Strategic Management

Read case and answer table. I started on what I think May be key issues but would like some help. For the analysis/frameworks you can use VRIO, Porters five forces model etc. I will provide A pdf of the case attached and some notes as well.

4/5/24, 10:04 PM
Beyond Meat in 2022: What Can It Do to Rejuvenate Revenue Growth and Stem Mounting Losses?
Beyond Meat in 2022: What Can
It Do To Rejuvenate Revenue
Growth and Stem Mounting
Losses?
Arthur A. Thompson
The University of Alabama
Going into 2022, Beyond Meat, a producer and marketer of plant-based protein products intended as a
substitute for animal-based meat products, was experiencing something of a crisis. Its once-rapid
growth in unit sales and revenues had evaporated, and losses were unexpectedly mounting. Beyond
Meat’s 2021 revenues in the United States, its largest geographic market, were below those in 2020. The
COVID-19 pandemic had precipitated a significant falloff in sales to restaurants and food-service
enterprises beginning in March 2020 and continuing into 2022 (although this was offset to some extent
by the company’s entry into the markets of more countries in 2020–2021). Beyond Meat had lost money
every year from 2016 through 2021. Although the company’s stock price soared after its initial public
stock offering in May 2019 to an all-time high of $238 in July 2019 (largely on inflated investor
expectations regarding the company’s prospects for sustained rapid growth and long-term profitability),
the stock price fell abruptly in the last half of 2019. It then quickly evolved into a wild roller-coaster
ride with five peaks and valleys before reaching the fifth peak of $150 in mid-2021, at which point the
stock price trended steadily downward, to trade in the $54 to $63 range the last week of January 2022.
Then in late February 2022, after Beyond Meat announced a larger-than-expected loss of $179 million
for full-year 2021 and a downbeat forecast for 2022, the stock price dropped to the low $40s.
While investor sentiment about Beyond Meat’s business prospects in early 2022 was bearish,
stockholders were hoping for highly favorable customer responses to new Beyond Meat products
making an appearance on the menus of three high-profile fast-food chains—KFC (formerly Kentucky
Fried Chicken), Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s. Such a response would not only trigger a high level of
repeat purchases of these menu items but could also stimulate consumers to buy more Beyond Meat
products for in-home consumption when shopping at supermarkets and grocery stores—thereby putting
the company back on track to grow its revenues more rapidly and move toward sustained profitability.
Beyond Meat’s New Menu Item at KFC. KFC had tested the response of earlier-generation Beyond
Meat’s plant-based chicken nuggets at multiple locations that met with good (but not good enough)
success to justify a national or international rollout. However, on January 11, 2022, KFC began
selling the latest reformulated Beyond chicken nugget menu item at all of its 4,000 locations in the
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Beyond Meat in 2022: What Can It Do to Rejuvenate Revenue Growth and Stem Mounting Losses?
United States. The plant-based fried chicken nuggets were offered in 6- and 12-piece orders, as well
as part of a combo meal. According to foodie publication Eater.com:1
… when Beyond Fried Chicken is dunked into the signature KFC Sauce it is pretty
indistinguishable from a nugget that is made with actual chicken. The flavor is observed to be
appropriately meaty and seasoned well, although the texture is not a perfect match with real
chicken. KFC is making clear that Beyond Fried Chicken is not being made specifically for
vegans and vegetarians. … For plant-based meat alternatives to have a real, meaningful future
in the world of fast food, chains like KFC have to figure out how to better mimic the texture of
the meats they’re seeking to replace.
Page 301
New Beyond Meat Menu Selections at Pizza Hut. On January 11, 2022, following a
successful market test in Toronto and Edmonton, Pizza Hut Canada launched Beyond Italian
Crumbles as a permanent menu item at its 450 Canadian locations. Pizza Hut Canada believed the
Crumbles delivered a meaty texture and savory taste that made them an attractive substitute for Pizza
Hut’s traditional Italian pork sausage for customers wanting a plant-based meat ingredient in their
pizzas. The Beyond Meat menu selections at Pizza Hut included:
The Great Beyond: A specialty pizza crafted with savory Beyond Italian Sausage Crumbles,
paired perfectly with fresh veggie toppings that include sliced red onions and tangy banana
peppers, served up on any Pizza Hut crust.
Beyond Italian Sausage Alfredo Loaded Flatbread: A crispy flatbread topped with flavorpacked Beyond Italian Sausage Crumbles, roasted red pepper, creamy alfredo sauce, and
mozzarella cheese.
Beyond Creamy Alfredo: A savory pasta alfredo dish layered with Beyond Italian Sausage
Crumbles, onions, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese that delivers a creamy, delicious bite.2
Beyond Italian Sausage Crumbles could also be added as a topping to any existing pizza
offerings of any size. Canada was the second market to permanently offer the Beyond Meat
Crumble menu items nationally. After a successful trial of Beyond Meat pizzas in the United
Kingdom in the first half of 2021, Pizza Hut brought them back as a permanent menu option at
all Pizza Hut UK delivery locations in July 2021.
McDonald’s New McPlant Burger. Beyond Meat had worked with McDonald’s for years to
codevelop a meaty and tasty plant-based burger that McDonald’s management believed was worthy
of becoming a permanent menu offering. In 2021 McDonald’s concluded that it, in cooperation with
Beyond Meat, had come up with a plant-based burger patty named McPlant that was made of
ingredients like peas, rice, and potatoes, would be exclusive to McDonald’s, and was ready for
launch.3 The McPlant burger included a McPlant patty served on a sesame seed bun with tomato,
lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and a slice of American cheese; customers
who preferred burgers with 100 percent plant-based ingredients could ask to hold the mayonnaise and
American cheese, or any other ingredient. In early 2021, after market trials in 250 European locations
where new items were frequently offered for limited times to learn customer responses, McDonald’s
introduced the McPlant burger in locations throughout Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria,
Ireland, and Great Britain. In November 2021, McDonald’s tested the McPlant burger in eight
locations in the United States, mainly to better understand how offering a burger with a plant-based
patty impacted the kitchens. Because of the success of the trial, beginning in February 2022,
McDonald’s put the McPlant burger on its menu in 600 additional locations.4 In July 2022,
McDonald’s began a limited time test run of the McPlant burger at 270 locations in Victoria,
Australia.
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There were several other high-profile launches of Beyond Meat products in quick service restaurants.
In late January 2020, Denny’s Corp. announced it would give away free Beyond Burgers, dressed with
sliced tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, All-American sauce, and American cheese on a multigrain bun,
with the purchase of any beverage on January 30 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. while supplies lasted. The
promotion, following on the heels of a highly successful market test of the Beyond Burger in Denny’s
restaurants in Los Angeles, served to launch the Beyond Burger menu item nationwide at all 1,700-plus
Denny’s locations in the United States and Canada. Denny’s announcement triggered a rush on the part
of investors to purchase Beyond Meat shares, driving the stock price up 8 percent.
Page 302
In February 2020, Starbucks added a Beyond sausage sandwich to its breakfast menu at all of
its store locations in Canada. In April 2020, Starbucks debuted a new menu in its 4,200 stores in China
that included Beyond Meat’s plant-based beef products in three menu selections: Beyond Beef Pesto
Pasta, Beyond Beef Classic Lasagna, and a Beyond Beef Sour and Spicy Wrap. In September 2020,
Starbucks added additional Beyond Meat products (along with several plant-based products by its chief
competitor, Impossible Foods) to its menus at store locations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore,
Thailand, and New Zealand. The new menu items in Taiwan included a Beyond Crumbles Bolognese
penne, a Beyond Sausage sandwich, and a Beyond Meatball sandwich. In January 2021, Starbucks
began selling two new Beyond Meat sandwiches at its Middle East store locations in the United Arab
Emirates and Kuwait.
In October 2021, Panda Express, the largest family-owned and operated Asian dining enterprise in the
United States, announced that its collaborative partnership with Beyond Meat would introduce “Beyond
The Original Orange Chicken” to menus in 70 locations in 10 states. It was anticipated that Panda
Express would initiate a national rollout if the Beyond Chicken item proved sufficiently popular with
customers. Panda Express had 2,200 locations in 12 countries. In early 2022, Panda Express began
testing two Beyond Beef menu items at its Innovation Kitchen location in Pasadena, California.
On February 14, 2022, A&W Canada began a five-week test of a Jalapeno Lime Beyond Meat burger at
all its 1,000-plus locations across Canada. The burger featured a seven-grain bun, tomato, lettuce, red
onion, Beyond Burger patty, and a spicy, tangy Jalapeno lime aioli.
In July 2022, McDonald’s ended its 622-unit test of the McPlant burger in the United States due to
lackluster customer orders; investor expectations of a nationwide rollout of the McPlant burger in the
United States later in 2022 vanished. In the first week of September 2022, Beyond Meat’s stock price
was trading in the $21–$23 per share range, down from the low $40s in February 2022.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Beyond Meat was founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown, and then later incorporated in Delaware
in April 2011 under the name J Green Natural Foods Co. In October 2011, the company
changed its corporate name to Savage River, Inc., with Beyond Meat being its “doing business
as” name. In September 2018, the corporate name was changed to Beyond Meat, Inc. Beyond
Meat’s principal executive offices were located in El Segundo, California. Going into 2022,
Ethan Brown was president and chief executive officer of Beyond Meat and had served in this
capacity throughout all of the corporate transitions since the original company was founded.
Brown grew up on a family farm in Maryland that specialized in dairy operations and became
fascinated with animal agriculture, meat-raising practices, and animal protein consumption.
But he also started to wrestle with a question that continued to nag him for many years to
come: Do we need animals to produce meat? During the course of his business and industry
career, Brown held a variety of positions in the energy business that provided him with
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growing familiarity about clean energy technologies, the impacts of animal meat consumption
on human health, and the effects of livestock on greenhouse gas emissions, along with the
related burdens on land, energy, and water.
These experiences expanded his understanding of animal meat. The key understanding he
learned was that it was not necessary to limit the definition of meat to just cows, pigs, and
poultry; rather, meat could just as accurately be defined in terms of its composition and
structure—amino acids, lipids, trace minerals, vitamins, and water woven together in the
assembly of muscle (or meat). None of these core elements of meat were exclusive to animals;
they were abundant in the plant kingdom. While animals served as a bioreactor, consuming
vegetation and water and using their digestive system to organize these inputs into meat, it
was equally feasible to take the constituent parts of meat from plants and, together with water,
organize them into the same basic architecture as animal-based meat, thereby bypassing the
need for animals and the cholesterol associated with consuming animal meat.
Page 303
Then, as climate change issues moved into the public spotlight, Brown became
increasingly troubled by studies reporting that the livestock industry was estimated to
contribute 18 to 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the
measurement methodology used. And there were numerous studies in medical journals about
the adverse impacts of eating red meat on human health, which heightened his concerns about
satisfying his children’s protein requirements totally with animal meat. In 2009, driven by the
health and environmental implications of intensive animal protein production and
consumption, Brown decided to found Beyond Meat and begin the process of producing and
marketing nutritious and good-tasting plant-based meat products. Brown’s vision for Beyond
Meat was to perfectly build a plant-based meat. Believing that there was a better way to feed
the planet than by relying so heavily on animal meat, Brown’s mission for Beyond Meat was
“to create The Future of Protein—delicious plant-based burgers, beef, sausage, crumbles, and
more.”5 The goal was “to deliver a consumer experience that is indistinguishable from that
provided by animal-based meats.”6 Brown saw four socially beneficial outcomes associated
with Beyond Meat’s efforts to try to shift a significant portion of the world’s protein
requirements from animal- to plant-based meat: improving human health, positively
impacting climate change, addressing global resource constraints, and improving animal
welfare. Beyond Meat’s brand commitment, “Eat What You Love,” reflected a belief that by
eating its plant-based meat offerings, consumers could enjoy more of their favorite protein
dishes while helping address concerns related to human health, animal welfare, resource
conservation, and climate change.
Beyond Meat’s Early Successes
To begin the process of learning how to build a delicious tasting plant-based meat, Brown
opened the company’s first operation in a small commercial kitchen in Maryland to develop
and test recipes for plant-based meat products using (1) proteins from peas, mung beans, fava
beans, brown rice, and sunflower seeds, (2) various fats (cocoa butter, coconut oil, sunflower
oil, and canola oil), (3) minerals such as calcium, iron, salt, and potassium chloride, and (4)
beet juice extract, apple extract, and assorted other natural flavors. Ethan Brown began
working extensively with two researchers at the University of Missouri’s Bioengineering and
Food Science Department and faculty and students in the University of Maryland’s Nutrition &
Food Science Department. The company ultimately licensed a process developed by the
researchers that combined proteins from plants into a basic structure resembling animal
muscle, or meat, and used this as an initial foundation for Beyond Meat products.7 With this
basic protein platform and an understanding that the balance of parts of meat, namely lipids,
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trace minerals, and water, were also present in abundance outside the animal, it became clear
that with appropriate resources, building meat from plants was indeed possible.
The young company began selling an early plant-based product to Whole Foods Markets in the
Mid-Atlantic region. It quickly discovered that traditional veggie burgers and soy-based meat
had limited appeal to traditional meat eaters, who commonly criticized their inferior taste.8 Its
own market research with consumers revealed that, when choosing among plant-based meat
options, taste was definitely the single most important product attribute for plant-based foods.
Legacy vegetarian brands typically aimed to compensate for poor taste appeal by positioning
their products as a noble sacrifice—something consumers should do for the benefit of their
health, the environment, and/or animal welfare.
A marketing campaign called “The Future of Protein” was launched in the summer of
2015.9 The goal was to mobilize brand ambassadors to help raise brand awareness and make
Beyond Meat products aspirational. A joint announcement with Leonardo DiCaprio about his
becoming a Beyond Meat brand ambassador in October 2017 generated over 378 million
earned media impressions, including a viral video that drew more than 8.5 million views.
Beyond Meat launched its flagship Beyond Burger in 2016 and used an unprecedented
marketing approach for a vegetarian meat product.10 Instead of marketing and merchandising
the Beyond Burger to vegans and vegetarians (who represented less than 5 percent of the
population in the United States), the company requested that the product be sold in the meat
case at grocery retailers where meat-loving consumers were accustomed to shopping for
center-of-plate proteins. In May 2016, the Rocky Mountain Division of Whole Foods Market
became the first grocery chain to place the Beyond Burger in its meat section alongside animalbased equivalents; soon other Whole Foods Market regions followed. In April 2017, Safeway of
Northern California and several Kroger divisions began to do the same. In the Southern
California division of Ralph’s, a Kroger subsidiary, the Beyond Burger was the number one
selling packaged burger patty by unit in the meat case for the 12-week period ending August 4,
2018. Marketing personnel at Beyond Meat believed merchandising the Beyond Burger in the
meat case in the retail channel helped drive greater brand awareness with consumers.
Page 304
During 2017–2019, many restaurant, hotel, and other food-service customers chose to
prominently feature the Beyond Meat/Beyond Burger name on their menu and within item
descriptions, in addition to displaying Beyond Meat branded signage. Beyond Meat used its
sales to food-service businesses as a form of paid trial for its products to help drive additional
retail demand and create greater brand awareness for Beyond Meat through the on-menu and
in-store publicity it received.11 Top executives believed that Beyond Meat had established its
brand as one with “halo” benefits to its partners as evidenced by the speed of adoption by key
partners. For example, Beyond Meat was the fastest new-product launch in the history of TGI
Friday’s, and A&W Canada sold more than 90,000 patties in the first three days. In A&W’s
concept and focus group testing to gauge consumers’ appetite for a plant-based burger, Beyond
Meat’s burger received high marks from surprised consumers. A&W CEO Susan Senecal
commented, “We were blown away by the flavor and taste and delicious ‘burgerness’ of
Beyond.”12 On the strength of these results and reports from store managers that guest counts
were up, A&W Canada quickly spent a significant sum on television, newspaper, and digital
media advertising to call public attention to the addition of the Beyond Burger to its menu.
By late 2018, the Beyond Burger was being merchandised in approximately 17,000
supermarkets and retail groceries across the United States, and food service distributors were
delivering the Beyond Burger to approximately 11,000 restaurant and food-service outlets in
the United States. The Beyond Burger launched in Europe in August 2018 through contracts
with three major distributors, producing strong expressions of interest from some of Europe’s
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largest grocery and restaurant chains. Beyond Meat’s revenues from international markets
(excluding Canada) represented 13 percent of net revenues in the first half of 2019, up from 2
percent in the first half of 2018. The company began production of its plant-based products in
Europe in 2020 at a new co-manufacturing facility constructed in the Netherlands by
Zandbergen World’s Finest Meat. In 2018, Zandbergen started distributing Beyond Meat’s
products throughout Europe across both food-service and retail grocery channels. Meanwhile,
Beyond Meat developed a presence and generated brand awareness in Asia through a local
distributor in Hong Kong. Further expansion in Asia occurred in 2020–2021 via the
establishment of a co-manufacturing partnership with a firm in a Shanghai suburb and the
addition of more local food distributors across China and in Indonesia.
Throughout 2017–2018 and continuing into 2019, Beyond Meat relied primarily on its growing
number of brand ambassadors (celebrities and influencers), free sampling of its products from
food trucks at over 300 special events, a digital newsletter (with over 200,000 subscribers as
of September 2018), visits to the company’s website, strong social marketing, and consumer
word-of-mouth as the cornerstones of a campaign to promote greater consumer awareness of
the Beyond Meat brand name. By spring 2019, the company’s website had drawn
approximately 5 million visitors. The website featured packages of the company’s products,
provided information on where they could be purchased (whether retail or served in a food
establishment), highlighted nutritional facts and news about the company, and offered an
assortment of recipes for using its products. In August 2020, Beyond Meat launched an ecommerce site and began offering its products direct to consumers in Cookout Classic packs
with eight servings, mixed product bundles, and four-product trial packs. To spur sales, the
website occasionally featured limited time price discounts on particular items.
As of 2018, Beyond Meat operated approximately 100,000 square feet of production space in
two facilities in Columbia, Missouri, where it manufactured the woven protein that was the key
ingredient of its products. This woven protein was then converted according to the company’s
proprietary formulas and specifications into a packaged product, either at the facilities in
Columbia, Missouri, or by a network of co-manufacturers. All third-party co-manufacturers
signed nondisclosure agreements to ensure that Beyond Meat’s proprietary intellectual
property and trade secrets were protected. Management believed that the partnering with comanufacturers (who produced Beyond Meat products in facilities alongside their own
products) was a capital efficient production model that allowed Beyond Meat to scale
production more quickly and cost-effectively to supply the rapidly increasing demand for its
products. In 2020, Beyond Meat opened a second facility in Pennsylvania to produce its
growing need for woven protein. Plans called for the company to continue expanding its
internal woven protein production facilities domestically and abroad to produce the needed
volume of woven protein while forming additional strategic relationships with comanufacturers to complete the manufacturing and packaging of the items comprising Beyond
Meat’s product line.
Page 305
In 2018, the United Nations officially called attention to the trailblazing
accomplishments of Beyond Meat and Ethan Brown, awarding them its highest environmental
accolade, “Champion of the Earth.”
Beyond Meat Becomes a Public Company
Shortly after the corporate name change to Beyond Meat in September 2018, the company
filed Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2018 seeking
approval to conduct an initial public offering of its common stock. Beyond Meat shares began
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trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 2, 2019, under the ticker symbol “BYND.”
The opening trade for the stock was $46.00 and trading on the first day closed at $65.75, 163
percent above the $25 per share IPO price. Buoyed by investor enthusiasm over the company’s
long-term prospects, the stock price climbed steadily higher in the ensuing weeks and months,
reaching a peak of $234.90 on July 22, 2019. Various analysts estimated that the market for
plant-based protein products could reach $85 billion in sales by 2030. But investor excitement
and aggressive buying of Beyond Meat stock quickly started cooling off in the remainder of
2019, as scrappy rival Impossible Foods announced major new grocery and restaurant chain
customers for its plant-based Impossible Burger. In addition, major meat producers, such as
Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, Perdue Farms, Nestlé, Hormel Foods, and Maple Leaf Foods,
all announced introductions of variously formulated plant-based meat alternatives and began
shipping an array of plant-based burgers, ground meat, sausage, and chicken products to their
supermarket customers for display in both fresh and frozen meat sections. By late October
2019, Beyond Meat’s stock price had plummeted to the low $80s and by December 2019 was
trading in the middle $70s.
Nonetheless, headed into 2020, Beyond Meat was viewed as one of the fastest growing food
companies in the United States. Company revenues had increased from $8.8 million in 2015 to
$32.6 million in 2017 to $88 million in 2018 to $298 million in 2019, equal to a compound
annual growth rate of 102 percent. The company’s revenue growth continued to $407 million
in 2020 (36.6 percent over 2019) and to $464.7 million in 2021 (14.2 percent over 2020); the
slower percentage growth in 2021 was partly attributable to a falloff in sales to food-service
enterprises that stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly reduced sales to
restaurants and food-service institutions due to temporary lockdowns, mask mandates, and
consumer reluctance to dine outside the home. However, the company’s revenue growth in
2020–2021 was buoyed by increases in grocery channel purchases of Beyond Meat products
by consumers for in-home meals and also by rapid growth in the number of grocery stores and
supermarkets in Europe and China stocking Beyond Meat products (see Exhibit 1). Headed
into 2022, Beyond Meat’s portfolio of plant-based meats had grown to include several
flavors/varieties of Beyond Sausages, a Beyond Breakfast Sausage (patties and links), onepound packages of ground Beyond Beef, 12-count packages of Beyond Meatballs, two flavors of
frozen Beyond Beef Crumbles, and one flavor of frozen Beyond Chicken Tenders that were
located in the frozen meat section at grocery retailers. As of December 2021, the company’s
fresh and frozen plant-based protein products were being sold at approximately 130,000
grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, and other food-service outlets in more than 90 countries
worldwide.
Exhibit 1 Beyond Meat’s Net Revenues by Distribution Channel, 2018–2021 (in
Distribution Channel
United States:
Retail
Food Service
United States Net Revenues
International:
Retail
Food Service
International Net Revenues
Total Net Revenues
2021
Year Ending Decem
2020
$243,360
77,475
319,835
$264,111
60,763
324,874
81,483
63,382
144,865
$464,700
36,472
45,439
81,911
$406,785
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Source: Beyond Meat, Inc. 2021 Annual Report.
Page 306
Exhibit 2 shows Beyond Meat’s quarterly revenues from 2018 forward to Q2 of 2022.
Exhibit 3 shows the company’s recent financial performance.
EXHIBIT 2
Beyond Meat’s Quarterly Net Revenues, 2018 through Q2, 2022 (in
2022
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4
Annual Total
$109.5
$147.0
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
2021
$108.2
$149.4
$106.4
$100.7
$464.7
2020
$ 97.1
$113.3
$ 94.4
$101.9
$406.8
$ 40.2
$ 67.3
$ 92.0
$ 98.5
$297.9
Sources: Presentation at Barclay’s Global Consumer Staples Conference, September 5, 2019, posted in the Investor
Relations section at www.beyondmeat.com, accessed December 10, 2019; Company 10-K Report 2020 and 2021;
company press release, February 24, 2022; company press release, May 11, 2022; and company press release August 4,
2022.
n.a. – not available
Page 307
EXHIBIT 3
Selected Financial Data for Beyond Meat, 2017–2021 (in thousands
Selected Income Statement Data
Net Revenues
Cost of goods sold
Gross profit (loss)
Research and development
Selling, general, and administrative expenses
Restructuring expenses
Total operating expenses
Loss from operations
Other income (expense), net
Interest expense
Remeasurement of warrant liability
Other, net
Total other (income) expense, net
Loss before taxes
Income tax (benefit) expense
Net profit (loss)
Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding
Selected Balance Sheet Data
Cash and cash equivalents
Inventory
2021
$ 464,700
347,419
117,281
66,946
209,474
15,794
292,214
(174,933)
Fiscal Year Ending D
2020
2019
$406,785
$297,89
284,510
198,14
122,275
99,75
31,535
20,65
133,655
74,72
6,430
4,86
171,620
100,24
(49,345)
(48
(3,648)
—
(487)
(4,135)
(179,068)
60
(182,105)
63,172
(2,576)
—
(759)
(3,335)
(52,680)
72
(52,752)
62,290
$ (12,44
42,27
$ 733,294
241,870
$159,127
121,717
$275,98
81,59
(3,07
(12,50
3,62
(11,94
(12,434
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Selected Income Statement Data
Total current assets
Property, plant, and equipment, net
Total assets
Total current liabilities
Total long-term liabilities
Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)
Selected Cash Flow Data
Cash flows (used in) provided by operating activities
Capital expenditures
Net cash provided by financing activities
2021
1,052,048
226,489
1,379,399
94,189
1,152,715
$ 132,495
Fiscal Year Ending D
2020
2019
332,226
403,59
115,299
47,47
468,006
451,92
88,967
47,69
11,942
20,13
$367,097
$384,09
(301,370)
135,961
1,022,322
(39,995)
57,696
(1,762)
$(46,99
23,79
294,87
Sources: Beyond Meat, Form S-1, November 16, 2018, pp. F3–F8; Company 10-K Report, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
BEYOND MEAT’S STRATEGY
During 2016–2021, Beyond Meat’s revenue growth was driven largely by three factors:
Expanding its lineup of plant-based protein products.
Securing additional retail grocery customers to stock and merchandise its products and
additional food-service firms (chiefly dine-in restaurants and fast-food chains) to include its
Beyond Meat burgers and other products on their menus.
Expanding its geographic coverage to include a growing number of countries/cities across
the world.
The company’s plant-based burger patties had been its best-selling product since they were
first introduced in 2016; there were two four-ounce patties per package, and the typical retail
price in 2022 was about $5.99. A marbled, meatier-tasting burger patty was introduced in
June 2019, replacing two earlier versions; further updated versions of the patty were
introduced in 2020–2021. Starting in 2020 Cookout Classic eight-patty packages were
introduced; these packages retailed for about $9.99 and were located in the frozen meat cases
at grocery retailers. The company’s second biggest seller was Beyond Sausage, introduced in
2018, which was available in 2022 in three varieties, Bratwurst, Sweet Italian, and Hot Italian;
the normal retail price for a four-link package was $7.99. Frozen Beyond Beef Crumbles,
available in two flavors—Beefy and Feisty, became widely available in early 2018 and retailed
for about $5.99 per 10-ounce package; these crumbles could be used in chili, tacos, spaghetti,
lasagna, pizza toppings, and other recipes calling for ground meat. In mid-2019, the company
introduced a one-pound plastic-sealed package of ground plant-based beef that could be used
in any ground beef recipe, including chili, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, burgers, and tacos. This
product was very similar in appearance to the branded one-pound ground beef packages found
in the fresh meat cases at supermarkets and grocery stores. The company’s Beyond Breakfast
Sausage patties and links began hitting the shelves of large supermarket chains in March
2020; as of 2022, the company was marketing Beyond Breakfast Sausage in three varieties—
Classic and Spicy Patties (six patties per package for $4.29) and Classic Links (eight links per
package for $4.99). In September 2020, the company introduced 12-piece packages of Italian
Style Beyond Meatballs at a retail price of $5.99. In 2020, Beyond Meat began marketing
Beyond Mince, a product developed especially for consumers in European countries, and in
2021 the company launched Beyond Pork in China because of pork’s high popularity in China.
In early 2022, Beyond Chicken breaded tenders began appearing in the frozen meat cases of
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many supermarket chains in North America at a retail price of $4.99 for an eight-ounce
package (six tenders).
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R&D Strategy
Research, development, and innovation were core elements of Beyond Meat’s business
strategy, and top management believed its growing R&D capabilities represented a valuable
competitive advantage over rival companies seeking to compete in the market for plant-based
meat products. Since 2017, Beyond Meat had invested increasing amounts in research,
development, and product innovation—spending $5.7 million in 2017, $9.6 million in 2018,
$20.7 million in 2019, $31.5 million in 2020, and $66.9 million in 2021. In 2018, the company
opened a state-of-the-art 30,000 square-foot Manhattan Beach Project Innovation Center as a
part of its world headquarters complex in El Segundo, California. The Innovation Center
included five laboratories, a pilot plant, and a test kitchen and was staffed with a team of
scientists, engineers, and cooking specialists whose principal task was improving the
company’s existing products and developing new products that better replicated the sensory
experience of animal meats.
Going into 2022, Beyond Meat’s recently renamed Rapid and Relentless Innovation Program
at the company’s El Segundo headquarters had grown to include over 170 scientists from such
disciplines as chemistry, biology, materials, food science, and biophysics who collaborated
with process engineers and culinary specialists. The product development and testing was
focused on three core plant-based product platforms that matched the three largest animal
meat categories globally: beef, pork, and poultry. The chief objectives were to develop and test
improved versions of existing products with better taste, texture, and aroma and also develop
new techniques and recipes for making new plant-based meat products. New learning about
taste, texture, and aroma for one product was quickly applied to the formulations of other
existing product offerings and tested for use in products still in the development stage. As the
company’s knowledge and expertise had deepened, its pace of innovation had accelerated,
allowing for reduced time between new product launches. It was standard practice for
upgrades of existing products and newly developed products to be quickly introduced in the
marketplace once they had passed the testing process.
In addition, the innovation team devoted time and effort to exploring and testing the use of
additional plant protein options, searching for ingredients that could be sourced more easily or
more cheaply than current plant ingredients and that would enhance the quality, taste, and
flavor appeal of current product offerings. The company sourced plant ingredients from a
variety of vendors but was heavily dependent on its largest supplier of the pea protein that was
the main ingredient in all of its products.13
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Growth Strategy
During 2019–2021, Beyond Meat succeeded in expanding its market footprint in the retail
grocery and food-service channels from 94,000 points of distribution in grocery, restaurant,
and food-service outlets in 65 countries at year-end 2019 to 122,000 points in these channels
in 85 countries at year-end 2020 to130,000 points in these channels in 90 countries at yearend 2021. Going into 2022, Beyond Meat executives believed there was still significant
opportunity to expand beyond the company’s current market footprint in the retail grocery,
restaurant, and food-service channels, both in the countries where its products were currently
being marketed and in the countries that the company had not yet entered.
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Major supermarket chains marketing Beyond Meat products in 2019–2021 included
Kroger/City Market, Albertson’s, Publix, Whole Foods Market, Target, Walmart, Costco, Giant,
Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Safeway, Harris Teeter, Natural Grocers, Jewel-Osco, Food Lion,
Ralph’s, Wegmans, Sprouts Farmer’s Market, The Fresh Market, Mariano’s, Loblaws, and
Sobeys. Restaurant and food-service outlets offering Beyond Meat products in North America
included Denny’s, Dunkin Brands, Subway, Del Taco, Pizza Hut, KFC, Panda Express, Carl’s
Jr. (approximately 1,100 units), TGI Friday’s, BurgerFi, Tim Horton’s, Chronic Tacos, Hello
Fresh, Bareburger, WhiteSpot, A&W, Cinemark Theaters, Disney World, Marriott and Hilton
hotels, and food-service distributor Sysco. The company was aggressively developing more
relationships with international grocery chain customers including Tesco (Great Britain and
six other countries in Central Europe and Asia); Sainsbury’s and Waitrose (Great Britain);
Kesko (Finland); Edeka, Kaufland, Tegut, Famila, and Real (Germany); Carrefour, Monoprix,
Franprix, Casino Supermarchés, and Géant (France); Coop (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway);
Spar, Billa, and Billa Plus (Austria); Migros (Switzerland); Lidl (28 European countries),
Albert Heijn and Jumbo (Netherlands); Ahold Delhaize (Netherlands, Belgium, five other
European countries, Greece, and Indonesia); Alibaba (China); IGA, Woolworths, and Coles
(Australia); and Countdown (New Zealand).
Distribution Strategy
Meat was the largest category in food. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
projected that global meat consumption would rise by more than 1 percent in 2021 to about
330 billion pounds, with the fastest growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries
where incomes were steadily climbing. In terms of dollars, the size of the global market for
animal meat in 2021 was estimated to be about $1.4 trillion, and the consumption of beef,
pork, and poultry was expected to increase by over 95 billion pounds over the 2021–2030
period.14 The most common sources of meat were domesticated animal species such as cattle,
pigs, poultry, and, to a lesser extent, buffaloes, sheep, and goats.15 In some regions of the
world, other animal species such as camels, yaks, horses, ostriches, game animals, crocodiles,
snakes, and lizards were also eaten. Pork was the most widely eaten meat in the world
accounting for roughly 40 percent of the world meat intake, followed by poultry and beef with
about 35 percent and 22 percent, respectively.16
Because the market for meat was so large, company executives saw ample room for Beyond
Meat to become and remain the major disruptor in the meat category worldwide for some
years to come. To achieve this role as a major disruptor and change agent in the market for
meat, it was essential for Beyond Meat to sustain its efforts and successes in securing
additional distribution points in the North American and international grocery and foodservice channels in 2022 and beyond. However, because the United States had the highest
level of animal meat consumption per person of any country in the world, management
considered the United States as the company’s core target market from a geographical
standpoint and believed that over time plant-based meats could become a $35 billion food
category.17 Market research firm CFRA forecasted that the global alternative meat industry
would grow to $100 billion in sales by 2030.18 The Statista Consumer Market Outlook forecast
that in 2022 China would be the country with the largest sales of plant-based meat substitute
products (∼$2.1 billion) followed by the United States with sales of $1.5 billion, and the United
Kingdom with estimated sales of $847 million; Russia and Germany rounded out the top five.1
9 The global market for plant-based protein products was expected to grow by an average of 5
percent annually during the 2020–2030 period.20
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As had been the case every year during 2019–2022, the chief component of Beyond Meat’s
strategy for acquiring new customers and achieving greater penetration of the retail grocery,
restaurant, and food-service channels entailed hiring additional numbers of experienced sales
and marketing personnel to establish relationships with strategically important full-service
restaurant chains and fast-food chains and to expand its partnerships with food-service
distributors in all of the geographic markets and countries where it had a presence. The goals
were to be a “best-in-class” partner in developing plant-based menu items for customers, to
drive adoption of Beyond Meat products in the retail grocery, restaurant, and food-service
channels, and to increase the speed and availability with which the company could get its
products to all types of domestic and international customers.
Grocery Channel Strategy
In the grocery channel, Beyond Meat’s strategic objective was to capitalize on the company’s
success as the first plant-based protein offering in supermarket meat cases. The company not
only grew the number of grocery stores carrying its products but also (1) added more plantbased meat products to its offerings and (2) helped drive the size of the plant-based protein
category as more consumers shifted diets away from animal-based proteins.
The Restaurant and Fast-Food Channel
It was a key element of Beyond Meat’s strategy to do everything it could to disrupt the animal
meat offerings in the restaurant channel by getting its plant-based meat products on more
restaurant menus across an ever wider geographic area and in more dishes on these menus.
This meant devoting more resources to (1) outcompeting rival Impossible Meats and other new
entrants in the plant-based meat category by convincing restaurants to use its branded
products in their plant-based meat offerings and (2) partnering closely with dine-in restaurant
chains and fast-food chains to develop customized Beyond Meat products and dishes that were
deemed particularly suitable and attractive to the customers of these enterprises. Specialists in
the company’s Rapid and Relentless Innovation Program were a competitively valuable
resource in helping dine-in restaurants chains and fast-food chains create flavorful and
appealing dishes with Beyond Meat products, customize them as needed to fit the customer’s
kitchen and food preparation requirements, test the reaction of customers to the dishes at
several locations over a multiweek period, and make adjustments as needed.
The Food-Service Distributor Channel
Growing the sales of Beyond Meat products to food distributors who supplied food products to
the food operations at airports, hospitals, schools, hotels, convention centers, country clubs,
banquet facilities, concerts and sporting events, and other such venues where food was served
was one of the company’s important strategic objectives. Management believed that the
appearance of Beyond plant-based meat products on the menus of these organizations and at
these venues not only helped satisfy growing customer demand for an alternative to animal
meat but also was a meaningful source of revenue and a means of broadening consumer
awareness of the Beyond Meat brand name. Hence, having a sufficiently large sales staff to call
on food-service distributors and food vendors in those geographic markets where Beyond Meat
had a market presence was standard practice.
Sales and Marketing Activities
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The company’s sales and commercial personnel were organized into four divisions: retail,
food-service, international, and strategic partnerships. Sales team members typically had an
extensive range of experience from previous jobs in leading natural food, meat, and plantbased protein companies. They worked in close coordination with a national network of broker
and distributor sales teams that gave Beyond Meat access to accounts across the United States
and internationally, as well as directly with the purchasing teams of large retail and foodservice customers. Beyond Meat routinely offered sales discounts and promotions to its
customers and to consumers. These included rebates, temporary on shelf price reductions,
buy-one-get-one-free programs, off invoice discounts, retailer advertisements, and product
coupons.
In addition, Beyond Meat had an active field marketing team that used company food trucks to
sample Beyond Meat products directly with consumers in stores and at events where food was
served. In March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic produced stay-at-home orders,
distancing, temporary business closings, mask mandates, and, in 2021 and early 2022, vaccine
mandates, the company’s food truck operations were suspended and diverted to feeding
frontline workers through the company’s Feed A Million+ campaign and through food banks
across the United States. The field marketing staff also supported content creation and certain
media campaigns and activities, as well as recruiting influencers and brand ambassadors and
activating new customers. As soon as the magnitude and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
allowed, Beyond Meat intended to expand its field marketing staff and resume efforts to
sample products directly with consumers in stores and at relevant events where food was
served.
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Beyond Meat extensively used social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and LinkedIn to supplement all of its other means of engaging with consumers and in
particular to directly reach desirable target demographics such as millennials and Generation
Z. Examples of Beyond Meat’s social media activities included the following:
Facebook: The company maintained a Facebook page that was utilized to facilitate
consumer services, distribute brand information and news, publish videos and pictures
promoting the brand, and conduct regular contests and giveaways. As of December 31,
2020, Beyond Meat had over 440,000 Facebook followers.
Instagram: Beyond Meat had an active company Instagram account, @beyondmeat, that
was used to publish content related to its products and to the company and to better connect
with potential and existing consumers. It frequently published news of celebrities promoting
Beyond Meat’s products and core values. As of December 31, 2020, it had over 970,000
Instagram followers.
Twitter: The company used its Twitter account, @BeyondMeat, to disseminate trending
news and information, to publish short format tips, tricks, and shortcuts, and to regularly
interact with consumers. As of December 31, 2020, Beyond Meat had over 118,000 Twitter
followers.
LinkedIn: The company used its LinkedIn account to disseminate news related to Beyond
Meat and industry-related media and information. Its LinkedIn account was also used as a
job board for individuals interested in working at Beyond Meat. As of December 31, 2020, it
had more than 93,000 LinkedIn followers.
Strategy to Drive Brand Awareness and Interest
in Beyond Meat Products
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Beyond Meat used five primary means to drive consumer awareness and interest in its
products:
Social media and the variety of information on the company’s website.
Public relations activities (announcements of company news, company awards, and special
company activities).
Recruitment of brand ambassadors and influencers (such as celebrities from the worlds of
sports and entertainment who like the company’s products and overall mission or who share
the company’s core values about the benefits of eating plant-based substitutes for animal
meat, protecting the environment, promoting agricultural sustainability, and helping to
ward off climate change). By 2022, the company had attracted a large following of
celebrities.
Restaurant and grocery customer media promotions about Beyond Meat products on their
menus or displayed in their fresh and frozen meat shelves.
Strategic partnerships with full-service restaurants and fast-food chains.
Production Strategy
The core of Beyond Meat’s production strategy was to invest in state-of-the art domestic and
international production facilities and expand the capacity of these as needed to supply all of
the company’s requirements for woven protein, the principal ingredient of its plant-based
products. Self-manufacture of woven protein allowed the company to keep the details of its
manufacturing process for woven protein proprietary, thereby making it harder for rival
makers of plant-based protein products to replicate the meatlike texture of Beyond Meat’s
products. The remainder of the manufacturing process was either done at company-owned
and -operated manufacturing facilities devoted to completing the manufacturing process and
packaging the finished products for shipment to customers or by partnering with comanufacturers to complete the production process in facilities they operated. While the
company initially completed the manufacture of Beyond Burger patties that it sold to the foodservice channel at its production facilities in Columbia, Missouri, it depended on its comanufacturing partners to complete the production process for Beyond Burger patties sold
through retail grocery channels and for all of its other products at facilities operated by the comanufacturers. All third-party co-manufacturers signed nondisclosure agreements to ensure
that Beyond Meat’s proprietary intellectual property and trade secrets were protected.
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In the first quarter of 2019, Beyond Meat’s internal monthly production capacity was
triple what it had been in the second quarter of 2018. Further increases in production capacity
occurred in the remainder of 2019 and in early 2020. The company had ongoing efforts
underway to evaluate and improve the company’s supply chain processes for woven protein
and to collaborate closely with the growing number of its co-manufacturing partners to
increase manufacturing efficiencies and product quality, while reducing overall production
costs.
Beyond Meat’s manufacturing process for woven protein is displayed in Exhibit 4. The first
manufacturing step was to mix a dry blend containing pea protein. The dry blend then entered
an extruder, where both water and steam were added. A combination of heating, cooling, and
variations of pressure were used to weave together the pea protein into formed woven protein,
which was used as the basis for all of the company’s products.
The formed woven protein not used to produce Beyond Meat patties for food-service
customers in North America was then cut into smaller pieces to expedite the freezing process,
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and the frozen woven protein was shipped via third-party logistic providers to cold storage
facilities or directly to production facilities operated by the company or its co-manufacturing
partners. At the final production facility, thawed woven protein was further processed by
adding binding agents, other ingredients that provided texture, and flavorings, after which the
final product was packaged and shipped frozen to retail grocery stores and food-service
distributors.
All of the flavorings used in Beyond Meat products were custom-developed at the company’s
Innovation Center by its team of researchers, chefs, and recipe specialists working in close
collaboration with its flavoring suppliers. Ingredients in the flavoring were qualified through
trials to ensure manufacturability. Flavoring formulas, all for exclusive use only in Beyond
Meat products, were extensively tested prior to introduction to ensure finished product
attributes such as taste, texture, aroma, and appearance were not negatively impacted. When
the company’s flavoring suppliers received ingredients for the flavors they were to
manufacture for Beyond Meat, they had to submit Certificates of Analysis confirming that
Beyond Meat’s rigorous standards had been met.
All Beyond Meat products were made from simple ingredients without GMOs, bioengineered
ingredients, hormones, antibiotics, or cholesterol. All of its products were also gluten-free and
lower in saturated fats than their animal-based equivalents. With the exception of certain
flavors of Beyond Beef Crumbles that were not certified kosher, all Beyond Meat products were
certified kosher and halal.
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To control the quality of its products throughout the production process, the company
utilized a type of Six Sigma quality control process called DMAIC (short for “define, measure,
analyze, improve, and control”) that served to “improve, optimize, and stabilize” its product
formulation and production processes. In-process quality checks were performed throughout
the manufacturing process, including temperature, physical dimension, and weight. Specific
instructions were provided to food-service vendors and restaurants for storing and cooking the
company’s products. Cooking instructions for frozen Beyond Beef Crumbles, which were
intended to be prepared from their frozen state, were on the packaging.
As the company’s sales in Europe and Asia expanded in 2020 and 2021, the company
established facilities for manufacturing woven protein in Europe and then in Asia. In Europe,
the final manufacturing and packing was done at a new co-manufacturing facility constructed
in the Netherlands by Zandbergen World’s Finest Meat. In 2018, Zandbergen started
distributing Beyond Meat’s products throughout Europe across both food-service and retail
grocery channels. In 2020, Beyond Meat acquired land and a 46,000-square-foot
manufacturing facility in Enschede, Netherlands, to produce woven protein for use in Beyond
Meat products being sold in Europe and the Middle East. Later in 2020, the company acquired
19.34 acres of land and an approximately 92,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and
related improvements from its former co-manufacturer, Zandbergen, for the purpose of
switching from co-manufacturing to in-house finished goods manufacturing and packaging.
Beyond Meat believed it would prove cheaper and enabled tighter quality control. In Asia,
Beyond Meat leased a facility to manufacture woven protein but initially utilized a comanufacturer located in a Shanghai suburb to handle final manufacture and packaging. In
2021, Beyond Meat arranged to lease the Asian co-manufacturer’s 38,000-square-foot facility
and, after various renovations and improvements, began producing woven protein, performing
all of the final manufacturing activities, and packaging for sale to customers in Southeast Asia,
including Australia and New Zealand.
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EXHIBIT 4 Beyond Meat’s Manufacturing Process
Source: Beyond Meat, Form S-1, November 16, 2018, p. 92.
Supply Chain Practices
Raw Material Procurement
Beyond Meat’s products had about 20 ingredients (the Beyond Beef burger had 22)—these
included pea protein isolate, canola oil, coconut oil, amino acids, lipids, trace minerals,
vitamins, salt, methylcellulose (a binding agent), and assorted flavorings. The company
procured raw materials for woven protein that were readily available from a number of
different suppliers, except for pea protein, which in the United States as of 2018 was available
only from a single supplier. However, beginning in 2019 and continuing into 2022, pea protein
was sourced from two suppliers, both of which entered into multiyear supply agreements with
Beyond Meat. A third supplier in Canada provided yellow peas for Beyond Beef Crumbles.
Except for pea protein, all other needed ingredients and supplies were purchased on a
purchase order basis. Most of the raw materials used in flavoring Beyond Meat products were
readily available in the marketplace from many suppliers; management believed that within a
reasonable period of time it could make satisfactory alternative supply arrangements in the
event of an interruption of supply from its existing vendors.
All flavorings in the company’s products were developed at the company’s Innovation Center
in collaboration with the suppliers chosen to produce the flavors, and all these flavorings were
produced exclusively for use in Beyond Meat products. Flavoring ingredients considered for
use were qualified through trials at Beyond Meat’s Innovation Center to ensure
manufacturability. The Innovation Center staff, using only ingredients deemed
manufacturable, created a number of alternative formulas for each of the flavors being
considered for use in one or more products.
Packaging supplies for products manufactured in the United States were sourced from
domestic suppliers with the exception of the Beyond Sausage tray, which was sourced from
China; the company maintained approximately 10 weeks of inventory of sausage trays to
mitigate the risk of supply interruptions. Likewise, packaging supplies for products
manufactured in Europe were sourced from European suppliers, and packing products for
products manufactured at Beyond Meat’s facilities in China were sourced from Chinese
suppliers. Packaging specifications for all products were clearly defined and provided to all
packaging suppliers.
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Shipping
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Beyond Meat products, such as the Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, sold in the fresh meat
cases at grocery stores as part of Beyond Meat’s “fresh” platform were shipped to the customer
frozen. Retail grocery stores merchandising burgers and sausage in refrigerated fresh meat
cases as part of Beyond Meat’s “fresh” platform had to apply a “use-by date” sticker of 7 days
for Beyond Sausage or 10 days for the Beyond Burger; at the end of the use-by date, unsold
packages in fresh meat cases had to be discarded. In addition to or as a substitute for their
fresh meat displays of Beyond Meat products, some supermarkets and smaller groceries kept
incoming shipments of frozen Beyond Burger patties and Beyond Sausage products in a frozen
state and placed the packages in their frozen meat cases alongside various branded packages of
frozen chicken and animal meat patties. This was done partly (often mainly) to avoid spoilage
losses of fresh products—the frozen versions required no use-by dates.
Food-service customers receiving shipments of frozen Beyond Meat products were provided
instructions on “slacking,” which was typically done by moving frozen packages to a
refrigerator to allow them to slowly and safely thaw before cooking.
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
ANIMAL-BASED MEAT CONSUMPTION
Consumer interest in plant-based proteins, particularly among millennials and younger
generations, had been driven in part by growing awareness of the health and environmental
impact of animal-based meat consumption. The Internet and social media channels provided
consumers with easy access to voluminous amounts of information about nutrition, the pros
and cons of eating various food products, climate change, resource scarcity, and the
assortment of health and environmental issues surrounding the consumption of animal meats.
Management at Beyond Meat expected heightened global awareness of and concerns about
these issues to have a positive impact on consumer demand for the company’s products.
Health Impacts
The negative impact on health caused by certain meats has been well publicized in recent
years. In 2004, the World Health Organization highlighted a paper indicating that dietary
factors, including consumption of certain meats, accounted for at least 30 percent of most
cancers in developed countries and up to 20 percent in developing countries. The WHO had
since added processed meats such as hot dogs, ham, bacon, and sausage to its Group 1 category
of carcinogens. A similar conclusion was presented at the American Heart Association, where
researchers conducting a 2017 dietary study of over 15,000 adults between 2003 to 2013
highlighted that people who ate mostly a plant-based diet were associated with a 42 percent
reduced risk of developing heart failure. Additionally, animals and livestock were also
susceptible to various diseases such as mad cow (beef), swine flue (pork), and avian influenza
(poultry) that may cause further health risks from consuming potentially infected animal
meats. As an example of the nutritional benefits of plant-based meats, Beyond Breakfast
Sausage patties had 11 grams of protein per serving with 50 percent less total fat, 35 percent
less saturated fat and sodium, and 33 percent fewer calories than a leading brand of pork
sausage patties, plus it was made without any genetically modified ingredients, soy, gluten, or
artificially produced ingredients.
Climate Impacts
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A number of research studies had indicated that the global livestock industry was responsible
for about one-third of global methane emissions, with animal manure accounting for perhaps
10 percent of global nitrous oxide (carbon dioxide) emissions. According to a series of reports
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (an intergovernmental body of the United
Nations that periodically compiles comprehensive “assessment reports” of published studies
concerning climate change, its causes, potential impacts, and response options), there was
mounting consensus among climate scientists that greenhouse gas emissions were likely to
cause “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” on the natural environment unless carbon
emissions were rapidly and sharply reduced.21 Several studies had concluded that behavioral
changes, including such dietary changes as eating less animal meat, could have a significant
role in cutting carbon emissions.
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Environmental Impacts
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, rising
global meat consumption and livestock production had adverse impacts on the world’s land
and water resources.22 According to the FAO, livestock-raising activities occupied 30 percent
of the planet’s land surface and accounted for 78 percent of all agricultural land use.23 A
report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) indicated that 29 percent of agriculture-related
water use was directly or indirectly used for animal production.24 The WRI also concluded
that meat consumption was environmentally burdensome from the standpoint of production
inputs. According to the same WRI report, beef was highly inefficient to produce because only
1 percent of the feed consumed by cattle was converted to calories that people consumed from
eating beef, while pork converted approximately 10 percent and poultry converted
approximately 11 percent of their feed to human-edible calories. During 2017 and 2018,
Beyond Meat engaged the University of Michigan to conduct a peer-reviewed, third-party-led
Life Cycle Assessment comparing the environmental impacts associated with producing a
quarter-pound Beyond Burger versus a quarter-pound, standard 80 percent lean/20 percent
fat beef burger.25 The study showed that compared to the beef burger, the Beyond Burger
generated 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions, required 46 percent less energy, had 99
percent less impact on water scarcity, and 93 percent less impact on land use.
Animal Welfare
Worldwide, it was estimated in 2017 that about 60–70 billion farm animals were produced for
food annually; with two out of every three being factory-farmed.26 Over the past decade,
animal welfare groups had publicized a range of investigations highlighting the issues related
to safety, welfare, and well-being of animals caused by mass livestock production, which
Beyond Meat’s management believed had prompted a consumer shift toward more plantbased alternatives.
Competitors
Beyond Meat operated in a highly competitive environment that included both animal protein
suppliers and plant-based meat suppliers. In North America, the leading suppliers of fresh
meats (beef, pork, and poultry) and assorted branded meat products included:
The world’s largest meat supplier, JBS, a company headquartered in Brazil whose meat
portfolio consisted of Swift beef and pork products, 19 brands of fresh beef and hamburger,
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Butterball brand turkey, and Pilgrim’s Pride chicken.
Tyson Foods, a global supplier of meats with 2021 sales of more than $47 billion and a meat
portfolio that consisted of Tyson fresh and frozen chicken products, fresh beef and pork, and
such meat brands as Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farms, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, IBP, Bryan,
and State Fair. Tyson’s plant-based meat brand, Raised & Rooted, was available in 10,000
retail stores and food-service outlets in the United States and Europe as of May 2021.27 As
of February 2022, Tyson’s Raised & Rooted plant-based meat substitute product line
consisted of (1) two flavors of frozen nuggets—a battered chicken-like dish made of pea
protein, bamboo fiber, egg whites, and golden flaxseed; (2) wholegrain breaded plant-based
chicken-like tenders; (3) two flavors (buffalo style and sweet barbeque) of breaded chickenlike bites; (4) plant-based burger patties (with 21 grams of protein and 75 percent less
saturated fat, compared to 80 percent lean/20 percent beef); (5) plant-based ground; and
(6) plant-based bratwurst style sausage. Some Raised and Rooted products were displayed
in the refrigerated meat cases of retail groceries and supermarkets; others were displayed in
the frozen meat section.
China-based WH Group, whose North American brands included Smithfield pork products,
Eckrich, Nathan’s, Farmland, John Morrell, Armour, Gwaltney, and Cook’s hams. In 2022,
Farmland was marketing plant-based burgers, meatballs, breakfast sausage patties, and
breakfast and dinner links under the Pure brand; all were displayed in grocers’ refrigerated
meat sections.
Page 316
Cargill, a privately owned company and one of the world’s biggest global suppliers
of fresh beef and poultry products, had 2021 sales of over $134 billion in some 70 countries
and regions. In April 2020, Cargill announced it would begin selling a complete line of
plant-based meat products, including hamburger patties and ground meat. Shortly
thereafter, three KFC restaurants in China conducted a three-day test of a plant-based fried
chicken nuggets supplied by Cargill. As of 2022, Cargill had become the largest private-label
supplier of plant-based meat alternatives in the United States and also had a significant
presence in China.
Hormel, a well-known company with 2021 sales in excess of $11 billion, whose meat brands
included Hormel bacon and chili, Applegate (bacon, breakfast and dinner sausage, chicken
burgers and strips, hot dogs, frozen beef and turkey burgers), Jennie-O turkey, and
Columbus deli meats. Hormel began marketing plant-based protein products under the
brand name Happy Little Plants in 2019. In 2022, the company’s products marketed under
the Happy Little Plants brand included pepperoni-style, Italian-style, and chorizo-style
crumbles, and plant-based meatballs. In 2022, the Happy Little Plants brand became the
official plant-based pizza topping partner of The World Pizza Champions, a U.S.-based
nonprofit, multinational group made up of elite pizza professionals.
Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian consumer packaged meat company with 2021 sales of $4.5
billion, whose brands included Maple Leaf, Maple Leaf Prime, Schneiders, Greenfield, Swift,
Field Roast Grain Meat, and Lightlife. Field Roast and Lightlife specialized in plant-based
meat substitutes. These two brands had combined sales of $184 million in 2021, versus sales
of $211 million in 2020; the 12.7 percent decline in revenues was driven by lower retail
product volumes. Field Roast’s product offerings were largely made of wheat and other
grains; the main ingredients in Lightlife’s plant-based burger patties and ground meat were
pea protein, coconut oil, and beet powder. Lightlife’s other products were plant-based
chicken nuggets (a menu offering at all A&W locations in Canada), chicken-like tenders, hot
dogs, bacon, sausages, and tempeh.
There were significant variations among the various commonly available types of animal beef
burger products regarding calorie count, total fat grams, saturated fat grams, protein grams,
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cholesterol, milligrams of sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and other nutritional measures
(see Exhibit 5).
Page 317
EXHIBIT 5
Comparative Nutrition Facts for Selected Brands of Animal Beef Bur
2020
Grain Fed Beef
80% Lean
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
350
Calories from fat
240
% of Daily
Value
Total fat 27 g
42%
Saturated fat 10 g
52%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 95 mg
32%
Sodium 90 mg
4%
Total Carbohydrate
0%
0g
Dietary fiber 0 g
0%
Sugars 0 g
0%
Protein 23 g
46%
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
2%
Iron
15%
Grain Fed Beef
93% Lean
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
170
Calories from fat
70
% of Daily
Value
Total fat 8 g
12%
Saturated fat 3.5 g
17%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 70 mg
24%
Sodium 75 mg
3%
Total Carbohydrate
0%
0g
Dietary fiber 0 g
0%
Sugars 0 g
0%
Protein 24 g
48%
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
2%
Iron
15%
Ground Bison
90% Lean
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
190
Calories from fat
100
% of Daily
Value
Total fat 11 g
17%
Saturated fat 4 g
20%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 50 mg
17%
Sodium 60 mg
3%
Total Carbohydrate
0%
0g
Dietary fiber 0 g
0%
Sugars 0 g
0%
Protein 23 g
46%
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
0%
Iron
10%
A
C
C
To
Sa
Tr
Ch
So
To
0
D
Su
Pr
Vi
Vi
C
Ir
Source: Brand labels.
In addition to the above animal-protein companies, Beyond Meat confronted competition from
the second largest brand of plant-based meats, Impossible Foods and several makers of
meatless vegan products, such as Boca Foods, Field Roast Grain Meat Co., Gardein,
Morningstar Farms, Tofurky, and Kroger’s Simple Truth brand of meatless vegan burgers. The
products of these companies were commonly available throughout the supermarket and
grocery store channel, including most national and regional supermarket chains, specialty
grocer Trader Joe’s, such natural foods and health food chains as Whole Foods, Natural
Grocers, Sprouts Farmer Markets, Fresh Market, and Earth Fare, plus thousands of mostly
local natural/health food stores.
The different brands of plant-based meat products used soy protein, pea protein, potato
protein, wheat protein, or other grains as the main ingredient; lesser ingredients could include
coconut oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, or some other type of vegetable oil, binding agents (food
starch, potato starch, methylcellulose, xanthan gum), yeast extract, maltodextrin, beet powder
or beet juice extract, salt, water, and a varying assortment of spices, vitamins (B6, B12, niacin,
thiamin, riboflavin), minerals (potassium, iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus), and natural
flavorings. There were sometimes significant variations from brand to brand and product to
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product regarding calorie count, total fat grams, saturated fat grams, protein grams,
cholesterol, milligrams of sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and other nutritional measures
(see Exhibit 6). Most plant-based meats had protein levels comparable to their animal
counterparts but had lower cholesterol, less saturated fat, higher dietary fiber, and no
antibiotics or hormones. Both four-ounce plant burger patties and four-ounce animal burger
patties typically contained about 20 grams of protein.
EXHIBIT 6
Comparative Nutrition Facts for Selected Brands of Plant-Based Bur
2022
Beyond Meat
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
230
% of Daily Value
Total fat 14 g
18%
Saturated fat 5 g 25%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 390 mg
16%
Total
Carbohydrate 7 g 3%
Dietary fiber 2 g 7%
Sugars 0 g
0%
Protein 20 g
40%
Vitamin B6
15%
Vitamin B12
100%
Calcium
8%
Iron
20%
Impossible Foods
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
240
% of Daily Value
Total fat 14 g
18%
Saturated fat 8 g 40%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 370 mg
16%
Total
Carbohydrate 9 g 3%
Dietary fiber 3 g 11%
Sugars 2 g
2%
Protein 19 g
31%
Vitamin B6
20%
Vitamin B12
130%
Calcium 170 mg 15%
Iron 4.2 mg
25%
Lightlife
Amount per 4 oz. serving
Calories
250
% of Daily Value
Total fat 17 g
28%
Saturated fat 5 g
25%
Trans fat 0 g
0%
Cholesterol 0 mg
0%
Sodium 390 mg
18%
Total
Carbohydrate 6 g 2%
Dietary fiber 1 g
4%
Sugars 0.5 g
0.5%
Protein 20 g
40%
Vitamin B6
0%
Potassium 497 mg 11%
Calcium 20 mg
2%
Iron 4 mg
23%
Am
Ca
To
Sa
Tra
Ch
So
To
Ca
Di
Su
Pro
Vit
Po
Ca
Iro
*Vegan meatless burger patty marketed under Kroger’s Simple Truth brand.
Source: Brand labels.
Competition revolved around a host of factors:
Taste, meatlike appearance, and texture
Price
Ingredients (being gluten-free and avoiding use of genetically modified ingredients) and
nutritional profile (calories, fat content, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, and fiber)
Distribution capabilities (being able to secure a strong presence in both the retail grocery
channel and the restaurant/food-service channels, including favorable shelf and display
locations in the grocery channel and menu offerings in the restaurant/food-service channel
Breadth of product offerings
Competitive production costs and product prices
Brand awareness and customer loyalty
Advertising/media spending
Ability to secure intellectual property protection on products (to aid in blocking rivals’
efforts to produce and market copycat products)
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While Beyond Meat and other companies offering plant-based meat products were alert to all
of these competitive elements, most all companies in the animal meat sector had substantially
greater financial resources, more comprehensive product lines, broader market presence,
longer standing relationships with distributors and suppliers, longer operating histories,
greater production and distribution capabilities, stronger brand recognition, and greater
marketing resources than any plant-based meat company.
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Impossible Foods
Founded in 2011 by current CEO Pat Brown, Impossible Foods had an ambitious mission: “To
drastically reduce humanity’s destructive impact on the global environment by completely
replacing the use of animals as a food production technology.”28 The company hoped to
accomplish this mission within two decades by creating the world’s most delicious, nutritious,
affordable and sustainable meat, fish, and dairy foods directly from plants.
Going into 2020, Impossible Foods, whose main product was the Impossible Burger, had
gained brand awareness by convincing some 15,000 restaurants to put its Impossible Burger
on their menus, and by recently securing distribution of its burgers and crumbles in growing
numbers of supermarkets, grocery stores, and natural food stores. In August 2019, after
running market tests in several units, Burger King added the Impossible Whopper to its menu
offering at all of its 7,200 Burger King locations in the United States and was featuring the
Impossible Whopper in some of its national TV ads (including ads run during NFL games).
The Impossible Whopper included everything that came on a regular Whopper: a quarterpound patty, tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, and white onions on a sesame
seed bun. Instead of a flame-grilled beef patty, the Impossible Whopper had a flame-grilled
Impossible Burger patty consisting principally of a unique ingredient called soy leghemoglobin
that made Impossible burgers taste so meatlike. Leghemoglobin was a protein found in many
plants, and it carried an iron-rich molecule called “heme” that during the cooking process
caused the Impossible Burger to “bleed” and take on the product’s signature blood-red color.
The patties that Impossible Foods supplied to Burger King were based on the company’s new
2.0 formulation that was announced in January 2019.29 Among other upgrades, this
formulation worked well in restaurant environments because version 2.0 burgers held up well
in hot holding trays and could withstand the six-inch drop at the end of Burger King’s
conveyor that grilled the patty for exactly two minutes 35 seconds at 630 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Impossible Whopper was usually priced $1 more than the regular Whopper.
Page 319
In January 2020, Burger King introduced a new Impossible Sausage Croissan’wich to
its breakfast menu offerings at 139 Burger King restaurants in five test locations: Savannah,
Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and
Montgomery, Alabama.30 The Croissan’wich featured an egg, cheese, and Impossible Sausage
patty sandwiched in a toasted croissant. A raw two-ounce serving of Impossible Sausage had 7
g protein, 1.69 mg iron, 0 mg cholesterol, 9 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, and 130 calories. It
was also gluten-free and designed to be both halal and kosher. Concurrent with Burger King’s
announcement, Impossible Foods announced its official launch of Impossible Sausage for
distribution through retail grocery and food-service/restaurants channels. In 2019, Impossible
Foods had collaborated with Little Caesar’s to test its new Impossible Pork product as a pizza
topping. Impossible Pork was suitable for use in a wider assortment of applications and recipes
for ground pork as compared to Impossible Sausage. Pork was especially popular in China,
making Impossible Pork an important product for the company’s global expansion. Like the
Impossible Burger, both Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage used soy leghemoglobin, a
plant-based protein carrying the heme iron molecule that produced the bleeding effect, as their
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main ingredient. Both products were gluten-free, had no animal hormones or antibiotics, and
were designed for halal and kosher certification.
While burgers were an iconic part of the American diet, the founder and CEO of Impossible
Foods, Pat Brown, believed that within a couple of years his company would conquer the
biggest challenge in the alternative meat marketplace—plant-based steaks. He believed that
fast casual steak chains like Outback or Texas Roadhouse would put them on their menus. He
thought the R&D efforts the company had put into the Impossible Burger had prepared it for
the challenge, boldly stating in 2019, “I can say, with complete confidence, that we‘re going to
nail it and not only make a great steak, but we’re going to make a steak that’s as good as
anything that ever fell out of a cow.”31 Many observers and plant-based meat experts, familiar
with plant-based proteins and the speed with which product R&D was accelerating, agreed
with Pat Brown. According to Bruce Friedrich, executive director of the Good Food Institute,
which championed plant- and cell-based meats, “Once we have products that taste the same or
better and that cost less, plant-based and clean meat will simply take over.”32
In early March 2020, Impossible Foods announced a 15 percent price cut on its plant-based
products and requested that its food-service distributors pass the price cuts on to their
restaurant customers. Impossible Foods CEO Patrick Brown said:33
Our stated goal since the founding of the company has always been to drive down prices
through economies of scale, reach price parity and then undercut the price of conventional
ground beef from cows.
Lightlife Food Company
Lightlife Food, a subsidiary of Greenleaf Foods (which was an independent subsidiary of
Canada-based Maple Leaf Foods), produced foods for plant-based diets and had estimated
sales of $80 million. It was best known for its plant-based veggie dog, Smart Dog, which
launched in 1993; other products included Lightlife plant-based burger patties (launched in
2019 to compete with the patties being offered by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods), beef
crumbles (for use in tacos, pasta, and chili), plant-based beef meatballs, plant-based bacon and
Italian sausage, plant-based chicken tenders and chicken fillets, organic tempeh, and plantbased deli options (that had no saturated fat or cholesterol). In October 2021, Greenleaf Foods
entered into a deal with Whole Foods to become the exclusive plant-based chicken provider for
all of Whole Foods’ prepared food departments in North America.
In January 2022, Mary Brown’s Chicken, a growing company that had 200 locations across
Canada and was renowned for its Big Mary chicken sandwich and Signature Chicken and
Taters made from farm fresh Canadian ingredients, agreed to put Lightlfe plant-based chicken
tenders on its menu as well as Lightlife plant-based Chicken Sidekick Sandwiches in two flavor
profiles. Also in January 2022, 7-Eleven Canada added Lightlife Plant-Based Chick’n Tenders
to its Healthy To Go menu platform at more than 600 Canadian locations. 7-Eleven, based in
Irving, Texas, had a network of more than 77,000 company-operated, franchised, or licensed
7-Eleven locations in 19 countries, including nearly 16,000 in North America.
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Kroger’s Simple Truth Product Line
In January 2020, Kroger—one of the world’s largest food retailers with 2019 sales of about
$125 billion—announced the launch of its Simple Truth Emerge plant-based fresh meats,
which included burger patties and crumbles. Kroger’s Simple Truth brand was the best-selling
brand in the natural and organic foods category, and its Emerge-branded entry into planthttps://prod.reader-ui.prod.mheducation.com/epub/sn_cffce/data-uuid-55cb765639cb4bbaaa864f1f82c08168#data-uuid-d972bf3cdf754c8daad84a…
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based meats was aimed at offering its 11 million daily customers fresh burger patties and
grinds at more affordable prices.34 Emerge patties and grinds contained 20 grams of peabased protein per serving, and packages were located in the refrigerated meat cases alongside
other plant-based and animal meat brands. Going into 2020, Kroger operated almost 2,800
supermarkets in 35 states ’under such brands as Kroger, City Market, Fred Meyer, Harris
Teeter, King Soupers, Ralph’s, Roundy’s, Pick’n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano’s Fresh
Market. Kroger also operated 36 food manufacturing plants, principally to produce its privatelabel products.
Kroger anticipated that consumer interest in plant-based products would continue to grow in
2020 and beyond. In October 2020, Kroger announced it was expanding its Simple Truth
plant-based brand line-up with 50 new products that included Simple Truth Emerge Chick’n
patties and Chick’n crumbles in response to growing demand for its Emerge burger patties and
crumbles. At the time, the product expansion resulted in a Simple Truth portfolio consisting of
some 1,600 natural and organic products located throughout Kroger grocery aisles. Additional
Simple Truth items were being launched monthly, with the intent of growing sales of its
Simple Truth brand, which exceeded $2.3 billion in sales in 2019. However, Kroger’s Emerge
brand of plant-based beef and chicken substitutes failed to attract sustained interest from
people who shopped at Kroger’s, and the Emerge products were discontinued in 2021.
Morningstar Farms
Morningstar Farms was a division of Kellogg that produced vegetarian foods. Its product line
in 2022 consisted of 49 items that included seven varieties of burgers (made with vegetables,
grains, and seeds); bacon strips; four varieties of breakfast sausage patties and sausage links; a
sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich; six varieties of Chik’n nuggets and patties; hot
dogs and corn dogs; meatballs; four varieties of crumbles; eight varieties of appetizers; and
four varieties of 100 percent plant-based “Incogmeato” pork sausages, sausage links,
bratwurst, and ground breakfast sausage. All products sold to the grocery channel were frozen
and displayed in grocery freezer cases. Morningstar sold 26 of its products in the food-service
channel.
Until 2020, one key difference between Morningstar and the other plant-based meat brands
was that most Morningstar products had egg ingredients and thus did not qualify as vegan. But
in 2019 management decided to discontinue production and marketing of Morningstar egg
products, abandon use of egg ingredients, and begin phasing in new vegan and plant-based
versions of the company’s entire lineup of vegetarian products. At the beginning of 2021,
Morningstar had completed the process of transitioning all the products it sold through the
retail grocery and food-service channels to vegan and 100 percent plant-based.
Field Roast Grain Meat Co.
Since its founding in 1997 as a privately owned company, Field Roast had been a pioneer in the
plant-based industry by creating flavorful, high-quality products using fresh whole-food
ingredients—grains, vegetables, legumes, and spices—to craft artisanal plant-based meats and
cheeses. Its product line in 2022 were sausages (six varieties—apple sage, Italian garlic and
fennel, caramelized onion and beer plant-based bratwursts, spicy Mexican chipotle, plantbased breakfast sausage patties, apple and maple plant-based breakfast sausages), but its
product line had recently been refurbished and expanded to include Chef’s Signature plantbased burgers, Classic Nuggets, miniature corn dogs, plant-based buffalo wings, Signature
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based deli slices (mushroom and balsamic, lentil and sage, smoked tomato), Classic Pizzeria
plant-based pepperoni; three varieties of roasts (sage and garlic, hazelnut and cranberry, and
celebration), five varieties of dairy-free Creamy Chao slices, two varieties of Chao Creamery
shreds, a block of Creamy Chao, and two varieties of Mac’n Chao), breaded cutlets, and
Fruffalo wings (apple sage sausage cut on the bias, battered and lightly fried, with buffalo
sauce). Its product line in 2022 contained sausages (six varieties—apple sage, Italian garlic and
fennel, caramelized onion and beer bratwursts, spicy Mexican chipotle, breakfast sausage
patties, apple and maple breakfast sausages), but its product line had also recently been
refurbished and expanded to include Chef’s Signature burgers, nuggets, miniature corn dogs,
buffalo wings, stadium hot dogs, smoked frankfurters, three varieties of deli slices (mushroom
and balsamic, lentil and sage, smoked tomato), pepperoni, three varieties of roasts (sage and
garlic, hazelnut and cranberry, and celebration), breaded cutlets, Fruffalo wings (apple sage
sausage cut on the bias, battered, lightly fried, and with buffalo sauce), and dairy-free cheese
options: five varieties of slices, two varieties of shreds, a block of cheese, and two varieties of
Mac’n Chao). Its newest product was bratwurst, which, like Field Roast sausages, came four to
a package. Most of the products were a blend of vegetables, grains, legumes, fresh herbs, and
spices.
The company’s products were available in most supermarket chains, medium and large natural
foods stores, and a few online food retailers in both the United States and Canada. Except for
its three varieties of roasts that were displayed in grocery freezer sections, Field Roast meat
products were located in the refrigerated section of grocery stores and had a “use-by” date.
However, their freshness could be extended by freezing them for up to a year; once thawed,
they were good for about 65 days.
Field Roast was acquired by Maple Leaf Foods in 2018.
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Case Worksheet
MGT 405
Presentation Challenge
1. Your team has been hired to conduct a strategic analysis of the case company (internal and external environment analysis), identify strategic
issues, and make recommendations.
2. communicate the key strategic issues and recommendations based on your analyses. The issues and recommendations should be closely
aligned with the internal and external analyses.
M
Topics
Case Discussion Prompts and Outcomes
2
Internal Analysis:
Prompts:
Business Model and a. Identify the business model of the assigned
Mission Statement
company using the framework in Chapter 1.
What is the firm’s value proposition? Suggest
(Relates to
improvements, if necessary. What is the firm’s
Case Group
profit model?
Presentation
b. Evaluate the company’s mission statement.
Rubric: Internal
Suggest improvements, if necessary. If the
Analysis)
mission statement is not available in the case
write-up, look at the company’s website and
other online sources. If not available, draft a
mission statement for the company.
Desired Outcomes:
● You should have a clear sense of the business
model and mission of the case company or what
it potentially should be.
List Individual Takeaways from Case Group Discussions
(Needed in Module 5 for Individual and Group Responses)
Beyond Meat = the company
Who is the customer?
Those that are looking for an alternative consisting of the same
nutrients traditional animal meat has, while still tasting good.
Our drafted value proposition:
By shifting from animal to Beyond Meat’s plant-based meat, we ca
the environment, the climate and even ourselves.
Beyond Meat makes money mainly through:
Selling product in stores, sales to restaurants and food services,
international sales, innovative products, partnerships.
Does the mission align with the model?
Aspirational messages through their advertisement indicate the
areas they are highlighting their mission.
SMART GOALS
Specific: expand lineup for plant-based protein products
Measurable: income statement (profit)
Achievable: Securing retail grocery customers and additional
fast-food service firms to include beyond meat products
(nationally and internationally)
Relevant: Goal will help the environment (animals, human
health, global impact like less fumes being exposed in the open
that comes from farms)
Timely: Keep evolving as long as possible
Case Worksheet
MGT 405
3
Internal Analysis
(Relates to
Case Group
Presentation
Rubric: Internal
Analysis)
Prompts:
a. Evaluate the financial health of the company
using financial ratio analysis; Get financial data
(time period of the case) if the case does not
provide it (Yahoo finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/);
Make sure you benchmark it against rivals or
industry average.
b. What are the firm’s unique resources and
capabilities (strengths and weaknesses)? Make
sure you think of the value chain.
c. Evaluate its resources and capabilities using the
VRIN framework.
d. Does the firm have a competitive advantage?
What is it and can it sustain it? How can it build
one, if it does not have an advantage?
Desired Outcomes:
● You should have a good understanding of the
key important elements of the internal
environment of the case company: its resources
and capabilities (tangible, intangible as well
value chain activities);
● You should have an understanding of the
financial health of the case company based on
the ratio analysis. Data on the key ratios and
comparison to industry averages.
● You should generate a set of Strengths and
Weaknesses of the firm. The data and rationale
supporting your assessment.
a.
b. Innovation and advancement in technology
(strength) Beyond meat has a dedication to product
innovation, development and improvement of
product lines. They have continually Invested in
research and development with the opening of
innovation centers with the objective of improving
existing products and creating new ones. Brand
Awareness and Marketing
c. Value: Yes, they provide great value to their
customers because their meat is produced in a very
well executed supply chain.
Rarity: Yes, their supply chain and innovation in the
industry is leaps ahead of competitors.
Imitability: I would say they have something that is
somewhat imitable but would only be done with a
very large amount of capital.
Organization: As of now, I would say the company
has reached a competitive advantage in the
innovation and supply chain side to the market.
Case Worksheet
MGT 405
d. Beyond Meat satisfied customer wants by providing a
substitute for animal meat that tasted good and highlights
the importance of being environmentally friendly.
(SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE)
Competitive advantage= first plant based protein
offering in supermarket meat cases
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE= research and
development strategy.It looks to be sustainable as they keep
innovating, although they should modify in certain aspects like
their packaging so that it can be viewed as more honest to their
mission.
4
External Analysis:
Macro and Industry
Analysis
(Relates to
Case Group
Presentation
Rubric: External
Analysis)
Prompts:
a. What are the macro-environmental factors
impacting your case company’s industry? How
are they likely to affect industry conditions?
b. Who are your key rivals and what are their
strengths and weaknesses?
c. Apply the following models to evaluate the
key opportunities and threats in the industry?
d. Porter’s five force model
e. Life cycle
f. Strategic group analysis
Desired Outcomes:
● You should have clear understanding of the
company’s current and future external
environment: the macro environment, the
industry, including key rivals. The key relevant
data in the case that supports your
understanding.
● You should generate a set of Opportunities and
Threats in the external environment. The data
and rationale supporting your assessment.
a) Demographic: Consumers may seek out products
perceived as healthier or more sustainable such as the
Beyond meat vegan food products. The size and age
distribution of the population directly affect food
demand.
Economic: Inflation can impact the cost of production
for food companies due to increases in the prices of
raw materials, labor, and transportation.
Political: Government regulations related to food
safety, labeling, advertising, and environmental
sustainability have a significant impact on the food
industry.
Social-cultural: Increasing awareness of health issues
and a focus on wellness drive consumer preferences
for healthier food options.
Case Worksheet
MGT 405
b) Rivals = very similar mission statements (very similar
methods to get the same objectives)
impossible foods
Strengths= tech advancements, environmental sustainability,
marketing successes, brand partnerships
Weaknesses= concern for food safety regulations, gmos, more
sodium vs traditional meat, increased inflation
Mosa Meat:
Strengths: environment friendly, climate and sustainability
issues
Weaknesses: not cost effective, backlash of being too
processed in comparison to traditional meat, same
products as other competitors and not as recognized
C) Key opportunities= cost advantage, whoever has lower costs
has a greater advantage, not everyone has capital to develop a
strong research …