Article Details
  • Published Online:
    September  2025
  • Product Name:
    The IUP Journal of Case Folio
  • Product Type:
    Article
  • Product Code:
    IJCF040925
  • DOI:
    10.71329/CaseFolio/2025.25.3.51-66
  • Author Name:
    Vinod Babu Koti and Namratha V Prasad
  • Availability:
    YES
  • Subject/Domain:
    Management
  • Download Format:
    PDF
  • Pages:
    51-66
Volume 25, Issue 3, July-September 2025
The Travails of ‘Beyond Meat’: Are Meat Alternatives Still the Future of Food?
Abstract

The case study discusses the disruption that Beyond Meat, Inc. (BM), a US-based plant-based meat alternatives company, brought in the food industry and analyzes the possibility of meat alternatives becoming mainstream food products in the future. It starts with a brief insight into the entrepreneurship journey of BM’s Founder and CEO, Ethan Brown (Brown), who believed that one should eat what they love while helping the environment, the climate, and themselves. The case provides a significant insight into BM’s innovative product development process, wherein products were designed keeping in mind the needs and wants of customers. It then goes into detail about BM’s market segmentation, positioning, and targeting strategies. Despite early success and worldwide popularity, BM encountered growth stagnation within a few years, leaving it to undertake a business reset. The case also mentions the various factors that negatively impacted BM, the key reason being that the plant-based meat revolution was on the wane.

Introduction

In April, 2024, Beyond Meat, Inc. (BM), a US-based plant-based meat alternatives company, announced that it had earned net revenues of $75.6 mn in Q1 2024, a decline of 18.5% compared to Q1 2023, when revenues were $92.2 mn. Following the poor financial results, the company announced that it was scaling down its operations. Nonetheless, BM stated that it was bullish in certain geographical areas, including European markets.