Dive Brief:
- Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, believes plants are the future of protein. The company makes all its meat substitutes with soy or pea protein and without gluten, dairy, trans fats, cholesterol, or bioengineered ingredients.
- "The whole ethos of the company is to create a product that is completely indistinguishable from animal protein. We’re not there yet, but every day we do get closer and we do know that scientifically it’s possible," Brown told Food Business News.
- To support its growth, Beyond Meat recently hired three food industry veterans. Mark Mortimer, former president and chief customer officer of Annie’s, Inc., took on the new role of chief commercial officer. Jerry Joye, former COO of Fiji Water, became COO at Beyond Meat. Mark Nelson, most recently CFO and treasurer at Farmer Brothers Co., became CFO of Beyond Meat.
Dive Insight:
An August 2015 report from Markets and Markets lists Beyond Meat as one of the leading players in the global meat substitutes market. The report projects that market will reach $5.17 billion by 2020, representing a CAGR of 6.4% from 2015.
Other leading players in the U.S. include Amy’s Kitchen, MGP Ingredient,s and Morningstar Farms. Companies outside the U.S. include Sonic Biochem Extractions Limited (India), Garden Protein International Inc. (Canada), Meatless B.V. (The Netherlands), Quorn Foods (U.K.), The Nisshin Ollio Group, Ltd. (Japan), and Vbites Foods Ltd. (U.K.).