Like most Americans, McDonald’s has given up on Beyond Meat

Unplanted

McDonald’s will likely be meat-free-free in America for the foreseeable future, after the company confirmed at a WSJ forum on Wednesday that the McPlant, a burger made in collaboration with Beyond Meat, failed when it was rolled out in hundreds of locations across California and Texas in 2022.

That’s a sizable setback for Beyond, which, despite some serious hype around the brand in earlier years, has never turned a profit and has seen its stock drop ~90% from its 2019 IPO. In its latest quarter, the plant-based producer reported net revenues that sunk 18% to $76M, the company’s 8th quarter of shrinking sales in a row.

Beyond’s been shouting about its grill-friendly Beyond IV range of burgers and sausages recently, but all anyone else has been talking about is how cooked the brand itself is. Growing concerns around processed food and waning veggie and vegan communities could explain Beyond’s decline in the past few years. Whatever the reason, when consumers stood in a McDonald’s and were given the choice between a beef burger and a Beyond burger, not enough people chose the latter.

Beyond America

The fake meat co’s fortunes have looked healthier overseas in recent years, with sales in Beyond Meat’s “International” division growing 20% in 2023 compared to the year before. Interestingly, the McPlant is still available across European nations like Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands. However, it appears that America’s meat-free malaise might be starting to spread, with overseas sales down 22% in the first quarter of 2024, which was more extreme than the 16% dropoff seen in the states.

Joe Erlinger, the McDonald’s USA president, told the WSJ’s Global Food Forum that he doesn’t think “the US consumer is coming to McDonald’s for the McPlant or other plant based proteins” — if Beyond’s sales are anything to go by, they’re not going direct to source either.