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  • 📉 The Fall of Plant-Based “Meat”

📉 The Fall of Plant-Based “Meat”

Down 77% YTD. Is plant-based “beyond” saving?

This is The Level Ups. Modern business news for the future business leader (in plain-Jane English).

Today:

  • Beyond Meat is in the dumps.

  • Why is this happening?

  • Is this beyond saving?

  • Beyond Meat exec bites another man’s nose in a road range incident.

Let’s get into it.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes & 1 second.

Beyond Meat is Down 77% YTD

But it hasn’t lasted nearly as long as investors hoped.

YTD, the stock price is down 77%. The chart gets ugly.

Unfortunately, it’s getting worse.

Beyond Meat initiated 200 layoffs in October, as shoppers are looking for less expensive alternatives during the current recession.

What's worse is that Beyond Meat and other plant-based meat alternatives can’t really raise prices (they’re already expensive).

So they have to take a different approach.

“We are significantly reducing expenses and sharpening our focus on a set of key growth priorities,” Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown said.

Layoffs make more sense now. When industry leader Beyond Meat is in this state, it’s safe to assume the competitors are not doing any better.

Why Is This Happening?

Too many companies are making products not enough people want. Some call it “oversaturation.” But it’s not the only issue. There’s also the price.

Then, the cultural issues.

Deloitte Consulting did their research and found two social/cultural factors at play.

The first is a growing cultural resistance to its “woke” status — even among those seeking to reduce red meat consumption.

The second is outright criticism. Companies are getting roasted online (in some cases) for offering plant-based products. It results from political/social/cultural divides about right and wrong fueling these public slaps.

This becomes a gamble. Serving the products might get you roasted online and cost you, customers. But sales suggest people don’t want it anyway (at least not as much as they used to).

Hard to turn things around when retailers consider it more "worth it" to leave plant-based to the side.

Is This Beyond Saving?

It could, but investors are in for the long haul.

Ultimately, the only way out of this is to survive until the market turns and people start buying again.

Beyond that, the market can’t just return to what it was. It has to grow.

Enter the fight to spread veganism and vegan products.

I’m not here to debate matters of health or nutrition (because I don’t know anything about them).

But I will say that as marketing budgets are cut, advertising spending decreases, and markets are looking for cheaper alternatives, I don’t know how Beyond Meat (and this entire industry) could turn things around.

Is this beyond saving? Maybe. But it’s definitely going to be deep in trouble for the next 12-18 months.

Exec Loses His Mind & Bites Someone’s Nose

Doug Ramsay, Chief Operating Officer at Beyond Meat, had a severe road rage incident. It was so bad that he got out of the car and bit the other guy’s nose. He also shouted terroristic threats, all outside of a college football game.

That’s him. He was let out on a $12,000 bail, but damn. What are you supposed to say to people at work the next day?

Ripped the flesh off another man’s nose with his teeth. Ramsay’s not beyond meat. He must’ve gone crazy at that moment because the story is insane.

Ramsey was booked on charges of third-degree battery and making terrorist threats, according to the sheriff’s office.

But the damage was done. Shocker, he was fired.

As if Beyond Meat doesn’t have enough problems.

Will keep you posted on what happens next (with the industry, not Ramsay).

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Thanks for reading!

Darwin