Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has formed a partnership with Beyond Meat to develop and distribute plant-based snacks and drinks.
With the partnership with PepsiCo, Beyond Meat, which already makes plant-based alternatives to beef and pork, will be able to access a global distribution and marketing powerhouse for its plant-based snacks and drinks.
Plant-based partnership
According to a Beyond Meat spokesperson, the partnership with Pepsi will enable the firm to enter more categories and launch new products to market faster than before. The spokesperson added that the US joint venture between the two companies may include a future expansion into China and the UK.
News of the partnership propelled Beyond Meat's shares by around 18% on Tuesday.
UBS research analyst Erika Jackson pointed out: "Historically, [Beyond's] marketing spend has been nominal (primarily social media). Pepsi could help push that marketing to a new level, and bring more customers into the fold."
Meanwhile, Pepsi will benefit from the joint venture by giving it access the growing plant-based protein market.
Ramsey Baghdadi, consumer analyst at data and analytics company GlobalData, explained: "Consumer demand for plant-based products is large enough to make an impact in sales, as the plant-based alternative industry continues to grow."
"PepsiCo's decision to widen its existing selection of plant-based snacks will be a game changer in the long-term, as more consumers naturally gravitate towards the trend," Baghdadi added.
Similar steps have been taken by other consumer packaged goods companies, with Nestle selling plant-based meat through vegetarian food company Sweet Earth, which it acquired in 2017, and Kellog taking advantage of the plant-based meat market through its Incogmeato brand.
Other notable plant-based meat partnerships
In September 2019, McDonald’s partnered with Beyond Meat to run a limited test of its PLT (plant, lettuce and tomato) burger in Canada. The limited test run followed Burger King’s test launch of its plant-based Impossible burger.
Ann Wahlgren, McDonald’s vice president of global menu strategy, wrote in a blog post saying that the company has been closely observing the growing demand for meat alternatives. She referenced the size of the test that they were launching at the end of September in Canada.
She wrote “Why just a small test? We’re in learning mode, so testing is a major part of how we develop our menu. It’s how we look- before we leap.”
A month earlier, KFC also had a partnership with Beyond Meat to start testing plant-based chicken nuggets and boneless wings at a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia.
Earlier that year, Impossible Foods announced in May that it is developing meatless sausage crumbles for the Little Caesars pizza chain in some US states. The company has also announced that its plant-based meat will be available in 102 stores, including Fairway in New York and 100 Wegmans locations across seven states.
In early 2020, Impossible Foods launched a plant-based pork substitute at the CES 2020 tech show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The products that will use the pork substitute were designed to be compliant with kosher and halal rules followed by some observers of the Jewish and Islamic faiths.
Patrick Brown, Impossible Foods’ founder and chief executive, said: “Now we’re accelerating the expansion of our product portfolio to more of the world’s favorite foods. We won’t stop until we eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and make the global food system sustainable.”
