Beyond Meat’s Proposed IPO Reveals Rabid Demand for Fake Meat
Photo Caption: Beyond Meat's flagship product, the Beyond Burger.
Skift Take
Sales to grocery stores make up Beyond Meat's largest revenue stream, but restaurants are a giant area of growth for the company. Successful chain partnerships and an exclusive distribution agreement with foodservice giant Sysco are fueling the company's path towards an IPO.
Americans are hooked on pea proteins. Beyond Meat’s pea proteins, to be exact.
The fake meat purveyor filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday in a bid to be the first plant-based protein startup in the industry to go public. The company estimated an initial offering size of $100 million and applied to trade under the symbol BYND.
Beyond Meat’s proposed IPO demonstrates just how much demand there is in the market for meatless meat. Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat’s founder and CEO, launched the company in 2009, and Impossible Foods, a direct plant-based protein competitor, arrived on the scene two years later. The startups challenged legacy faux meat providers like Tofurkey and Morningstar Farms by rebranding plant-based protein as a healthy, accessible option for everyone, not just vegetarians and vegans.
In actively avoiding marketing solely to people who don’t eat meat, Beyond Meat opened the door to a much wider customer ba
