In recent decades, there has been a monumental shift in health and wellness. People are caring more about their health and fitness, and are more mindful of what foods and products they put in and on their body. That being said, plant-based products are becoming more and more mainstream as we move forward. We’ve seen great growth in the plant-based industry already.
The dairy industry is about a $16 billion dollar category in the U.S. However, plant-based dairy alternatives have now taken about 12-13 percent of that category, with a rough valuation at about $2 billion.
If we look at the U.S. meat industry (which, by the way, is the largest category of food and beverage product in the U.S.), we also see a similar trend. The meat category is valued at about $270 billion– $35 billion of that total is plant-based meat alternatives.
Beyond Meat, one of the very first plant-based companies, recently went public. It’s IPO quickly rose in value, starting at $25 per share and closing at $65.75 per share by the end of the day. In fact, Beyond Meat just had the highest-rising IPO in the U.S. since 2000. The company’s massively successful IPO is evidence of the major shift in consumer trends toward plant-based products. Additionally, Beyond Meat is backed by many famous investors including Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neal, Leonardo Dicaprio, Snoop Dogg, Jessica Chastain, and even Bill Gates.
Impossible Foods, arguably Beyond Meat’s biggest competitor, has already more than doubled its profitability in its current 7,000 locations it serves. It also recently announced a partnership with Burger King to create the Impossible Whopper, which will be made available at all 7,200 of Burger King’s U.S. locations.
Other large plant-based companies are quickly growing as well. Tyson Foods, once a Beyond Meat investor, recently pulled out of the investment partnership as it has plans to introduce its own plant-based proteins. Memphis Meats, another competing company that is backed by Tyson Foods, is creating duck and chicken meatballs using starter animal cells in a lab. It intends to bring the meatballs to the market, but no exact timeframe has been set.
As more and more people become aware of animal-cruelty and conscious of their health and fitness, we should see the plant-based continue to grow and overthrow the dairy and meat markets.
