6 ms·
Beyond Meat headed to Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- habosa 1y agoThe stock spent over a year in the $100-200 range, implying that this was a 5-10B company. I was dumb enough to buy it then. Then it just fell off a cliff and never recovered. Does anyone specifically know what went wrong? Why was it ever thought to be such a good business and what happened to make it effectively worthless now?
- Finnucane 1y agoThey not only have to compete against direct competitors such as Impossible Burger, but tofu, seitan, and an array of already-established meat-substitute products. Which perhaps don't mimic meat quite as well as the new products, but are typically less expensive. The new products just cost too much for everyday use.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- qalmakka 1y agoYeah it's not like burgers have the monopoly of delicious food. There are so many good foods out there, people have been eating mostly plant based foods in both the Mediterranean and India for thousands of years. There are literally thousands of recipes from multiple cuisines around the world that don't have meat in them
- hearsathought 1y ago> people have been eating mostly plant based foods in both the Mediterranean and India for thousands of years. Since when have people of the mediterranean and indian been "mostly plant based" for thousands of years? Most indians eat meat ( and the percentage is increasing as indians become wealthier and can afford meat ). Most people throughout the mediterranean eat meat. Why is it that the vegan community goes out of their way to fetishize cultures and lie about them relentlessly? Just because greeks eat salad doesn't mean they are "mostly plant based".
- qalmakka 1y agoA. I'm neither vegan nor vegetarian B. I don't mean _now_, I mean in the previous few centuries. People in Italy, Greece, ... couldn't afford to eat meat more than a few times a year (if they were lucky), and mostly ate vegetables, a bit of cheese, lots of bread, pulses and porridge. This is why most recipes aren't really focused on "good" cuts of meat, but mince, offal, bad cuts, .. and lots of vegetables. My grandma was born a peasant in the 1920's and literally ate meat for Christmas and that was it.
- CorrectHorseBat 1y agoAs you said because they couldn't afford it, not because the alternative was tastier. When people get richer they start eating meat because it tastes good and has great nutritional value. Some people want to have the good of meat such as taste and nutrition value without all the bad such as animal cruelty and carbon emissions. What's so hard to understand about that?
- Finnucane 1y agoI've never had a burger that was as good as saag paneer.
- qalmakka 1y agoIf this were the case, we would have stopped eating those dishes. But we didn't, we still make eggplant parmesan, pasta and beans, pasta al pomodoro, pizza marinara, bean soup, minestrone, ... My point was that you _don't need_ stuff to taste like meat in order for them to be good. People couldn't afford meat so they had to invent tasty food without it, and they largely succeeded at that. Meat got so popular and common not only because it tastes great, but because it's easy to prepare and was associated to a higher status compared to more humble dishes. Several food historians theorised that the birth of many Italian-American dishes can be explained with the extreme poverty most emigrants were escaping from. people got euphoric from finally being able to afford all of the meat they wanted, so they started putting it everywhere just because they could. The problem is that for too many people having meat is a necessary condition for something to be tasty, which isn't the case. And no, fake meat doesn't really taste like meat unless you haven't ever had meat before. It tastes good, but definitely not like meat. There are other traditionally vegan things that taste way better to be honest. > great nutritional value as a meat eater, this is somewhat debatable tbh. Sure meat contains lots of protein, but you can easily get it from other sources both plant and animal based (like eggs, for instance). Red meat is also pretty unhealthy, too; I eat it because it's tasty and convenient, not for the nutritional value it provides.
- mikequinlan 1y agoBeyond Meat Denies Filing For Bankruptcy In New Statement https://plantbasednews.org/news/economics/beyond-meat-denies-filing-for-bankruptcy/ https://plantbasednews.org/news/economics/beyond-meat-denies...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- metalman 1y agoI would pay them to go bankrupt, but thats it
- knowitnone2 1y agoThen send them a multi-million dollar offer
- MilnerRoute 1y agoDupe https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44860477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44860477 One commentator in that discussion pointed out Beyond Meat has not actually declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (It just may or may not be true that Beyond Meat is "headed" there, leading the commenter to complain "This isn't a news article, it's an opinion from some journalist who thinks Beyond Meat is doomed...")
- enjeyw 1y agoAbout 10 years ago I became more aware that reducing my consumption of meat was good for the world. The was good for Beyond Meat’s prospects. About 5 years ago I became more aware that reducing my consumption of ultra processed food was good for me. This was very bad for Beyond Meat’s prospects. I suspect this experience generalizes.
- knowitnone2 1y agoI'd argue that if you didn't buy the meat, somebody else did so your argument that it was "good for the world" lacks evidence.
- qalmakka 1y agoI don't understand the point of "fake meat" burgers. Like, there are so many good recipes and ingredients out there that don't try to mimic meat and are still good and tasty. Look at Indian food, for instance. They sure found a way to make pulses and other humble ingredients tasty and delicious. Or the many Mediterranean dishes that just happen to be vegan or vegetarian, but are meatless because they simply were good enough like that. I think fake meat wasn't really about "getting people to eat less meat", it was based on the expectation that the average person only wants to eat the same exact thing they ever did without ever widening their culinary horizons. The only problem is, that a person that's open enough to try fake meat is probably open minded enough to try new things in general, including foods that aren't served between two slices of bread. The people that stubbornly refuse to vary their diets often won't try new stuff anyway
- drob518 1y agoI agree. If you want to eat meat, fine. If you don’t want to eat meat, fine. But the whole, “Let’s trick our taste buds and eat fake meat,” thing doesn’t make much sense to me.
- troyvit 1y agoMan it works for me. I love fake sausage more than the real thing because it trips all the same taste feels but I'm not eating something as smart as my dog. It's also less greasy and easier to clean up after I'm done cooking it. I guest that it's ultra-processed, and probably not that good for me, but honestly sausage is pretty damned processed too.
- aziaziazi 1y ago[dead]
- paulryanrogers 1y agoFake meat is a fun transitional choice for those of us who appreciate meat's texture and flavor but not its costs to future generations. Indian food is a delight, yet sadly my digestive system cannot handle much of it anymore, for medical reasons. To each their own. No need to throw shade because different people have different tastes.
- legitster 1y agoBeyond developed a novelty product that focused entirely on the aesthetics of meat. But let's be real. Their products taste like crap and them scaling up with that awful recipe was never going to work. The reaper is coming for Impossible soon, but at least in the tiniest possible way, they at least kinda taste like meat. Regardless, this whole industry is built on hype. It's never going to be cheaper, healthier, or tastier than just a simple black bean burger.
- meeech 1y agotheir product doesn't taste like crap. Unless you meant it tasted like crap to you? I liked it as the 'meat' in a veg chilli for example.
- SlowTao 1y agoI wouldn't say they tasted like crap, but they where a novelty. Try it once or twice then never go back.
- troyvit 1y ago> But let's be real. Their products taste like crap That's actually being quite subjective rather than real. I personally love their sausage products and choose it over swine 100% of the time. Same with my kids.
- oliyoung 1y agoThey always struck me as a weird niche, as vegetarian food for non-vegetarians. Most vegetarians I know don't touch "fake meat" because the appearance of it being "real" is enough to put them off of it, the value prop is actually a negative to that market, so you're left with an addressable market of trying to convince non-vegetarians that the ultra processed tofu and/or fungus patty that looks like a hamburger is as good as a hamburger, and as accomodating as I can be, it's just not.
- vlod 1y ago> because the appearance of it being "real" is enough to put them off Exactly the reason for me. I will go out of my way not to eat these 'lets-try-really-hard-to-be-meat' burgers. That means standard veggies burgers (the ones that most people complain about, which I have no problem with) and even salads if need be. After a while (long while) being vegetarian becomes psychological and the mere thought of consuming meat turns my stomach.
- anabelluis423 1y ago[dead]
- MrGuts 1y agoThe meat that we moot is the doom that we deem.
- shirro 1y agoI don't understand the business case for fake meat. Surely it has to be really niche once the novelty has worn off. The market would seem to be meat for people who don't like meat? Isn't that like making sex bots in the gender people aren't attracted to for people who aren't attracted to that gender. And its all highly processed so people who like more "natural" foods aren't going to be that interested. Surely people who are interested in eating less or no meat would prefer to eat briam or ratatouille than some weird textured protein burger. It's not like the burger is the peak of culinary sophistication.
- HankStallone 1y agoI assumed it came from investors trying to get out in front of a coming trend that didn't happen, or didn't happen yet. There's a desire by part of the population, including some people who are influential in the culture and politics, to ban meat or make it prohibitively expensive, in order to reduce the load livestock puts on land and other resources. So if you believed that push was going to reach a tipping point in the next few years, where a lot of people who like meat were about to find that real burgers and steaks were out of their budget, you might think it's a great time to get into the fake meat business and be ready to serve that market. That didn't happen, but I can see why someone might have thought it was going to, or might think it still will.
- fred_is_fred 1y agoPeople that don't eat meat socialize with people who do. They go to burger places, they go to Chili's or Outback, they go to cook-outs. Chili's does not serve briam.
- vlod 1y agoJust checked out the menu (I don't eat there), but Chili's do a veggie black bean burger [0], so they are obviously trying to cater to veggies. I would get that. [0]: https://www.chilis.com/menu/big-mouth-burgers/veggie-santa-fe-burger https://www.chilis.com/menu/big-mouth-burgers/veggie-santa-f...
- FartinMowler 1y ago
- metalcrow 1y agoTbh, I imagine it's more the taste failure then anything. I'm an avid impossible burger eater and beyond meat beef tastes not good at all. Impossible is actually somewhere in the ballpark