Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2019 - 58

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Beyond Meat, Inc.
Plant-based burger maker expanding through innovation and distribution
he Beyond Burger was just the beginning. Beyond Meat, Inc., the El Segundo, Calif.-based
maker of plant-based meat alternatives, is
planning to develop additional products with different sources of protein, such as lentils or lupin beans.
"...When you start to think about the plant kingdom as a source of protein, there's really just almost
an endless number of crops you can pull it from,"
said Ethan Brown, founder, president and chief executive officer, during a July 29 earnings call.
Introduced in May, the latest iteration of the
Beyond Burger, which is described as having a
"meatier" flavor and mouthfeel, contains peas,
mung beans and brown rice.
The release of the new recipe coincided with
Beyond Meat's initial public offering. Beyond Meat
priced its i.p.o. at $25 per share for 9,625,000
shares out of about 59 million total shares. On May
2, the first day of trading on the Nasdaq, the share
price closed at $65.75 per share.The stock soared to
a mid-week high above $85 per share by the market
close, giving the meat-alternative maker a market
capitalization as high as $5 billion.
Days before a secondary public offering in August,
Beyond Meat's shares reached an all-time high of
$239.71 per share on July 26, inflating the company's
market capitalization to approximately $14.4 billion.
By mid-October, the share price had eased to

$122.05 but swelled with each announcement of a
new limited-time restaurant offering featuring the
brand's products.
Beyond Meat, which also manufactures meatfree strips and crumbles, has experienced rapid
sales growth driven by demand from food service
and retail segments. The company reported increasing net revenues to $87.9 million in 2018
from $16.2 million in 2016, representing a 133%
compound annual growth rate. Net revenues for the
first half of fiscal 2019 totaled $77.3 million, up
257% from the prior-year period.
The company also sustained losses in 2016, 2017
and 2018 of $25.1 million, $30.4 million and $29.9
million, respectively, which the company attributed to
investments in growth and innovation of the business.
The Beyond Burger is available in more than
27,000 retail locations and 26,000 food service
locations. Introductions have included the Beyond Meatball Marinara sandwich at Subway, the
Beyond Sausage Biscuit at Hardee's, and Beyond

Chicken at KFC, which was available at one Atlanta
restaurant for one day and sold out within hours.
The company also partnered with McDonald's Corp.
to test the P.L.T. (Plant, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich,
made with a Beyond Meat patty, in 28 McDonald's
restaurants in southwestern Ontario.
Beyond Meat is expanding production overseas
through a partnership with Zandbergen World's
Finest Meat, Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands. A
new manufacturing facility in The Netherlands will
produce Beyond Meat plant-based burgers and
other products for European markets, reducing the
brand's transportation footprint while accelerating
distribution across Europe. The facility is expected
to open in the first quarter of 2020.
Globally, Beyond Meat products are available
through distributors in Australia, Chile, the European Union, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, the Middle
East, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and the
United Kingdom.
"I'm often asked what the long-term vision for the
company is," Mr. Brown said during a Sept. 5 presentation at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples
Conference. "I look at some of the largest meat processing companies in the world, household names, I
see no reason that we can't reach those numbers. All
of our strategic planning, all of our goals are in that
direction here in the United States and globally." CP

Chief executive officer -
Ethan Brown

Beyond Meat and restaurant chains launch plant-based products:

Beyond Meat share price

per share
$250
$200
$150
$100

Dunkin':

Hardee's:

KFC:

McDonald's:

Subway:

Beyond Sausage
Breakfast Sandwich

Beyond
Sausage Biscuit

Beyond Chicken

P.L.T. made with a
Beyond Meat patty

Beyond Meatball
Marinara

58 \ November 2019

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