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I 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

by shirro 1y ago

I 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 ago
I 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 ago
People 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 ago
  Just 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
There are those like me who eat meat, like the taste of meat, but think for health reasons they should be eating less meat.

by shirro 1y ago

HankStallone 1y ago

I 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 ago

People 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 ago
Just 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

There are those like me who eat meat, like the taste of meat, but think for health reasons they should be eating less meat.