The shares of Beyond Meat, the California-based purveyor of plant-based burgers and sausages, more than doubled Thursday in its Nasdaq debut. It’s the first pure-play maker of vegan “meat” to go public, according to Renaissance Capital, which researches and tracks IPOs.
The 10-year-old company has attracted celebrity investors like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. It sells to 30,000 grocery stores, restaurants and schools in the US, Canada, Italy, the UK and Israel.
The IPO comes amid growing consumer interest in plant-based foods for their presumed health and environmental benefits. US sales of plant-based meats jumped 42 percent between March 2016 and March 2019 to a total of US$888 million, according to Nielsen. Traditional meat sales rose 1 percent to US$85 billion in that same time frame.
Photo: Bloomberg
照片：彭博社
The trend is a global one. Demand is expected to continue to grow. Euromonitor, a consulting firm, predicts worldwide sales of meat substitutes will grow 22 percent by 2023 to a total of US$22.9 billion.
Even Burger King has recognized the appeal. Earlier last week, the fast food chain announced that it would start testing the Impossible Whopper, made with a plant-based burger from Impossible Foods, in additional markets after its month long test in St. Louis proved successful. Meanwhile, Ikea says it’s working on developing a plant-based Swedish meatball, which it says it plans to test with customers early next year.
Beyond Meat’s ingredient list — it only uses natural ingredients that haven’t been genetically modified and doesn’t use soy — sets it apart from competitors. Its products are made from pea protein, canola oil, potato starch and other plant-based ingredients. Its burgers “bleed” with beet juice; its sausages are colored with fruit juice.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
Unlike competitors, Beyond Meat products have also been sold in the meat section of groceries since 2016. That has broadened their appeal beyond vegetarians. Beyond Meat says a 26-week study last spring showed that 93 percent of customers of US supermarket chain Kroger who bought its burgers also bought animal meat during the same period.
In a 2016 taste test, US magazine Consumer Reports said the texture of the Beyond Burger was similar to ground beef, but it didn’t match up in flavor. The magazine’s conclusion: It might not be the best burger you’ve ever tried, but it’s pretty tasty on a bun with lots of toppings.
But Beyond Meat touts environmental benefits as well. The company says a plant-based burger takes 99 percent less water and 93 percent less land to produce than a beef burger, and generates 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Photo: Reuters
照片：路透
(AP)
總部位於美國加州的植物原料漢堡及香腸供應商「Beyond Meat」（超越肉品），上週四在納斯達克股票交易所首次掛牌上市，股價大漲一倍多。研究及追蹤首次公開募股的文藝復興資本表示，這是第一次有專做純素食「肉品」的廠商上市。
這家已有十年歷史的公司吸引了微軟創辦人比爾‧蓋茲和演員李奧納多‧狄卡皮歐等名人投資。該公司產品銷往美國、加拿大、義大利、英國和以色列的三萬家食品雜貨店、餐廳和學校。
Beyond Meat 的首次公開募股，是在消費者對植物性食品的興趣日益增長之際，因為植物性食品對健康和環境都有益處。市場調查公司尼爾森的數據顯示，由二○一六年三月到二○一九年三月之間，美國的素肉銷售額增加了百分之四十二，達到八點八八億美元。同一期間，肉品的銷售額增加了百分之一，達到八百五十億美元。
這種趨勢是全球性的，預計需求將繼續增加。顧問公司歐睿預測，到了二○二三年，全球肉類替代品的銷售額將增加百分之二十二，總額達到兩百二十九億美元。
這種吸引力甚至還得到連鎖速食店漢堡王的認同。上週稍早，漢堡王宣布，在聖路易進行一個月的試吃取得成功後，將開始正式販售以「Impossible Foods」（不可能食品）公司的素食漢堡所製成的「Impossible Whopper」（不可能的華堡）。與此同時，「IKEA」（宜家）表示，該公司正在開發一種以植物原料製成的瑞典肉丸，計劃在明年初讓顧客試吃。
Beyond Meat 的原料成份──它僅使用非基因改造的天然原料，且不使用大豆──將它與競爭對手區分開來。其產品是由豌豆蛋白、菜籽油、馬鈴薯澱粉和其他植物成分製成。它用甜菜汁讓漢堡「流出血水」，所生產的香腸以果汁染色。
與競爭對手不同的是，Beyond Meat 的產品自二○一六年起也在雜貨的肉品部門銷售。這擴大了他們對素食者以外顧客的吸引力。Beyond Meat 表示，去年春季所進行為期二十六週的調查顯示，在克羅格連鎖超市購買Beyond Meat 素漢堡肉的顧客中，有百分之九十三同時也買了動物肉漢堡。
美國《消費者報告》雜誌指出，二○一六年的試吃結果顯示，Beyond Burger 素漢堡肉的質地與牛絞肉相似，但吃起來味道並不太像。《消費者報告》的結論是：它也許不是你嚐過最好吃的漢堡「肉」，但如果跟麵包和很多配料夾起來一起吃，就非常好吃。
而Beyond Meat也宣傳其環境效益。該公司表示，與牛肉漢堡相比，以植物原料製成的漢堡可減少百分之九十九的用水和百分之九十三的用地，並減少百分之九十的溫室氣體排放。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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