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Right, it's the main assumption I'm making here. I'm basing it on all the predictions around meat substitutes getting cheaper as they mature and scale up, which
by karaterobot 3y ago
Right, it's the main assumption I'm making here. I'm basing it on all the predictions around meat substitutes getting cheaper as they mature and scale up, which have not panned out so far. And, more broadly, the tendency for startups to make such claims with the best intentions but a rather poor track record. The narrative tends to change from "we believe we can get the cost down" to "this is a premium product, people will pay more for this". We'll see I guess. A chicken egg at a grocery store right now costs about $.25, so that's the number to beat.
- rsynnott 3y agoMost meat substitutes are _way_ more complex than producing a single protein, tho (though, one of the oldest, quorn, is pretty much just a simple fungus-produced protein with other stuff added later, and I think is cheaper by weight than most meat). > A chicken egg at a grocery store right now costs about $.25, so that's the number to beat. Well, not really; they're producing albumen for industrial use, so there's some extra processing that that egg has to undergo that they get to skip. I would wonder also can they charge a small premium for what is presumably a much more consistent product; they shouldn't have to worry about bits of egg shell or blood spots or differing densities or all the other complexities that come from using a natural product.