Dive overview:
- Beyond Meat will launch the Beyond Smashable Burger, a smash-style burger for U.S. food service establishments at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago this weekend.
- The burger is served as a non-formed patty that restaurant operators can crumble to their preferred size during cooking, ensuring a perfect griddle smash and crispy crust while remaining juicy. designed in the format Burgers are served in 2.5 oz patties.
- Beyond Meat has been facing widespread sales and operational challenges over the past year and a half, even as it works to improve profitability. This will be the company’s first product launch of 2023.
Dive Insight:
Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown I made fun of this launch He said on a conference call with analysts after the company reported earnings last week. He said the new burgers have been well received by consumers and represent “a real advancement in taste and sensory experience.”
The difference between a normal burger and a smash burger is recipe. Rather than grilling or cooking thick, molded patties, smashburgers are unshaped balls of meat that are smashed thinly over a hot griddle and cooked. The resulting burger is toasted to a nice brown color and very flavorful. They are also easily stackable.
In a release announcing its launch, Beyond Meat not only talked about the new burger’s performance, but also its nutritional and sustainability benefits. Each Beyond Smashbull Burger patty has 13 grams of protein, 35% less saturated fat than an 80/20 ground beef patty, and no cholesterol or soy ingredients.
smash style hamburger Growing The Popular More and more restaurants are incorporating them into their menus. And according to Datassential stats cited by Beyond Meat, the term “plant-based burger” on restaurant menus has increased more than 11-fold over the past four years. A third of his consumers said they would be interested in plant-based burgers.
The launch comes as Beyond Meat is aggressively exiting some of its former businesses in an effort to improve profitability. After a long disappointing quarter, Mr. Brown unveiled a new strategy late last year. He will aim not for growth above all else, but for sustained growth. Brown said this included cutting operating costs (most of which came from two rounds of job cuts last year), reducing the amount of product manufactured to meet actual demand, and making more targeted efforts. said to include marketing. He said innovation will not be curtailed.
The Beyond Smashable Burger is the first new product since the introduction of this new strategy. And the product is hurting the market as the company’s revenues from U.S. restaurant services are declining.in the most recent quarter, Beyond Meat’s U.S. restaurant service revenue fell 5.3% year-on-year. From a volume standpoint, product sales to food service providers fell by 7.3%.that is 2 consecutive quarters Declining U.S. food service.
While this kind of burger is unlikely to bring Beyond Meat to some of the big QSR chains in the US, such as McDonald’s, it could help boost the company’s popularity among some smaller operators. be. And that could be a boon for Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat has enjoyed significant success in international foodservice sales in recent quarters.
Brown said on the earnings call that the dichotomy between the two regions has a lot to do with the average consumer’s perception. In Europe, consumers are much more focused on the plant-based category for sustainability reasons. Brown said Beyond Meat is trying to target some U.S. consumers interested in choosing plant-based meat for environmental reasons. Younger consumers often fit the bill, so trendy restaurant products can be even more successful.
