Non-Meat for Meat Lovers: Beyond Meat
This is the story of Beyond Meat, a company that wants to take chicken and burgers off the meat lovers’ plates and do it in a way that they will never know the difference.
Think about it; if you are a meat lover, there is nothing better than a freshly grilled steak or a basket of fried chicken, right? Well, Ethan Brown, the founder of Beyond Meat, says that you can have all of that, but the meat does not have to actually come from a cow or a chicken. It can come from the plants: the lentils, the peas. But here is the thing: it won’t taste like the vegetarian burgers that everyone hates; it will taste just like meat that nobody can tell the difference. So, this is what led Ethan to found Beyond Meat: making people eat delicious foods without doing any harm to any animal or earth.
The story starts after he finished the school, when Ethan’s father asked him what he wants to do with his life. He certainly did not know. Then, his father asked him, “What is the biggest problem that the world faces?”. Ethan answered the climate. If we don’t get climate right, then nothing else matters, he said. So, he got into energy, like anybody would do to face that problem. However, after years later, he saw the bigger problem: the livestock animal industry.
Nowadays, 16.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by animal production. Also, livestock is responsible for 10% of annual water consumption globally.
Open any business crash course from YouTube; they will tell you that you should get rid of bottlenecks in your business. Ethan figured that in meat, the bottleneck is actually animals. Meat is basically made of amino acids, lipids, some minerals, and water. So, he thought, “why shouldn’t we do that by ourselves?”.
Then finally, Ethan Brown founded Beyond Meat in 2009. He invested his own money in it, which ran out, but his family and friends saw the passion in him, so they gave him more money. Luckily in 2011, Kleiner Perkins saw the potential in Beyond Meat and invested in it. Actually, Bill Gates is one of the investors of Beyond Meat, too.
In 2016, the company found its first retailer, Whole Foods. And today, the company has more than 3000 retail partners from 84 countries worldwide. Also, in the foodservice area, Beyond Meat has partnered with companies like KFC, Starbucks, and Dunkins’.
Two of the company’s missions are fighting climate change and preserving natural resources. We can say that they are accomplished successfully since Beyond Burger, one of the most popular products of the company uses 99% less water, 93% less land, 46% less energy, and releases 90% GHG compared to a beef burger.
Currently, the R&D studies are being conducted constantly for the company to get closer and closer to the taste of animal meat. One of the company's main goals is to underprice the animal protein in at least one category, and Ethan thinks it is possible. So, why won’t it be?
Special Thanks
My internship at SAGE and YellowX inspired me to write in a more storytelling manner. I learned so much from my mentors and keep learning. I am glad that I am a part of this journey, life is full of opportunities.
