Meat-eaters are becoming more interested in plant-based foods, restaurant owners
Since 2018 Beyond Meat has been bringing a revolutionary plant-based breakthrough to Australian dinner tables—The Beyond Burger, the world’s first plant-based burger that looked, cooked, and satisfied like a fresh beef burger. It has all the juicy meat deliciousness of a traditional burger but comes with all the upsides of a plant-based meal.
The success of Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger is being replicated across the world, including Australia, with retailers and restaurants recognising and embracing pan-customer demand (i.e. not just vegetarians and vegans) for plant-based products.
Harriet Wischer, Coles Category Manager of BBQ & Local Ranging, said “Our customers are becoming more and more interested in plant-based foods, but people are not so much switching to a full vegetarian diet—they’re substituting veggie options a couple of times a week. This shift is part of a global trend, with overseas research finding more than a third (34%) of consumers now have meat-reduced or meat-free diets.
“Coles supermarkets stock plant-based protein products such as the Beyond Meat Burger range, Chicken-Free Chicken, tofu, lentil burgers and a variety of other meat-free products. The Beyond Burger was recently launched nationally after trialling it late last year in 200 of our New South Wales stores—where we found that two-thirds of our customers for the burger were existing BBQ meat shoppers.”
In the past fortnight shares of the alternative meat company jumped more than 600% from the U.S. initial public offering (IPO) price of $25 a share during intraday trade on June 10, hitting a high of $186.43 a share.
The company ended the day up by 21.2% at a value of $168.10—570% above its IPO price. Beyond Meat has been telling investors that it expects revenue to more than double over the next year, due to these reported first-quarter results, which are clearly far stronger than expected.
Just two weeks ago American research S3 Partners reported that short-sellers lost over $398 million betting against Beyond Meat, and those losses only got bigger in the following days as the stock surged yet again. The shares jumped 21% in just two business days following a 39% surge. The stock is currently up almost 600% from its IPO price of $25US per share in early May.
Beyond Burger has also been selling, to great success, at the nationwide restaurant chain, Grill’d.
“The introduction of our new Beyond Burger range has been really positive,” says Grill’d CEO, Adam Stapleton. “Since its launch, the Beyond Burger has drawn in crowds of new guests and the feedback is that we’re their go-to restaurant for a great Beyond Burger. We’ve seen the biggest increase among meat-eaters who are choosing plant-based options—especially in the under 30s age group. The Beyond Burger now has a popularity rating that rivals some of the long-standing fan-favourite meat burgers on our menu.”
The Beyond Burger packs 20g of plant-based pea protein and has no cholesterol, GMOs, soy or gluten. The Beyond Burger packs more protein and iron than beef but with less saturated and total fat than beef. In keeping with the brand’s promise to help consumers looking for healthy options to continue to Eat What You Love, the company is launching The Beyond Burger exclusively at Coles supermarkets across NSW, and in IGA stores nationwide. Future Farm Co is responsible for distributing Beyond Meat in Australia and New Zealand.
Australian retailers such as Coles and IGA, and restaurants like Grill’d were amongst the first to embrace the opportunity to be at the cutting-edge of the category when Beyond Burger arrived in Australia.
Future Farms are aiming to bring plant-based products mainstream and Beyond Meat is an example of this where a majority of its consumers are meat eaters. The Beyond Burger will be sold in the meat case as a Coles first, a merchandising strategy that Beyond Meat pioneered in the US to much success and which is now being adopted globally.
Ethan Brown, founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, was selected as a 2018 United Nations Champion of the Earth in the category of science and innovation, the organisation’s highest environmental honour.
“Beyond Meat typifies the direction of plant-based innovation where everyone can benefit from products that finally taste more like those which we are used to but deliver all the health and environmental benefits of consuming a plant-based diet. Ultimately, it’s better for us and better for the environment,” he said.
The Beyond Burger’s RRP is $11.00 per pack which includes two patties.
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