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Comments (162)

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  Grimblewald
  I always wondered who their demographic was. The core early adopters, the ethical vegans, who actually like the taste of plants are never going to make a lab made ultra processed salt bomb their daily driver (never mind issues surrounding industrial agriculture). Health-conscious folks would take one look at the ingredient list and bail because of the heavy processing and industrial fillers. You've got bodybuilders and athletes skipping it because it lacks the micronutrient density and bioavailability of real animal protein. Everyday folks aren't exactly lining up to pay a "green premium" for something that tastes almost like a burger but costs more and offers less. It feels like they built a product for a tiny, hyper-specific niche: people who desperately crave the experience of a fast-food patty but have an ideological dealbreaker with meat, while being well off enough that finances aren't carefully managed and loose enough in their convictions that a burger-joint is still ok. It always seemed like an odd propsition to me, even if cool in some ways.
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  jfengel
  That's too bad. I don't expect fake-meats to be healthy, or cheap, but I like that they can be made without killing animals and without raising them in inhumane conditions.I had really hoped that people would say, "Well, if it tastes close enough, then how about I go for the cruelty-free version." And it is close-enough -- it's at least as good as a fast-food hamburger.Perhaps the cognitive dissonance is just too much. The world would be a better place if we ate less meat, even if we don't eliminate it entirely. But to acknowledge the cruelty by avoiding it sometimes means facing it when you do choose animal protein.
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  3rodents
  I disagree with the idea that it's "not the moment for plant-based meat". Beyond Meat has a fantastic product that does very well in lots of markets. The problem is that Beyond Meat the company was valued as some sort of once in a generation radical reimagining of the way we eat. Beyond Meat's product is not going to change the world, it's just a good product.If Beyond Meat had grown organically, instead of raising hundreds of millions of dollars, it would be a great company doing great things today. Instead, it has failed to live up to the unrealistic expectations that were set for it. Beyond Meat is no different than any of the other zirpicorns.
• ph4rsikal
  I bought shares after the IPO but sold them all after trying their patty and then forgetting the rest in the freezer for 6 months.
• hapless
  beyond meat was a super cynical bet that ordinary non-vegetarian consumers would no longer be able to afford meat, so they would turn to meat substitutes even if they were more costly than meat had been in the psatnow they are publicly listed, and their cynical premise has not born fruittime to pivot!
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  justin66
  > high-protein fizzy drink lineThat is the plan?
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  subpixel
  The beyond patties at Costco are a decent price. Standard retail prices are not so great.I like em but I think the idea of them being somehow premium doesn’t translate.
• maxkfranz
  A protein soda pop, as they're pivoting to, sounds like a gross version of Coca Cola.The protein bar could work. I personally don't like them, because most of them are just candy bars with added protein.Meat substitutes (e.g. fake turkey made of tofu) are generally an inferior good, in both the economic sense and the sense of taste. It's not surprising to me that they don't work. Maybe if they're made much cheaper.
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  627467
  Lets be real: unless fake-meat products become at least the same price as equivalent meat options whats the point?How big is the market for non-ideological vegans/vegetarians that are shopping for meat alternatives?Most people are not ideological with their food. Most people will only stop eating meat when it becomes too expensive to afford. Simple as that.What is the status you gain for being seen eating a beyond burger in 2026?
• legitster
  Obviously Americans have no qualms about artificial foods or "inferior" substitutes, but it has to be cheaper. Paying a premium price for something that's even a decent facsimile guarantees that the product will remain niche.I also am disappointed there was no iteration or improvement of the product over time. There was clearly room to innovate or make it taste better - it feels like the product hit, there was some excitement about the novelty... and then they didn't capitalize on it by pushing new variations and updates.
• datahack
  We bought and tried their products several times only to find they were no different than a basic veggie burger or whatever. We couldn’t figure out what the hype was even about. And then I started reading about how their ingredient list wasn’t the healthiest.Just seemed like just another weird Silicon Valley money bubble built on hype and vc cash instead of any kind of meaningful product differentiation.Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s our genuine experience.
• matt_daemon
  Curious if this has anything to do with Silicon Valley types getting into carnivore diets (though it's been happening for years so maybe not)
• jaybyrd
  100% a better move for the company. expansion into more sectors isn't always a good idea but totally works in this case
• khelavastr
  They could have differentiated on quality instead of serving lower grade proteins and lipids
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  midnitewarrior
  This is the moment, but they refuse to market the product in a way that is acceptable, (and adds affordability) to consumers.If they would do a 55/45 beef/plant-based meat blend and burgers, I think adoption rate would pick up significantly. Anybody who questions the taste is going to see that beef is the main ingredient. If the product comes in significantly cheaper than beef alone, more consumers will try it and look to it as an affordable way of eating beef.For the bigger picture, 65 cows will stretch as far as 100 cows previously did, lowering suffering, environmental damage, inputs, etc.For the people who like the 55/45 blend, it would open the door to an 80/20 blend plant vs. beef, and a 100% plant-based product.
• xvxvx
  High-protein fizzy drinks. Barf-o-Rama.
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  6510
  Maybe I've missed it but I see a much more palatable market in "light" meats. It has great flavor and texture but it needs to be part of a composition even if it is just salt and pepper. I've seen really great tasting meatballs in the wild that had less than 4% meat in them, say 5% for lazy calculations. You can feed it to 20 people and get the same results as 19 vegetarians + one meat eater.Some are so much into meat the vegetarian evangelism has about as much chance as trying to convince them cannibalism is the solution to all world problems.If you sell them something cheap that tastes great and tell them it has meat in it there is no need for all that tiresome talking about saving the world on an empty stomach. They become easy to catch and kill.
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  cpursley
  I never understood these engineered ultra processed meat imitation products, they are not healthy - period. There's already healthy and delicious cuisines that have developed over thousands of years (Indian, Nepalese, I'm sure many others). This desire to just recreate the SAD (standard American diet) with goo is beyond strange...
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  Simulacra
  I don't think it was ever the moment, even though there has always been a market for plant-based foods, the company assumed that market was far larger than it ever was or will be.
• touwer
  What a bs. It still grows. Beyond meet was just not unique enough to justify the valuation
• deterministic
  > not the moment for plant-based meatIt will never be the right moment for plant-based meat. It is ultra processed unhealthy garbage.The length of the ingredient list tells you everything you need to know. The longer it is, the more processed and unhealthy the "food" is.
• kalehosiery
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• shablulman
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• GeoSys
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  znpy
  It was never going to work.Proprietary food, that you can only buy from one company?Of course it was doomed to fail. It’s not even about veganism, it’s a cancerous idea.
• shrubble
  I’m curious about how much money was taken out by insiders who must have known what their costs were internally and how little advancement was made on making the same product at a lower cost.