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Title: As Demand for Plant-Based Meat Weakens in the US, Beyond Disappoints
Wall Street

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/11/0...

Wedneday Beyond Meat "missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter
revenue," reports Reuters. "Consumers' growing concerns about processed foods
are severely diminishing the appeal of Beyond Meat's product line, causing
retailers and quick service restaurants to pull back sharply on orders,"
Rachel Wolff, analyst at Emarketer, said. Retail sales of refrigerated plant-
based meat alternative products in the U.S. have fallen 17.2% so far this
year, and frozen plant-based meat alternatives have fallen 8.1%, according to
data from SPINS... [Beyond's] revenue for the quarter ended June 28 fell
nearly 20% to $75 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $82
million, according to data compiled by LSEG. While the company arguably
invented a new market for plant-based meat substitutes, it also "owns no real
intellectual property," argues The Street. "And every company in the meat and
grocery business (more or less) now sells a take-off of a product that
already had limited appeal..." Beyond Meat has admitted it's in trouble by
hiring corporate restructuring expert John Boken from consultancy
AlixPartners as interim chief transformation officer [with a focus that
includes "operating expense reduction" and "broader operational efficiency"].
It has also let go of 44 employees in North America (6% of its global
workforce) as it seeks to cut operating expenses amid disappointing sales...
Beyond Meat also has a significant cash problem. As of June 28, 2025, Beyond
Meat's cash and cash equivalents balance was $117.3 million, and total
outstanding debt was $1.2 billion. The company does have time to fend off a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, but it also has limited, if any, prospects to
meet its impending cash needs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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