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Beyond meat via CNN 
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The trend of plant-based proteins is growing faster than expected.
Beyond meat, which offers beef-free alternatives to beef, pork and poultry, became public. Its main competitor, Impossible Foods, said the demand was so strong that it was causing a shortage. Burger King has announced plans to roll out an impossible hamburger nationally and Ikea has announced the development of a new meatless dumpling designed to taste animal meat.
"Its take-off rate is unprecedented," said Dewey Warner, research badyst at Euromonitor International, a provider of market research. Warner examines developments in the food sector.
The demand for herbal meat substitutes is fueled by consumers seeking to improve their diet and reduce their impact on the environment. And there is clearly room for growth. The question is how much?
A wild week for vegetable protein
Beyond had an extremely successful first trading day on Thursday, recording a 163% increase over the IPO price of $ 25. The stock closed close to $ 67 per share on Friday.
Meanwhile, Impossible Foods, Beyond's main competitor, is experiencing such interest that he is short of product. Impossible's CFO, David Lee, told CNN Business that this year, the demand for meat-free protein has more than doubled in the nearly 7,000 restaurants it serves. In addition to this, Impossible is about to double the number of restaurants it serves: this week, Burger King announced that it will launch a version of its Whopper with an impossible carpet in its 7,300 stores across the country.
Other channels, such as White Castle, Carl's Jr., Bareburger, Qdoba and others also offer Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods items in their menus. People can buy Beyond Meat at supermarkets such as Safeway or Kroger, and Impossible plans to start selling in retail outlets this year.
Even Ikea jumps on the trend. The furniture retailer, known for its Swedish meatballs, announced on Thursday that it would begin testing a new herbal version of its clbadic meatball, designed to have a taste identical to that of meat. , next year.
For Impossible, the question that arose a year ago was: "How quickly will the market develop?" David Lee, chief financial officer of the company, told CNN Business this week. "Now, it is clear:" How quickly can we create more capacity to meet this huge demand? "
What is the driving force of the trend
Veganism and vegetarianism used to appeal primarily to those who were concerned about animal welfare, Warner, an badyst at Euromonitor, said. But concerns about climate change and health are driving a wider group of people to rethink the amount of meat they consume, he added.
For this reason, growth among herbal protein products designed to mimic the taste and appearance of meat has increased over the last decade, he said, and particularly in the last five years.
Beyond that, which began about 10 years ago, demand has risen sharply in 2017 and 2018, said CEO Ethan Brown at CNN Business.
During these years, consumers "have entered so quickly in this category" because they have been "bombarded" with information about the detrimental effects on the health and environment of red meat transformed, "he said. A few years earlier, in 2015, the World Health Organization linked the consumption of processed meat to cancer and called red meat a probable carcinogen.
There was so much interest that Beyond had to reorganize its supply chain and production processes to keep pace.
Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods highlight the environmental and health benefits of reducing meat consumption when marketing their products. Two of the four declared goals of Beyond Meat are to fight climate change and conserve natural resources. Others must improve human health and animal welfare.
Likewise, Impossible argues that "animal agriculture occupies nearly half of the planet's land, consumes a quarter of our fresh water and destroys our ecosystems". Its mission is to "save the best planet of the known universe" while ensuring that people can always enjoy the experience of eating meat.
While people eat less meat, fast-food chains like Burger King offer herbal products to carnivores. Burger King, for example, said that he was attacking meat lovers who wish to diversify their diet with the Impossible Whopper test, rather than vegetarians or vegetarians.
Where are you
It seems that the plant-based trend is here to stay.
"There are a lot of things that are developing fast in the food industry," said Warner. But the growth of alternative space of herbal meat is accelerating, he said, indicating that "this is more than just a fad." This could have some capacity of resistance ".
In addition, there is growth in some parts of the sector – such as alternatives to seafood of vegetable origin – that have not yet become widespread.
Brown, for his part, sees a potential for "unlimited growth" for his company. "As the sector becomes more and more attractive, we are ready," he said.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission document containing detailed plans for its initial public offering, Beyond Meat predicted that over time, the plant-based meat market could reach $ 35 billion in the United States. -United. It is an ambitious goal. Euromonitor International has a more modest forecast of a $ 2.5 billion retail meat substitute market in the United States.
In its report, Beyond Meat indicated that its net revenues increased from $ 16.2 million in 2016 to $ 87.9 million last year. Beyond the meat also lost $ 29.9 million last year, which is attributed to investments in "innovation and growth of our business". The company added that she planned to continue investing in innovation, supply chain capabilities, manufacturing and marketing.
And there are latent threats to the industry, such as consumer preference for simple, natural foods containing few ingredients. Beyond Meat is composed mainly of water, pea protein and oil, as well as more than a dozen ingredients. Impossible Foods uses soy protein.
People looking for healthy ingredients may avoid these types of products, creating headwinds in the industry, Warner said.
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