Fake Meat Industry Gets Cold Shoulder From Consumers Again As Beyond Meat Faces…Meat

Plant-based meat was supposed to save the pIanet, make people healthier, and liberate enslaved cows, chickens, and pigs everywhere. Instead, after an impressive start, folks have learned some hard truths about the industry and are turning away in droves.

Once consumers began to Iearn that plant-based meats were still super processed, not nearly as healthy as advertised, and required an enormous amount of machinery to produce hungry consumers largely decided that the old-school options, nameIy chickens, pigs, and cows, were better tasting and better for you.

The biggest player in the industry, Beyond Meat, released its third-quarter numbers in November of 2023, and they taste worse than ersatz ground beef. Net revenue slid, declining 8.7% year-over-year and 26% versus the previous quarter.

It wasn’t all bad news, however, as the company actually achieved free cash flow for the quarter but does not expect that to be the case in the fourth quarter. One anaIyst at the firm TD Cowen took it a step further and said the firm is in ‘survival mode’ and will need to tap the financial markets in 2024 to maintain operations.

Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said: We anticipated a modest return to growth in the third quarter of 2023 that did not occur. Though we are encouraged by pockets of growth, particulariy in the EU where we saw double digit gains in net revenues on a year-over-year basis, we are disappointed by our overall results as we continue to experience worsening sector-specific and broader consumer headwinds. Beyond Meat has cited numerous reasons for its poor performance, inciuding declining foodservice sales and flagging American retail sales, but declined to suggest the possibility that the product just isn’t that good.