Demand for Beyond Meat is sizzling out

Demand for Beyond Meat is sizzling out
Source: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

You’ve probably noticed and/or heard how inflation is making things more expensive worldwide. So, to save a buck, people are generally choosing not to spend their extra money on plant-based meats when they go to the grocery store. Sales of meat alternatives fell almost 11% in the year ending October 2 from the previous period, IRI data shows.

As a result, Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat company, plans to lay off about 200 employees (almost 20% of its workforce) to compensate for declining sales. It also said that retailers have been canceling or delaying promotions with the company, which is another sign this problem is one of consumer interest. This caused shares to plummet, and they hit a 52-week low of US$12.76 earlier last week.

So far, it looks like the cuts are coming in the R&D side of things, though it’s also losing its chief growth officer in North America, and there are some CFO swaps happening. The COO left too, but that probably has more to do with the fact that he bit a guy’s nose at a football game than anything else.

Key comments:

“The Board of Directors … approved a plan to reduce the company’s current workforce by approximately 200 employees, representing approximately 19% of the company’s total global workforce,” said the regulatory filing in which the decision to have layoffs was announced. “This decision was based on cost-reduction initiatives intended to reduce operating expenses, sharpen the company’s focus on a set of key growth priorities, and target cash flow positive operations within the second half of 2023.”

“We are significantly reducing expenses and sharpening our focus on a set of key growth priorities,” said the company’s CEO, Ethan Brown.