Hit the perfect cultural moment when millennials wanted environmental virtue through food. Tripled revenue in a year riding social media-driven demand for plant-based alternatives. Created a product that actually tasted good — unlike the nasty patties of the '90s.
COVID broke the social media spell that created the category. Consumers started questioning the health claims, environmental benefits got debunked, and the price premium became untenable. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat scaled to 13 suppliers expecting the party to never end — just as giants like Tyson, Nestlé, and Impossible flooded in with copycat products.
Stock down 90% from peak. Sales declining 10-30% annually. Cut from 13 suppliers to one. Still over $1B in category sales, but the fad momentum is gone and competition is crushing margins.
