• by Steve Ellwanger , May 11, 2023

Despite high brand awareness, plant-based foods marketer Beyond Meat is still chasing the profit sizzle because of its premium pricing relative to animal-protein competitors, according to the company.

Beyond Meat’s net revenue in U.S. retail channels declined 35.3% year-over-year in Q1 ended April 1 while its overall net loss was $59 million compared to $100.5 million.

“Within U.S. plant-based meat, our core subcategory of refrigerated continues to experience significant challenges that inflationary pressures have driven a shift towards lower-priced animal protein among consumers,” CFO and treasurer Lubi Kutua told financial analysts on an earnings call yesterday.

Referring to the frozen-foods aisle, Beyond Meat founder, president and CEO Ethan Brown Brown said that the recently launched Beyond Steak has risen to the number 2 SKU in frozen, plant-based meats at an unidentified “key retail customer -- and we continue to expand distribution for the product.”

The day before the earnings release, the company announced that Beyond Steak has become the first plant-based meat—and the first steak—to be certified by the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check food-certification program.

Heart-Check encourages consumers to look for foods that are low in such things as cholesterol, saturated and trans fats and sodium, designated by packaging bearing the American Heart Association logo.

Articulating the health benefits to consumers will help the company “cross over the chasm from early adopters to mainstream consumers,” said Brown.

One of the company’s biggest assets is high brand awareness, as noted by investment firm Tangerine Capital on SeekingAlpha.

“Their biggest and only asset at the moment is their brand awareness, but it is not big enough to give them a competitive advantage,” the firm noted prior to yesterday’s earnings release.

According to data from Statista published on May 3, brand awareness of Beyond Meat is at 70% in the United States, based on an aided brand recognition survey in which respondents were shown the brand's logo and the written brand name.

“All in all, 39% of meat substitutes users in the United States use Beyond Meat,” Statista wrote in a blog post.

“Around 28% of meat substitutes users in the United States say they are likely to use Beyond Meat again. Set in relation to the 39% usage share of the brand, this means that 72% of their customers show loyalty to the brand.”

Tangerine Capital said another positive attribute for the brand is showing how its products can be used as meal ingredients—as shown in this video.

Nonetheless, the firm believes that unless the company’s financials improve dramatically, “the most likely scenario is that Beyond Meat will be acquired” and cited Tyson Foods as “the most obvious candidate.”

Marketing Daily reached out to Beyond Meat for comment, but had not heard back by deadline.