After booming two years ago, sales of plant-based proteins have cooled and manufacturers are revamping plans.
Forty-seven per cent say it’s the taste.
Thirty-six per cent say it’s the cost.
Twelve per cent say it’s nutrition.
Maple Leaf Foods found its sales expectations changed so much that it re-assessed the market in the midst of constructing a large production facility in Indiana. Now it’s planning for much more modest sales, but is hanging in.
Beyond Meat was the leader.
It went public in 2019 and investors flocked to buy stock. But this year its stock price is down by83 per cent, sales have stalled and in October the company said it was laying off 200 people, or 19 percent of its work force.
Four top executives have departed in recent months, including the chief financial officer, the chief supply chain officer and the chief operating officer, whom Beyond Meat had suspended after his arrest on allegations that he bit another man’s nose in a parking garage altercation.
McDonald’s burger chain tried, then dropped Beyond Meat’s products.
Sales were projected to increase by 33 per cent this year. In fact the company struggled to keep sales flat.
Meanwhile demand for real-meat burgers remains strong. Next year might be different because of drought.
This year drought prompted farmers to cull cows and to send heifers to market rather than keep them in the breeding herd.
That meant plenty of hamburger-quality meat was available. Next year there won’t be nearly as much and prices are likely to soar.
What that means for the relative market share for real and plant-based burgers remains a big guess.
