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Beyond Meat makes plant-based meat alternatives such as burgers, sausages, chicken strips, and ground beef. Beyond Meat was founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown and is based in Los Angeles, California. Brown grew up on a dairy farm in Western Maryland and previously pursued a career in clean energy, where he learned about the impact of livestock on climate change.
In April 2013, Whole Foods began selling plant-based meat products across the United States made by Beyond Meat. Plant-based meat products made by Beyond Meat are a combination of soy and vegetable proteins. On July 23, 2018, Beyond Meat received the non-GMO verification from the Non-GMO Project after a year-long verification process.
In April 2019, ahead of going public, Beyond Meat increased the size of its shares and planned to offer 9.5 million shares at $23-25. The company is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol BYND and began trading in May 2019. Book-running managers for the offering included Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse as lead managers as well as BofA Merrill Lynch and Jefferies and William Blair as co-manager.
As of April 2019, Beyond Meat was not making a profit but had seen an increase in revenue from $16.2 million in 2016 to $87.9 million in 2018.
In 2018, Beyond Meat and its competitor Impossible Foods both won the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth Award in the category of Science and Innovation.
Beyond Meat burgers, sausages, and crumbles are sold in grocery stores and restaurants in the US, including Kroger, Safeway, Publix, Target, and Wegmans. Beyond Meat burgers are sold in stores in the meat case and are not targeted specifically to vegans or vegetarians.
Beyond Elote Burger
Examples of restaurants in the US with the Beyond Burger on their menu include TGI Fridays, Del Taco, Hamburger Mary’s Bar, Taco Bell, Dunkin' Donuts, Carl's Burger, and Veggie Grill. The product is also served at Universities and them parks such as Legoland.
The Beyond Meat Burger was launched at Canadian fast food restaurant A&W in July 2018. In March 2019, Beyond Meat and A&W began offering a vegan breakfast sandwich with vegan sausage and egg. The Beyond Meat Burrito became available in the Canadian restaurant chain Quesada Burritos & Tacos in February 2019.
The main ingredients in the original Beyond Burger are pea protein, beet coloring, and beet juice to give the essence of “blood”. Potato starch and coconut oil help create juiciness. The 2.0 burger available at Carl’s Jr. and A&W includes brown rice and mung bean proteins for taste and texture that resembles meat. Lab technicians at the Beyond Meat research and development lab in El Segundo, California, are trained meat sommeliers.
Research by the Beyond Meat team on how to replicate aspects of beef with plant-based ingredients has involved placing traditional hamburgers into an MRI machine to micro-analyse how the proteins and fats are assembled. Plant-based ingredients were then arranged to mimic the protein and fat structures in beef burgers.
Nutritionally, the Beyond Burger patty has 20 grams of protein and approximately 20 grams of fat, which are levels comparable to a beef patty. The use of food processing steps, where plant ingredients are heated, cooled and exposed to pressure, has attracted some criticism. The Beyond Burger has 30 percent of the daily recommended iron and zero cholesterol.
A report commissioned by Beyond Meat compared the environmental impact of producing a quarter pound of Beyond Burger with a quarter pound of US beef burger and was conducted by the Center for Sustainable Systems at University of Michigan. The report found that Beyond Burger production uses 99 percent less water, uses 93 percent less land, creates 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and needs 46 percent less energy than beef burger production.
Beyond Meat has reduced its environmental impact through shifting packaging of the Beyond Sausage from plastic to a fully compostable tray. The company has implemented water recirculation systems at their Missouri production facility to reduce water usage by 80 percent. Solar tubes are installed at its headquarters.
Beyond Meat investors include Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, the Humane Society, and meat company Tyson Foods. According to a statement in April 2019, Tyson sold its 6.5 percent stake in Beyond Meat.
On April 11, 2011, Beyond Meat closed their series A funding round, raising $2,000,000 in capital.
On January 1, 2012, Beyond Meat closed their series B funding round, raising an undisclosed amount of funding.
On May 1, 2013 Beyond Meat announced a series C funding round, closing the round with an undisclosed amount of funding from Closed Loop Capital.
On July 29, 2014, Beyond Meat announced a series D funding round, closing the round with an undisclosed amount of funding from Obvious Ventures.
On October 15, 2015, Beyond Meat closed their series E funding round with $17,000,000 in funding from S2G Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Innovative Fund, Closed Loop Capital, and Bill Gates.
On October 11, 2016, Beyond Meat announced it completed their series F funding round, raising an undisclosed amount of funding from General Mills, Power Plant Ventures, The Humane Society of the United States, and Tyson Foods.
On December 8, 2017, Beyond Meat raised $55,000,000 in series G funding from Cleveland Avenue, Power Plant Foods, and Tyson Foods.
In March 2020, Taco Bell began serving Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, Spicy Potato Soft Tacos, and other menu items customized with potatoes.Taco Bell is partnering with Beyond Meat to develop its first plant-based meat option for its United States menu, which it plans to test launch in 2021.
Beyond Meat shares jumped 7% in trading after the Taco Bell announcement.
