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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

plant-based

Food Tech News: GE’s Latest Kitchen Hub, New Vegan IKEA Meatballs, and Meal Delivery Galore

Happy Saturday! This week was a big one for us at The Spoon — we kicked off our shiny new Future Food newsletter covering all things alternative protein, from plant-based meat to insects to cellular agriculture. Make sure to subscribe here.

But for now, let’s turn to this week’s food tech news. We have stories about IKEA’s new plant-based meatballs, GE’s latest smart kitchen hub, and a new frozen meal delivery service. Enjoy!

Mosaic, a new frozen meal delivery company, launches on East Coast
There’s a new D2C meal delivery service on the scene. This week Mosaic, a company which ships frozen, pre-cooked vegetarian bowls to consumers’ doorsteps within one day, began operations on the East Coast. The bowls range in price from $8.99 to $12.49 which is pretty pricey compared to what you’d find in the freezer section of the grocery store, but on par with traditional meal kits. Mosaic raised a seed round of funding in 2018 and is planning to launch in new cities soon.

Photo: GE

GE’s starts selling new kitchen hub, amps up SideChef partnership
The latest version of GE’s kitchen hub, which made its first appearance at CES this January, is now hitting store shelves (h/t CNET). Priced around $1,199, the hub has a built-in smart touchscreen which includes guided cooking capabilities from SideChef.

In fact, SideChef and GE have been ramping up their partnership lately. Sidechef’s app is now connected to a sizeable 74 GE ovens and ranges, allowing home cooks to set cook times, monitor temperature, and change up the cooking mode on their connected appliances.

Photo: IKEA

IKEA’s making a meatier version of their plant-based meatballs
Vegetarians who love Swedish meatballs, rejoice. The Daily Mail reports that IKEA is developing a new plant-based version of their famous meatballs which will look and taste more like the “real thing.” The Swedish furniture giant launched a vegan meatball made of chickpeas and vegetables back in 2015, but this new version will apparently be more in line with the more realistic offerings from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. IKEA plans to trial their new meatballs in early 2020.

Photo: Wegmans

Wegmans teams up with DoorDash
This week East Coast supermarket chain Wegmans announced that it will partner DoorDash to launch its Wegmans Meals 2GO food delivery service. Hungry people can use the Wegmans Meals 2GO app to order from the Wegmans’ prepared food section, which includes pizza, salads, and sushi. Customers can opt for carry-out or curbside pickup, or can get delivery for orders of $20 or more if they live within a 5 mile radius. So far the service is available in two locations in Rochester, New York and one spot in Virginia, and Wegmans plans to roll out the service to 40 stores by the end of this year.

Did we miss anything? Tweet us @TheSpoonTech!

What Does Beyond Meat’s IPO Mean for Impossible Foods?

Yesterday Beyond Meat made headlines when it became the first plant-based meat company to go public.

But this is just the beginning. Ever since we first heard rumblings about Beyond’s IPO we’ve been thinking about what this means for the plant-based meat space in general. Sure, Beyond is the first alterna-meat company to go public, but so far the future is looking rosy; Bloomberg notes that the company had the biggest IPO pop since the 2008 financial crisis. Its shares nearly tripled in price on the first day of trading and it’s still up on Day Two.

With its success, Beyond is paving the way for other alterna-meat companies to go for IPOs of their own.

It’s not hard to guess who will be next. The Redwood City, Calif.-based Impossible Foods is Beyond Meat’s most public competitor. Both companies are using high-level technology to create “meat” that’s good enough to fool even hardcore carnivores, making big plays into restaurant chains and grocery (Impossible plans to be in retail by the end of this year). Heck, their CEOs even have the same last name: Brown.

Impossible may have entered the scene later — it was founded in 2011, Beyond in 2009 — but in some ways it seems almost more prepared for an IPO. It has raised $387.5 million, almost triple Beyond’s pre-IPO $122 million. Impossible also has a bigger fast food chain presence: it’s on menus at Burger King, Qdoba, and White Castle, while Beyond has a smaller footprint at Carl’s Jr., Del Taco and A&W (only in Canada). Both Impossible and Beyond recently came out with a revamped meaty recipe 2.0, but Impossible’s won the “Best of the Best” award at CES and has been making much bigger waves in the media.

Outside the startup realm, Beyond’s success could also incentivize Tyson to accelerate its own fledgling plant-based protein program — and even nudge other large corporations like Nestlé or Unilever to start their own.

For its part, Impossible Foods was very supportive of Beyond Meat’s time in the limelight. Impossible’s CFO/COO David Lee tweeted out a nice message yesterday aligning their mission with Beyond’s, starting that “Clearly the mass market is ready for us both!”

Hint, hint.

Beyond Meat Becomes the First Plant-Based Meat Company to Go Public

The day has finally come.

This morning Beyond Meat, maker of the popular plant-based burgers, went public. The El Segundo, Calif.-based company raised $241 in its IPO by pricing 9.6 million shares at $25 per share. This is an increase from its original plan to release 8.75 million shares offered at $19-$21. It will have an initial market cap of roughly $1.5 billion.

This move on Beyond’s part is huge news for the alternative protein landscape. As the first plant-based meat company to go public, the success (or failure) of Beyond’s shares will be an indicator for the strength of the alternative meat industry. If it does well, others like Impossible Foods — whose patties will soon be at Burger Kings nationwide — are likely to follow.

It’s too early to make a call on how Beyond will fare, but there’s reason to be optimistic. Beyond’s shares were priced at the higher range, indicating a high level of interest from investors and consumers. There’s also the fact that the alternative meat space been experiencing a meteoric rise over the past few years. According to Nielson, U.S. sales of plant-based meat rose 24 percent in 2018 alone.

The company will trade on the Nasdaq under symbol BYND. So far it has raised $142 million from backers like Cleveland Avenue and Obvious Venturers, as well as celebrities like Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio. It used to count Tyson among its investors, but the poultry giant pulled out its investment once it started developing its own line of plant-based meats.

Beyond’s plant-based meat is available in 30,000 grocery stores and restaurants including fast-food chains like Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, and Canada’s A&W. In addition to Canada, Beyond is also on grocery shelves/menus in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the U.K. and Israel.

Though Beyond has yet to turn a profit, the company posted a 20 percent gross margin in 2018, up from a negative margin in 2017. Its gross margin for Q1 of 2019 is just over 25 percent, indicating an upward trajectory. Beyond’s sales also grew by 170 percent in 2018.

Now that the company is public, we’ll see how it reacts to the short-term demands of investors.

If you want to keep up to date as Beyond navigates its IPO, make sure to subscribe to Future Food: our weekly newsletter analyzing the alternative protein space.

UPDATED:

Beyond Meat has dubbed tomorrow, May 3rd ‘Beyond Day.’ Basically, it just means they’re giving you free/discounted Beyond burgers, tacos, etc. We’ve listed all the deals below:

**All offers limit one per person, while supplies last:

  • Carl’s Jr. – Free Beyond Famous Star with Cheese
    • Where: All Carls Jr. locations (Nationwide)
    • When: Friday May 3, 6am-Close
    • How: Redeem with the purchase of a medium or large drink
      • At the register say “Happy Birthday Beyond”
  • Del Taco – Free Beyond Taco or Beyond Avocado Taco
    • Where: Participating Del Taco locations (Nationwide)
    • When: All day Friday, May 3 (12:01am-11:59pm)
    • How: Free Beyond Taco or Beyond Avocado Taco in the Del Taco app with any purchase.
  • Bareburger – Free Beyond Burger
    • Where: All Bareburger locations (Nationwide)
    • When: Friday, May 3, 3-6pm
    • How: Redeem with the purchase of a side and a drink.
      • Download the Bareburger app and show the server the app on your phone
  • Veggie Grill – Free VG Beyond Burger  
    • Where: All Veggie Grill locations (West Coast & Chicago)
    • When: Friday, May 3, 2-5pm
    • How: Redeem with the purchase of a fountain drink
      • Must be a VG Rewards App member
  • Epic Burger – Free Beyond Burger  
    • Where: All Epic Burger locations (Chicago)
    • When: Friday, May 3, 4-7pm
    • How: Redeem with the purchase of a side and a drink.
      • Mention the offer at the register
      • Any additional add ons will be extra
  • Retail Offer – $3 Off Any Beyond Meat Product

Impossible Foods is Struggling to Meet Skyrocketing Demand — Is It In Over its Head?

Impossible Foods, makers of the super popular “bleeding” plant-based burger, has been on a hot streak lately. In January they launched a (very tasty) version 2.0 of their iconic “meat,” which is now available in four countries. They’re on the menus of major fast-casual and fast-food chains like Red Robin, Qdoba, White Castle, and, soon, Burger King. And later this year, they’ll hit grocery shelves.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. Eater reported yesterday that Impossible is having trouble making enough product to keep all their restaurant partners stocked.

The news is not exactly surprising. As we’ve noted time and again, consumers can’t get enough plant-based protein. This news from Eater shows that demand for meat alternatives seems to be outpacing the production capabilities of at least some popular vegan meat companies.

Impossible isn’t the only one grappling with the supply-and-demand problem. Beyond Meat, one of their main competitors, went through similar growing pains last year when fans complained that Beyond’s plant-based burger patties were often sold out at grocery stores. The El Segundo-based startup even had to delay its scheduled entry into the U.K. due to difficulty meeting demand.

Since then Beyond Meat has opened up a second production facility and seems to have bounced back. I haven’t heard any other internet murmurings of “out of stock” signs (comment if you have!), and the aforementioned Eater piece notes that many New York restaurants who couldn’t get their Impossible burgers are replacing them with Beyond. In fact, Beyond’s shortages seem to be behind them as the company prepares to go public later this week.

Even bigger alternative meat companies are having to add new production means. Maple Leaf Foods, which owns Field Roast and Lightlife Foods, recently announced plans to build a $310 million plant-based protein factory — the largest one in the U.S. As demand for meat alternatives continues to grow I’m betting we’ll see even larger alt-protein factories being built, especially once poultry giant Tyson fulfills its promise to enter the plant-based meat space.

In the end, this shortage isn’t a devastating blow for Impossible. It is a reality check, both to consumers and the company, that the startup darling isn’t hiccup-proof. The shortage also shows that the skyrocketing demand for plant-based protein isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

Impossible is clearly aware of their production issues and scrambling to fix them. Eater notes that the startup is increasing staff and hours of operation at its plant in Oakland, California, and that it plans to double production by the summer.

That’s a good start. However, Impossible is planning to roll out to 7,000-plus Burger King locations soon, doubling its restaurant footprint. It’s also going to launch in retail sometime this year. With all these moves, Impossible may have to start thinking beyond (ha) just adding another production line if it plans to continue expanding at such a rapid clip.

Want to keep up with all plant-based protein news? Subscribe to Future Food, our weekly newsletter offering stories and analysis on the alternate protein landscape.

Introducing Future Food: Our Alternative Protein Newsletter

Have you checked what’s in your hamburger recently? It might be plant-based, made with “bloody” heme, or even grown in a bioreactor. (Just kidding — that last one isn’t here yet. But it will be soon.)

We’re fascinated by the fast-evolving alternative protein space. And clearly, so are you: the plant-based food industry increased by 20 percent in 2018, and is worth over $4.1 billion. In the cell-based (also called cultured) space, companies are doing everything from cheese to steak without the animal.

That’s why we decided it was timely and relevant to devote an entire newsletter to the topic of alternative protein products: meat, sure, but also eggs, dairy, bugs, seaweed, etc. It’s called Future Food, and this is the very first one!

We hope you like it. If so, you should sign up for the Future Food newsletter to get it in your inbox every Thursday. Now, to the news…

Photo: Beyond Meat.

Last week Beyond Meat, the El Segundo, California-based startup making plant-based burgers, chicken, sausage, and more, set the terms of its IPO.

The numbers were pretty eye-popping: the company could raise as much as $184 million, and might be valued at a whopping $1.2 billion. Beyond’s sales are also going through the roof, with revenues almost tripling from 2017 to 2018.
Whether Beyond Meat’s impending IPO fails or succeeds will be a be a sort of canary in the coal mine for the plant-based meat industry. It’s set to go public in early May, so keep an eye on this newsletter for ongoing analysis.

But all is not rosy in Beyond’s world right now. News broke that Tyson Foods had parted ways with the plant-based meat startup and sold its 6.5% stake, just days before Beyond goes public.

The news wasn’t shocking, since Tyson had recently announced plans of its own to get into the plant-based protein game. And we all know it’s bad practice to compete with a portfolio company. We analyzed the full reasonings behind Tyson’s exit — as well as the potential effects the move might have on Beyond’s IPO — here.

Photo: Stewart Butterfield via Flickr.

People are abuzz with excitement over cell-based meat: that is, meat that’s grown outside the animal. But we’re still not sure what it will be called, when it will come to market, or where it’ll first launch.

I have a theory, though: Asia. Specifically Hong Kong. Recently I explored the reasons why Asia is an ideal launch pad for cultured meat, from regulation to consumer interest. Feel free to @ me if you disagree.

Photo: A burger topped with a prototype of plant-based bacon grown on Ecovative’s mycelium.

A big struggle for all meat alternative companies — both plant-based and cell-based — is texture. They can do burgers, sure. But steak? That’s a lot more of a challenge.

Ecovative, a biotech company in New York, is growing scaffolds for meat alternatives out of mycelium. For all you non-mycologists out there, that basically means mushroom roots.

This method is cheap, quick, and scalable. But will it be enough to make animal-free steak that can fool even the most discerning of carnivores?

Photo: Meringues made with animal-free egg whites from Clara Foods.

But there’s a lot more going on in the protein alternatives world than just meat:

  • Clara Foods, a startup developing chicken-less egg white proteins with genetically engineered microbes, just raised an undisclosed Series B financing round led by ingredient giant Ingredion. They’re hoping to have a product to market as early as 2020.
  • Using a similar technology, New Culture is creating milk without the cow. Their end game is to make animal-free mozzarella cheese that tastes as creamy as the real thing.
  • There’s a nascent group of startups creating proteins not out of plants, sugar, or animal cells — but out of thin air. For real. Called ‘gas fermentation,’ the only inputs are electricity and air, making it a prime candidate for space travel.

Photo: Nestle.

Protein ’round the web

  • Eater L.A.: Los Angeles restaurants are using Impossible’s “bleeding” plant-based meat for a lot more than burgers. Think: taquitos, dumplings, and even tartare.
  • Beyond Meat is BBBTB: Bringing the Beyond Burger to Belgium. And the company is going Dutch with an expansion into the Netherlands.
  • Mcdonald’s Germany has chosen Nestlé’s Incredible burger for its vegan option.

    • I’m off! If you enjoyed this newsletter, be sure to subscribe here (it’s easy) and we’ll send it to you every Thursday. See you next week.

    Eat well,
    Catherine

    Days Before Its IPO, Beyond Meat Parts Ways with Tyson Foods

    Poultry giant Tyson Foods has parted ways with plant-based protein company Beyond Meat, Axios reported this morning in its newsletter. This news comes just days before the El Segundo, California-based startup is expected to go public with a valuation of up to $1.2 billion.

    Tyson had a 6.5% ownership stake in Beyond and had invested a total of $23 million in the company between 2016 and 2017. Axios discovered the break when it noticed that Tyson was listed on Beyond’s April 15 amended regulatory filing, but not in one on April 22.

    And things started off so well! We were fascinated to see Tyson, the second-largest meat processing company in the world, invest so heavily in Beyond, a company out to disrupt the industrial meat industry altogether. As Tom Mastrobuoni, CFO of Tyson Ventures, pointed out onstage during our Smart Kitchen Summit Europe last year, they’re very aware of that. “We’re onto disruption now,” he told the audience. “The startups that we’re focusing on are, in some ways, out to get us.”

    The meat giant seemed fine with that initially, but things must have shifted at some point. Likely after Tyson announced in February that it would be developing its own line of plant-based protein products, which it plans to have in retail by this summer (see statement below). It makes sense that Tyson wouldn’t want to compete directly with one of its portfolio companies in the B2C alternative protein market, and vice-versa.

    We don’t know if Tyson had already decided to develop its own line of plant-based products before it invested in Beyond. Otherwise, maybe they saw the numbers and realized the potential of the protein market, then decided to jump in themselves.

    If the latter, it’s no wonder that Beyond Meat got a bee in their bonnet. As we mentioned Tyson is the second largest meat processor in the world. They have an incredible amount of capital, manufacturing abilities, R&D teams, and retail partnerships in place that will let them scale their plant-based protein business quickly. It’s easy to see why Beyond Meat wouldn’t like the idea of having such a giant, well-financed competitor in the meat aisle.

    A rep from Tyson sent us the following statement (the same one it shared with Axios):

    Tyson Ventures is pleased with the investment in Beyond Meat and has decided the time is right to exit its investment. Beyond Meat provided an early opportunity for Tyson Ventures to invest in plant-based protein products that many consumers are seeking. We wish the leadership of Beyond Meat all the best.

    Tyson Foods continues to be committed to providing alternative protein as a choice for consumers and recently announced the creation of a new business focused on combining our creativity, scale and resources to make great tasting protein alternatives more accessible for everyone. We plan to launch an alternative protein product soon with market testing anticipated this summer.

    According to Axios, there were multiple buyers for Tyson’s stake in Beyond Meat as no new 5% shareholder was listed in the new statement.

    Other Big Food companies have also been investing in plant-based protein. However, instead of buying stakes in prominent startups like Beyond Meat, they’re chiefly acquiring smaller vegan companies (Unilever, Maple Leaf Foods) or developing their own products (Nestlé). Maybe Tyson tried to take over Beyond Meat and were rebuffed, then decided to change course and make their own line of plant-based proteins.

    Beyond isn’t Tyson’s only venture into the alternative protein space. The poultry giant has also invested in cell-based meat company Memphis Meats as well as Future Meats, a biotech company creating animal-free fat and muscle cells. Though cultured meat is still a ways away from entering your grocery store, it’ll be interesting to see how Big Food companies like Tyson react once they do get to market — and if they’ll be friend or foe.

    It’s also worth asking if the break from Tyson will impact Beyond’s IPO, which is set for just days from now. Potential investors might be more wary to buy stock in a company that was backed by a giant like Tyson, but no longer. Then again, I don’t think this will have too much of an effect. People are still ravenous for plant-based protein, and interested parties attracted by Beyond’s inspiring message or growing revenues will likely still buy shares in the company, regardless of any Tyson drama.

    We’ve reached out to Beyond and Tyson for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

    Beyond Meat Prices Its Public Offering, Could Be Valued at $1.2 Billion

    Beyond Meat, maker of plant-based chicken, crumbles, and burgers, just set the terms of its initial public offering.

    According to a regulatory filing, the El Segundo, California-based startup could raise as much as $184 million for its IPO. Beyond plans to offer 8.75 million shares priced between $19 and $21 each. If it follows through, the company would be valued at as much as $1.21 billion.

    Additionally, the filings show that Beyond’s losses shrank while its revenue grew. In 2018, Beyond lost $29.9 million on revenues of $87.9 million. This is down/up from 2017, when the company lost $30.4 million on revenue of $32.6 million.

    This makes sense, as Beyond continued its expansion at grocery stores across the U.S. throughout 2018, launched an R&D new center and added a second production facility to keep up with white-hot demand for alternative protein.

    Beyond Meat has raised $122 million, and it’s not just the company’s investors (which include Cleveland Avenue, DNS Ventures, Tyson Foods and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates) watching this IPO closely. Beyond could be a bellwether for other startups and established players in the alternative protein space.

    For example: Beyond Meat rival, Impossible Foods, has raised $387.5 million and its ability to go public will be impacted by the success or failure of Beyond’s offering. Additionally, Big Food companies have been upping their investment in alternative proteins: Nestlé is rolling out several new alterna-meat products, Unilever bought the Vegetarian Butcher, and Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods acquired Lightlife and Field Roast. A Beyond Meat bummer on the public market could chill some of the investment heat the sector has.

    Beyond no doubt knows the responsibility that’s on its shoulders: not only to its employees and investors but also to the plant-based food space on the whole. And since it announced that it would go public last November, it has been hustling to make sure the IPO goes well. The company has accrued a possé of celebrity endorsers, brought on big name fast-food restaurant partnerships like Carl’s Jr. and Del Taco, released a new version of its Beyond Meat recipe, announced a new ground version of its “meat” to be released this year, and is also prepping new category products like sausage patties. Just today, Beyond announced that it will be on grocery shelves in Canada starting next month.

    CNN reports that Beyond plans to start trading in early May, and needless to say all eyes (including ours) will be on that debut.

    Restaurant Chains Embrace JUST Egg, Vegan Chorizo as Hunger for Plant-Based Protein Grows

    Animal-free meat and dairy alternatives have been on quite a roll this week. First Beyond Meat announced it would be in all locations of Del Taco. Two days later, Impossible shot back with the news that its plant-based meat would be available at all Qdobas nationwide.

    Now several more national chains are embracing plant-based alternatives with open arms. JUST Inc. (formerly Hampton Creek) announced that its vegan JUST Egg product will be available at the restaurant chain Silver Diner and the upmarket burger chain Bareburger, both of which are chiefly in the Mid-Atlantic area.

    JUST Egg is available on two Bareburger menu items. In the “Wake-Up Call,” an eggless patty is served with a Beyond Meat quarter pounder, cheese, and mayo, while the “Get On Up” is essentially a breakfast burrito. The JUST menu items will be available at all 34 U.S. Bareburger locations by the end of May. The diner chain Silver Diner will offer a “JUST Egg Benedict” starting today all 15 of its locations.

    JUST Egg is already available at a number of grocery stores and restaurants, including the vegan chain Veggie Grill. They’ve been edging into more sales channels in the U.S. and internationally, though so far it seems they’ve been targeting retailers. These two partnerships show that the company is also laser-focused on getting JUST into as many restaurant menus — and onto as many flexitarian plates — as possible.

    Blaze Pizza with its new vegan chorizo.

    It might not have a buzzed-about startup name attached to it, but this week fast-casual pizza chain Blaze also rolled out new plant-based options on its menus. The national chain, which has over 300 locations, now offers a vegan spicy chorizo developed in-house by Blaze’s executive chef. While the restaurant has meat and dairy on its menus, its dough is vegan and customers can opt for Daiya plant-based cheese.

    The vegan chorizo is available at no extra cost. This is pretty rare: most plant-based alternatives come with an upcharge of at least a few bucks, which is a barrier to capturing the flexitarian market. Though thanks to economies of scale, growing meat alternative companies like Beyond and Impossible will hopefully able to reach price parity with meat pretty soon.

    Fast-food and fast-casual restaurants are becoming quite the innovation space for plant-based alternatives. In addition to all the above news,  Burger King recently announced a pilot program to make Impossible Whoppers in the St. Louis area. Impossible’s “bleeding” burgers are also at White Castles and Red Robins, and Beyond Meat is available at Carl’s Jr. and the Canadian A&W chain.

    Restaurant chains would be dumb not to put meat and dairy alternatives on their menus. According to the NPD Group, demand for plant-based protein in foodservice grew by 20 percent in 2018. And I don’t see that trend slowing down anytime soon. Down the road, I’m betting it will be unheard of for a fast-casual or QSR restaurant to not have plant-based burgers, scrambled eggs, etc. In fact, it might not be that far from now.

    Del Taco is First Mexican Fast-Food Chain to Put Beyond Meat on Its Menus

    As a vegetarian, whenever I hit up a fast-food Mexican spot — my road trip go-to — my menu options are typically pretty limited: basically, I can have bean tacos or bean burritos. But starting at the end of this month, Del Taco is offering a new plant-based option at all of its 580 locations across the country.

    Del Taco will offer two dedicated plant-based tacos filled with Beyond Meat’s meatless crumbles: the Beyond Avocado Taco (which is vegan) and the Beyond Taco (which has cheese). The tacos are $2.49 each, which is just a smidge pricier than Del Taco’s other taco offerings. Customers can also substitute Beyond Meat as a protein in their burritos, fries, and nachos.

    The Mexican chain first started serving Beyond Meat tacos last September with a test run at two Southern California locations. With this rollout, Del Taco will be the first Mexican fast-food restaurant to put Beyond Meat on its menus.

    Beyond is making bold strides into fast-food menus across the country. Back in January they rolled out the Beyond Famous Star burger at over 1,000 locations of Carl’s Jr. Add up Beyond’s presence at Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, and at Canadian chain A&W, and that’s a lot of plant-based fast-food burgers.

    However, they’re not the only alterna-meat company targeting quick service restaurants (QSR). Impossible Foods’ plant-based patties are available at White Castles throughout the U.S., and it really stepped up earlier this month by announcing a partnership with Burger King. As of now, the Impossible Whopper is only available in a few locations around St. Louis. But if they’re successful — and early reviews are favorable — we could soon see Impossible burgers in all 7,200 BK locations.

    We’ve entered into a sort of plant-based war for fast-food supremacy. Yes, demand for alternative protein is skyrocketing and there’s plenty of room for multiple players in the plant-based space. However, there’s probably not room on QSR menus for more than one alt-meat product. Beyond has won Del Taco. We’ll see what chain makes its next plant-based allegiance.

    Beyond Meat Targets Hardbodies with Trifecta Meal Delivery Partnership

    Beyond Meat is branching out from grocery stores and restaurants and into a new retail channel — one geared towards all you fitness nuts out there. The plant-based meat company announced today that it will offer its products through healthy, organic meal delivery service Trifecta.

    Trifecta offers pre-made healthy meals and also à la carte mains and sides, like flat iron steak and quinoa. As of now Beyond’s burgers are only available à la carte, but Trifecta announced over Instagram that they would soon be adding Beyond products to their pre-selected vegetarian and vegan meal plans.

    Though Beyond is already in a boatload of retailers and restaurants around the world, this partnership is the first time that their prepared plant-based products will be available through a delivery service. And I’ve got to say, Trifecta is a pretty interesting choice of partner on Beyond’s part.

    Trifecta is geared towards hardcore healthy people who are eating to lose weight or do some serious muscling up. It offers meal plans like Keto, Paleo, and Clean, all of which are gluten- and dairy-free. The Trifecta site even has before and after photos. Basically, it’s meal delivery for hardbodies — or aspiring hardbodies.

    Trifecta’s meals are also on the pricier side. The plans start at $109 per week, which gets you seven meals of your choice (breakfast, lunch, dinner, or something called “third entree”). Prices go down as you bundle more meals together.

    That shakes out to roughly $15 per meal, which is more expensive than pretty much all of the major meal kit companies out there. Then again, Trifecta’s meals put emphasis on lots of protein, so that explains the high cost.

    The Beyond Burger is available in Trifecta’s à la carte section for $23.49 a week, which includes 7 servings. The patties are delivered pre-cooked, which, to me, seems to make the whole point kind of moot. Beyond Meat retails for $5.99 for two patties, which are ready to eat and just have to be heated in a pan. If you’re buying them pre-cooked from Trifecta not only is it more expensive, but since you still have to reheat them you’re basically guaranteeing a rubbery, overcooked burger. But people will pay a high price for convenience.

    I was initially pretty surprised to read about this partnership. Why was Beyond Meat, whose whole raison d’etre is to make eating plant-based meat tasty and accessible, partnering with a company that’s all about carefully monitored fats, healthy carbs, and protein?

    But then I thought about it for five seconds and realized that it actually makes a lot of sense for Beyond to work with Trifecta. It shows that they’re a serious source of protein fit even for a bodybuilder. Or, you know, Shaquille O’Neill. On Trifecta’s part, adding Beyond Meat to the menu is a smart, easy way to feed the growing demand for plant-based protein.

    As Beyond Meat prepares to go public later this year — and continues to compete with other alterna-meat producers like Impossible Foods, who’s heading into retail — they’re smart to branch out into as many markets and distribution channels as possible. We’ll see if the company can bulk up their IPO as much as they can bulk up bodybuilders.

    Redefine Meat Serves 3D Printed “Beef” made of Plants to Unknowing Diners

    This week, diners at a fancy restaurant in Israel were served an elegantly plated kebab, garnished with an eye-catching swipe of crimson sauce and thin slices of red onion.

    What they didn’t know is that the kebab wasn’t actually made of meat. Instead, it was a 3D-printed plant-based creation from Israeli food tech company Redefine Meat (formerly Jet-Eat).

    “We are hijacking the dinner,” explained Redefine Meat CEO and founder Eschchar Ben-Shitrit. According to him, this marked the first time in the world that 3D printed plant-based meat was served in a restaurant.

    Redefine Meat’s “meat” is made with relatively simple ingredients: three plant protein sources, fat, and water. The secret is in the printing production method. Instead of extrusion or pressing, Redefine Meat uses 3D printing to give their products a more realistic texture and mouthfeel. “We can not only mimic the fibers of the meat, but also the way that fat and water is trapped in the meat matrix,” explained Ben-Shitrit.

    Serving the meat at a restaurant — with no preface or explanation — was the ultimate test for Redefine Meat. If diners liked it in and of itself, and not just because it’s plant-based, then it was a win. “We don’t want to [make] a better vegan product,” Ben-Shitrit explained. “We want to attract people who are eating meat.”

    They’re not alone. Lots of companies are developing plant-based products targeted not at vegetarians and vegans, but at the growing number of flexitarians. That includes young startups like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods as well as veteran meat alternative companies like Tofurky and Lightlife. Even major food corporations and leaders in packaged meat goods like Nestlé and Tyson Foods are pivoting to develop products aimed at people who eat meat, but are looking to eat less of it.

    Redefine Meat plans to launch their first product, likely some sort of 3D printed vegan “beef,” through a French butcher that distributes meat wholesale to European restaurants. They plan to have their product on menus in Europe by 2020.

    Down the road, they also plan to sell their meat directly to the consumer. Ben-Shitrit told me that he expected that their meat would retail for around €30 to€35 per kilo (just under $20 per pound). That’s pretty eye-poppingly expensive, at least for the U.S. consumer. However, Ben-Shitrit expects that price to go down as they scale up the technology and get more, higher-producing machines. As of now, the company only has one small machine that makes around two pounds of meat per hour. They’re in the midst of building a bigger “alpha” machine that will make roughly ten times that. While he didn’t disclose details, Ben-Shitrit said that the company has an undisclosed amount of funding from Israeli investors.

    We haven’t had the chance to try Redefine Meat’s 3D printed meat ourselves. According to Ben-Shitrit, the aforementioned diners liked the product. When they were told it was actually made of plants, “85 percent of them ranked it as meat-like.” Obviously we have to take this review with a grain of salt, but texture is kind of the final frontier of meat alternatives. Companies have figured out ways to emulate the protein, umami and even bloodiness of meat — but beyond burgers, there’s a lot of work still to be done.

    Sure, a few companies are making strides in the meat-free texture department: Vivera sells plant-based steaks; Sophie’s Kitchen and Good Catch make fishless tuna, and several players are making vegan sushi. But there’s still a long way to go. If successful, Redefine Meat’s technology could help develop plant-based meats and fish with a mouthfeel closer to the real thing.

    At the end of the day, there won’t be any wide-reaching dietary shifts towards plant-based eating unless those plant-based options taste really good. Which is a fact that Ben-Shitrit is very aware of. “If we have amazing technology and it’s not tasty, then we didn’t do anything,” he told me.

    Hopefully Redefine Meat brings their 3D printed “meat” stateside soon so we can see (and taste) for ourselves.

    Maple Leaf Foods to Build the Largest Plant-Based Protein Factory in North America

    Today Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian packaged meat company and owner of vegan food brands Lightlife and Field Roast, announced plans to build a $310 million plant-based protein factory in Shelbyville, Indiana. According to the press release, it will be the largest facility of its kind in North America.

    The new facility will apparently double Maple Leaf Foods’ production capacity, allowing them to make lots more tempeh, vegan sausages and burgers. Especially burgers: earlier this year Lightlife introduced a “bloody” plant-based burger that looks an awful lot like Beyond Meat’s patties. The new burger was an attempt by Maple Leaf to capitalize off rising demand for meat-like meat alternatives from startups like Beyond and also Impossible Foods.

    But startups aren’t the only ones getting into the plant-based protein space. Massive food corporations like Nestlé and Tyson are also launching meat alternatives meant to cook, look, and taste like the real thing. Interestingly, Maple Leaf, like Tyson, is chiefly a consumer packaged meats company, though both are investing heavily in plant-based alternatives.

    Construction on Maple Leaf’s new facility is expected to start later this spring, with production to start at the end of 2020.

    This new facility is a smart move on the part of Maple Leaf. If the current trend in plant-based eating holds true, and all signs indicate that it will, then the new factory will help the company keep up with growing demand for meat alternatives. With increased capacity, it will also have more resources to develop newer, better-tasting plant-based meats, like, say, vegan ground beef or meatier sausages. In short, the new facility could give Maple Leaf a much-needed edge over competitors like Nestlé, Beyond, Tyson, and Impossible, which has plans to move into retail at some point this year.