At the Beyond Meat Burger nothing is ever part of a cow. It looks like meat, tastes (more or less) like meat, but is not made of meat. But from pea proteins, potato starch, coconut oil and other ingredients, all have one thing in common: they are not of animal origin. The bloody look is helped by beetroot.

Ironically, in America, the stronghold of the barbecue culture, the meat substitute Burger has begun a triumphal procession.

It is served not only in the 400 branches of TGI Fridays between Alabama and Wisconsin. For a few days now, the Dunkin ‘breakfast chain, which has now removed the donuts from its name, sells Manhattan sausage sandwiches without meat. And in the refrigerated shelves of the Whole Foods eco-chain, there is also minced meat that was not produced in the slaughterhouse.

The Californian-based company that gave its name to the meatless burger – Beyond Meat – went public at $ 25 per share in the May start-up. The paper closed at three times the price on the first day of trading.
Since then, it has continued to climb sharply, up to $ 235 in the lead – up more than 800 percent. The previously unknown company became one of the most successful new missions of the year.

Beyond Meat founder, Ethan Brown

The company seems unstoppable, according to the Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown, everything is going great: Again, the company had to correct its sales expectations for 2019 upwards. Compared to the previous year, revenues are now expected to increase by 170 percent to $ 240 million.
Just since the IPO, the global number of outlets has increased by over 20,000, Brown reported. The concern voiced by analysts that Beyond Meat may not be able to keep up with production sounds like a luxury issue.

Beyond Meat is not aimed at the relatively small segment of vegetarians, but at eaters who like the taste of animals but for their own health or the environment accept the plant alternative.

“Fake Meat Will Save Us,” a New York Times commentator shouted to his readers: “Industrial agriculture is the coal industry of food production” – that is, a dying industry.
Not only does the production of a single beef burger devour two and a half thousand liters of water. Unhealthy food is more lethal “than unprotected sex, alcohol, drugs and nicotine consumption together”.

According to many analysts, cattle breeders will continue to lose ground in the $ 1.4 trillion global meat market in the coming years.
Investment bank UBS estimates that the segment of plant-based meat alternatives is expected to grow from $ 4.5 billion in 2018 to $ 85 billion in 2030.

Many farmers in the US do not like it. They urge the legislator to prohibit the new competition from using the word meat for their goods. So far without success!

And the competition is gaining momentum. The fast food chain Burger King has teamed up with Beyond’s competitor Impossible Foods. And McDonald’s has included the “Big Vegan TS”, whose patty is based on soy and wheat and also contains beetroot.

The battle gets really hot with the arrival of the giants of the food industry, such as Nestlé and Tyson Foods. For example, US company Tyson, which processed nearly two billion chickens last year, plans to launch nuggets of peas, linseed and other plant-based products this summer.

Stocks shares in Beyond Meat, Tyson has rejected – one is now able to develop their own meat imitations, it was said to justify!!

Nestlé has its own subsidiary, Garden Gourmet, dedicated to meat imitation. So far the best-known product: the Incredible Burger, which also McDonald’s as “Big Vegan” leads.

How many of the 50 billion citizens Americans eat each year will be meatless in the future will become apparent. At any rate, the TGI Fridays customer in Maryland really likes the replacement product.

https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/beyond-meat-vormarsch-des-fake-fleischs-a-1279607.html

My comment:In the past, vegetarian diet was more of an intellectual edge. Soon meat eating is only for the decadent elite as slavery used to be.
A hopeful product that seriously alleviates the suffering of animals and effectively helps to save the environment.

The Beyond Meat Company understands marketing, we have to recognize it.
A brilliant idea in skillful hands just so it can work.
And it works.

Best regards to all, Venus