As Meat Supply Chains Face Disruption, Plant-Based Players Like Beyond Meat See An Opportunity

Forbes
Beyond Meat and rival Impossible Foods Forbes | James Alexander Michie

Beyond Meat and rival Impossible Foods are fast. SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the U.S. meat supply chain as major meat producers idled or shut plants, causing spikes in prices and retailers like Costco and Kroger to limit the number of items consumers can buy. But, that in turn may provide a big growth opportunity for plant-based meat companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.

Beyond Meat will introduce “heavier discounting against animal protein” and will have “aggressive pricing” this summer as wholesale beef price surged to $4.10 a pound, Beyond Meat president and CEO Ethan Brown said on an earnings conference call late Tuesday. Brown added that Beyond Meat is introducing lower-priced bulk value packs to grocers as they struggle with supply shortages of animal protein.

“Our biggest focus is to provide solutions for consumers as they have meat disruptions,” Brown said on the call. “There is an opportunity for consumers to be aware of a different model. There are more opportunities to be relevant to customers.”

The company reported first-quarter sales more than doubled to $97.1 million.

The coronavirus-led animal meat supply bottleneck isn’t just affecting supermarkets and wholesale clubs. Fast food chain Wendy’s is reportedly limiting its signature fresh-beef hamburgers and some other menu items.

Tyson Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat processors, said Monday that it’s had to idle several plants the past several weeks to do deep clean while other plants aren’t back to running at full capacity because of worker shortage. The maker of Jimmy Dean sausages said it’s seen “strong demand and ample supply of cattle, but reduced industry processing capacity” because of the pandemic.

Beyond Meat also has been in talks with chains including McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Brands, Carl’s Jr. and Subway to see how it may work or expand any partnership with them, Brown said.

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Source: Andria Cheng | Forbes

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