsiCo’s massive marketing and commercial sales infrastructure to scale any new product options created.

There are a couple of ways to interpret this news. First, PepsiCo’s involvement is another example of how plant-based protein is going mainstream. According to the Good Food Institute’s 2020 Plant-Based Market Overview, “grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 29% in the past two years to $5 billion.” And those numbers were released before the pandemic, an ongoing event that’s spurred explosive sales of plant-based foods. Meticulous Research projected sales of plant-based foods would “grow at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2020 to 2027 to reach $74.2 billion by 2027.”

So it makes sense for PepsiCo to partner with a well-known brand in the plant-based food space to get in on some of that sweet plant-based money.

In addition to money, there’s another “green” aspect to the partnership: sustainability. One of the main benefits of plant-based foods is that they take less of a toll on the planet. PepsiCo isn’t exactly known as a steward of the environment (though it does run its Greenhouse Accelerator program), and creating the PLANeT Partnership allows them to get a little eco-halo effect and create a line of snacks that will appeal to conscious consumers.

I’m curious to see what role the direct-to-consumer sales channels play in all this. Both PepisCo and Beyond Meat launched D2C channels last year. Obviously PepsiCo has deep in-roads with traditional retail, and in-store is where the big money is. But as shoppers get comfortable with buying more of their groceries online, the PLANeT Partnership has an opportunity to build a robust D2C channel from the ground up and own more of its customer relationship and data.

But mostly, I’m interested to see what actual food comes out of this partnership. Having been in the Beyond Meat test kitchen, I know firsthand that its culinary team is remarkable and have no doubt they could come up with tasty treats.

Now we just need to see if this PepsiCo + Beyond Meat endeavor will get Coca-Cola and Impossible Foods to announce their own partnership.

Alt-Meat, Fancy Wines, and Chili’s: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Direct-to-Consumer Deals

So far, 2020 has been the year of the direct-to-consumer boom when it comes to food and beverage products, with major CPGs, restaurants, plant-based meat companies, and others setting up their own e-commerce sites to better serve homebound customers.

It follows, then, that this year’s enormous crop of Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals is chock full of offers from these companies’ sites, along with deals for meals, booze, and even groceries. And since we’re all stuck at home this year and going out to shop on Friday seems like a terrible idea as far as the pandemic is concerned, here’s a rundown of some of our favorite e-commerce food and bev deals happening over the next few days.

All Beyond Meat products on the company’s newly launched direct-to-consumer e-commerce store will be 20 percent off from 6 a.m. EST to 11:59 p.m. PST on Cyber Monday, Nov. 30. Bonus: if you’re one of the first 500 orders, you get a free Beyond Meat apron.

DoorDash just launched a gifting feature on its app that lets users send a food gift to another person. From now through Black Friday, Nov. 27, every customer that gives a gift of $20 or more gets $10 off their next order on DoorDash or Caviar.

Meat subscription service Crowd Cow is offering 20 percent off on a variety of meats and fish you can order via the Crowd Cow website. At the moment, there’s a healthy variety of shrimp, crap, steak, ground beef, cod, halibut and more available, and the company is adding new items to the sale every day. 

If you’re curious about testing out a meal kit, now might be the time to do so. A number of services are offering Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals this year. A couple notables are HelloFresh, which will give you $90 off your first five boxes, and Hungryroot, which will will offer 30 percent off your first delivery of $99 and throw in a free pack of almond chickpea cookie dough.

For all you winos, plenty of online retailers and subscription services are offering deals on vino. First-time buyers on Winc get 50 percent off their first order. Usual wines has a 21 percent discount going on orders of 12 bottles or more. Vinebox, meanwhile, is offering a 20 percent discount off its 12 Nights of Wine package through Nov. 30.

BonBowl, which makes an induction cooktop and accompanying bowl, is running a $50 off sale on Black Friday for orders placed via the BonBowl website. If you need further convincing this is a good purchase, check my full review of the device.

Finally, restaurants, especially chains, are always offering deals, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday is no exception. The folks at Delish have a solid rundown of these deals, which include chains like Peet’s Coffee, McAlister’s Deli, and, of course, Chili’s. Because it’s not a holiday if Chili’s isn’t somehow involved.

Beyond Meat Launches Minced Pork Product in China

Beyond Meat debuted its new plant-based pork product made specifically for the Chinese market yesterday, according to a report in Green Queen. Called Beyond Pork, the new offering is minced and meant to be used in a variety of Asian dishes including dumplings, spring rolls and on ramen.

Beyond Pork will be available at a number of different Shanghai restaurants including Egg, RAC and Solo X for a limited time between now and November 24.

The unveiling of Beyond Pork comes just days after Beyond announced the next versions of its signature Beyond Meat burger patty here in the U.S. But it’s also just the latest in a series of moves the company has made to expand into China. The company has signed deals to get on the menus of Starbucks, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in China, as well as on retail shelves at Alibaba stores. More importantly, however, Beyond is building two production facilities in China (one of which is near Shanghai) that will go into full production next year.

But Beyond is going to be the away team in this particular game to get plant-based pork into the hands of Chinese consumers. Omnipork, which is operated by Hong Kong-based Green Monday, already has a number of plant-based pork products at market in China.

Plant-based pork is coming at an auspicious time. China is the world’s largest consumer of pork, but the country has been battling outbreaks of swine fever over the past two years reducing domestic herd counts and driving up prices. Plant-based meat products like those from Beyond and Omnipork can sidestep those issues.

Beyond Meat Launches Two New Versions of its Plant-Based Burger

Beyond Meat announced today two new iterations of its plant-based burger, with one version offering a more “meaty” experience and the other being a more nutritious version of it burger, according to the press release.

The new patties don’t have their own dedicated brand names, and in the press announcement are just described by their characteristics. One of the new patties, the juicier/meatier one, will have 35 percent less saturated fat than 80/20 beef. The other new burger, which is being billed as the Beyond’s most nutritious patty yet, will have 55 percent less saturated fat than 80/20 beef. Both new burgers will launch in “early 2021.”

Beyond hinted that this news was coming during its earnings report last week. On that call, Beyond CEO, Ethan Brown, said that its “Beyond Burger 3.0” would make the current version of Beyond “obsolete.”

As a quick aside, this use of “obsolete” is interesting. A little more than a year ago I wrote that as companies like Beyond and Impossible Foods continue to tweak their recipes, food was becoming more like software. From that piece:

The new version of Beyond Meat (and the sister product, Beyond Beef ground) is so much better than the first version. At least for meat eaters and flexitarians who were looking for something like meat, but less ethically and environmentally complicated. As Beyond and Impossible spend more on research and development, they will uncover new ingredients, new combinations and new manufacturing techniques to make their products even better and tastier.

The same can’t be said for traditional animal meat. Sure, there will be varying degrees of quality, but beef is going to always taste and feel like beef, chicken like chicken and pork like pork. The cow (or pig or chicken) is not going to become a different animal.

In other words, this new Beyond Burger 3.0 will one day too, become obsolete. And, there are chances that Beyond will develop the “New Coke” of burgers that people may not like as much. Something to keep an eye on, anyway.

Beyond has been on a product tear this year, debuting plant-based sausage patties, sausage links and meatballs. Oh, and it also helped McDonald’s create its new McPlant sandwich, though the exact details of that relationship remain cloudy.

The timing is certainly right for all these moves. Sales of plant-based meats are on the rise, and were pushed even higher thanks to the pandemic. As a result, both Beyond and Impossible have been in a bit of a back and forth throughout the year, releasing new products, launching D2C channels, vastly expanding at retail and growing internationally.

Given all the back-and-forth, will Impossible announce new iterations to its burgers? The year isn’t over yet…

Beyond Q3 Earnings: The Company ‘Co-Created’ the McPlant, Will Launch Version 3.0 of Its Burger

Despite disappointing Q3 earnings that saw stocks slide yesterday, plant-based protein heavyweight Beyond made a number of noteworthy announcements on its investor call, including a new iteration of the Beyond Burger, expanded distribution, and involvement with McDonald’s recently announced McPlant product line. 

Beyond posted earnings below analysts’ expectations, reporting $94.4 million in revenues versus the expected $132.8 million. The company attributed slower sales in retail and foodservice brought on at least in part by the pandemic. However, Beyond CEO Ethan Brown said on the call that it was important “not to interpret this near-term pandemic induced drop in activity as a weakening in our long-term value proposition in this critically important space.” 

To that end Beyond made a few announcements on the call around forthcoming products and distribution channels. The biggest of these — or at least the one that grabbed the most headlines — is the company’s involvement with McDonald’s new line of plant-based meat products. Mickey D’s did not mention Beyond in its announcement yesterday. However, when asked about McPlant on its earnings call, Beyond’s Brown said, “Our relationship with McDonald’s is good.” After further confusion, Beyond made the following statement today: 

“Beyond Meat and McDonald’s co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform.”

Why McDonald’s left Beyond out of its initial announcement is unclear. Also unclear is whether Beyond will be McDonald’s supplier for plant-based products going forward.

Less mysterious are Beyond’s plans for retail distribution. On this week’s call, the company announced the Beyond Burger will be available at 7,000 CVS locations in the U.S. in 2021. Beyond Meatballs, a newer entrant to the product portfolio, will be available at 5,000 CVS stores next year. The company also just announced a nationwide partnership with Pizza Hut and, overseas, has successfully trialed products at KFC locations in China. Q3 also saw the launch of Beyond’s direct-to-consumer e-commerce site, following a similar move by the company’s chief rival, Impossible.

Finally, Brown said his company will launch “Beyond Burger 3.0” (he did not provide a time frame) and that Beyond wants to make the current version of its burger “obsolete.” 

None of this was enough to keep Beyond’s stocks from dropping 8 percent after market close yesterday, though Brown again emphasized the long-term value of his company and mentioned the global opportunity for plant-based meats.

That opportunity is certainly huge. Recent numbers put alternative protein investment so far for 2020 well above $1 billion, with plant-based proteins grabbing the bulk of that sum. Part of this can be attributed to the pandemic. But as FAIRR pointed out when it reported the $1-billion-plus investment figure, the pandemic was just “the straw on the camel’s back.” Our reliance on traditional animal proteins was under scrutiny well before COVID-19, which suggests long-term demand for plant-based proteins even after the pandemic is under control.

Record case numbers suggest that day won’t arrive for a while. In the meantime, Beyond will need to boost its performance across both retail and food service in the coming months to keep a competitive edge in a very crowded plant-based meat market.

Beyond Meat Serves Up New Sausage Links

Beyond Meat announced today the launch of its new plant-based Breakfast Sausage Links. The new breakfast food will be available a grocers nationwide starting this month and cost $5.99 for a package of eight links.

Plant-based meat sales have enjoyed a boom during this global pandemic. COVID-19 not only has people eating at home more, it’s also highlighted limitations and ethical problems with traditional animal meat production.

Beyond has certainly kept busy during the pandemic, rolling out a number of new products throughout the past seven months. The company debuted its sausage patties, repackaged its burgers into a bulk offering, launched a direct-to-consumer sales channel, kicked off another plant-based chicken pilot with KFC in southern California, and debuted a line of meatballs.

Not to be outdone, Beyond rival Impossible Foods has been busy as well launching its own sausage, it’s own D2C channel as vastly ramping up its retail presence.

As I’ve written before, I’m a big fan of the Beyond sausage patties (FWIW, the rest of my family scarfs them down as well). However, I’m a little more leery of something like a Beyond sausage link. I prefer Beyond products as part of something more than as a standalone item. So a sausage patty sandwich with egg and cheese is delicious. But Beyond’s bratwurst just on its own is… fine, though not my favorite. I’m curious to see if the links will change my mind.

Regardless, I find that I’m doing exactly what both Beyond and Impossible want: eating less meat. And as both companies continue to roll out a wider variety of products, I don’t think that I will be going back.

Food Tech News: Cryogenic Avocado Trees, Vegans Take Over Television

This Friday, I bring you news on freezing avocado trees for future generations, vegan food brands advertising on television, and plant-based seafood hitting the frozen food aisle of Walmart. Between avocados and vegan food, these news tidbits are a direct appeal to millennials. Now all I need is some food tech news about brunch.

Avocados can now be cryogenically frozen for the future

I am pleased to share that my descendants will now be able to experience avocado toast. Chris O’ Brien, a Ph.D. student at the University of Queensland in Australia was able to revive avocado plant cuttings that he froze at -320°F with liquid nitrogen. Avocado trees are susceptible to disease, pests, disasters, and climate change; this discovery is important because it may help ensure that we will have avocados for future generations. Beside avocado trees, other plants like potatoes, grapevines, apples, bananas, and berries have all been successfully frozen then revived using cryopreservation.

Vegan foods brands are advertising on T.V.

Big names in the plant-based space have started running T.V. advertisements this year. Beyond Meat ran its first television campaign in August during the Lakers vs. Jazz game, with actress Octavia Spencer as the narrator. The Meatless Farm showcased its pea protein meat alternatives in a tantalizing commercial that ran in the UK, and Dr. Praegers used vegetable superheroes to promote its veggie burgers.

Vegan food brands seem to also be expanding their advertisements off the television. In the past week, I have personally seen ads for OZO pop up on my computer, and cheeky Oatly ads on the side of bus stops.

Sophie’s Kitchen brings plant-based seafood to Walmart

Sophie’s Kitchen, which makes plant-based seafood, will launch in Walmart this month. The company’s frozen plant-based crab cakes and shrimp will be made available in 400 Walmart locations. Sophie’s Kitchen joins other vegan brands available at Walmart including Gardein, So Delicious, Beyond Meat, and Lightlife.

Beyond Meat Launches New Plant-Based Meatballs

Beyond Meat announced today that it has launched Beyond Meatballs, a new line of pre-formed and pre-seasoned plant-based meatballs that will be available at select grocers nationwide starting this week.

According to the press announcemt, Beyond’s new meatballs, which are derived from peas and brown rice have:

  • 19g of plant-based protein
  • 30 percent less saturated fat and sodium than leading brands of animal-based meatballs
  • No cholesterol, antibiotics or hormones

Beyond said this is the company’s third new retail product launch for this year, but really it’s more like two and a half. The company launched its plant-based sausage at retail in March, then launched its Cookout Classic in June, but the latter was really a bulk re-packaging of its existing burgers.

The addition of meatballs is more of a convenience play. Sure, you could make your own plant-based meatballs by forming them out of the ground Beyond Meat. But that takes more work. Having meatballs ready to go for a sandwich or spaghetti is a smart way to diversify your flexitarian menu-planning options.

Beyond’s announcement today also continues the rapid back and forth announcements that have gone on all summer long between Beyond and its main rival, Impossible Foods. As I wrote earlier, most of the announcements from the two plant-based giants have been about scale and not entirely new lines of products (i.e., new kinds of plant-based meat) and these Beyond Meatballs continue that trend.

The Beyond Meatballs will hit retailers such as Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Kroger and Albertsons across the U.S. this week and continue rolling out through October. They will have a suggested retail price of $6.99 for 12 meatballs.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post said that the meatballs would be available in early October.