Beyond Meat to let go of 10% of its global workforce

Plant-based protein company Beyond Meat is to let go of 10% of its employees after announcing weaker than expected sales in its Q3 results.

The redundancies, equating to around 65 employees, represent 10% of its global workforce, but 19% of its non-production workforce.

The company said there had been a softening in demand for plant-based meat substitutes across the market and its core Beyond Burger, Beyond Beef and Beyond Sausage products had seen a slowdown in sales.

Net revenues are expected to be in the range of $330m (£266m) to $340m (£274m), representing a decrease of between 19% and 21% compared to 2022.

Beyond Meat president and chief executive Ethan Brown said: “We anticipated a modest return to growth in the third quarter of 2023 that did not occur, reflecting further sector-specific and consumer headwinds.

“Even as we implement measures to address those headwinds that are within our sphere of influence, we intend to pursue a further, sizable reduction of operating expenses to improve our cost structure.”

The company said it was reviewing its pricing strategy and using marketing to “counter misinformation about our products and category”.

Beyond Meat was founded in 2009 and its meat substitute products are used in restaurant chains including McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Plant-based meat brands have struggled this year amid a slowdown in demand for their products.

Leeds-based Meatless Farm laid off most of its 100 staff and fell into administration earlier this year, before being purchased by vegan brand VFC.

Plant & Bean, which is based in Lincolnshire and supplied companies including Tesco, also called in administrators in June.

Middlesborough-based Marlow Foods, which makes meat alternative Quorn products, posted a £15.5m loss last year amid rising costs and a slowdown in supermarket sales.

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