I've been doing a little bit of research too. Again, nothing major, just asking Grok questions and doing a few Google searches. Thanks to this I've learnt a few things:
- Sales for meat substitute products like Beyond Meat have dropped in the last few years. (I already knew this, but seeing some ballpark figures for 2024 helped get a better sense of things.)
- Quorn, which is big in the UK, has a presence, albeit small, in the US Market.
- The general mycoprotein production patent for Quorn ran out about fifteen years ago (the main ingredient in Quorn products is mycoprotein, derived from a fungus). Meaning any company can now make a similar product.
This is interesting to me as I normally buy what I like (stocks wise). As I mentioned on here before, unusually for me I was buying $BYND stock even though I'd never tried the product. Since then I have. In fact, I actually bought some more - and this time made cheeseburgers. Uplifting the vegan option into a vegetarian one.
However, I've also since bought Quorn pieces as well. My recent delving into this topic inspired me to revisit a dish I haven't eaten in about twenty years. As a child my mam used to make sweet and sour pork - it's kind of a family recipe. That is, the versions you'll find on the supermarket shelves aren't what I remember liking as a child. Anyway, after I first became vegetarian my mam kept making it for me, only with Quorn pieces instead of the pork. As it was the one meat-based meal that I really missed.
It's basically just rice, pineapple chunks, soy sauce, cornflour and the meat itself.
(I'm actually a big fan of pineapple in proper food. I'm one of these people that likes pineapple on pizzas. I think cooked fruit in general goes massively underused and under-explored - there's still this sense that it must be eaten either raw/cold or only as some kind of treat. A steak pie is a meal, but an apple pie is a dessert. "Why can't I have apple pie for tea?" I would always ask as a child, "I thought apples were healthy?"
That reminds me, with it being winter, I must buy a strudel. And I'll eat it as the main meal, not as a dessert.)
This brings me to the point. Part of the answer to that childhood question is the lack of protein. A meal needs some substance. Rice with pineapple chunks and some sauce isn't very filling. It would be a bit light, and not really worth the hassle of boiling all the pans. However, if you add some pork (or, in my case, Quorn), suddenly you have something a lot more satisfying. So I've been making a mess in the kitchen knocking up this meal once again. Nostalgia through tastebuds.
The Two Types of Substitute
It seems there are two types of meat substitute. One that seeks to recreate the direct experience and flavour of eating meat. The other that simply provides a substitute for the protein in dishes.
The Beyond Burger does the former. Quorn (at least the Quorn pieces that I buy) do the latter.
When I make Sweet and Sour Pork the flavour comes from the pineapple and the soy sauce, and the oil and the cornflour that I fry the Quorn pieces in. I don't really care if they taste identical to pork or not.
So, speaking on a personal level, as a consumer - and as a vegetarian - I could see Quorn being a more regular part of my shopping basket. Whereas the Beyond Burger would be less routine for me. I'd happily have a Beyond Burger on a trip to McDonald's, and I'd occasionally buy them as a, "We haven't had burgers in buns in a while," option. However, as I've mentioned before, I've never been a big fan of chomping down on a steak. That's not me. I'm not really an eating meat all the time type of person. I do need protein though. Especially in Indian/Oriental dishes where I can't just "have cheese with it." Plus, Quorn has the appeal of being a single ingredient product (pretty much).
Of course, ninety percent of the market is people who actually eat meat. Who like eating meat. Who like that taste. So, weirdly, they're more the potential market for the "direct experience" products. And that's a big market.
[The sales pitch to those people has been awful in recent years though. I'll add an addendum explaining why.]
So why don't Beyond Meat just whack out some mycoprotein pieces onto the market?
This returns us to the above bullet points. When I saw that the patent had expired my immediate thought was, "Why don't Beyond offer a similar product?" Capitalising on their global brand dominance.
Working through the question with Grok there are a few obvious hurdles. Mainly developing (and funding) the facilities/experience/knowledge to do it. As ever, nothing is so simple in real life. There's also the problem of potentially confusing the customer. Not having a clear brand signal. Plus, of course, I'm just one person. Not everyone wants what I want. Though given Quorn's success and longevity in the UK they must be doing something right.
Therefore, if I was investing in what I myself buy at the check out, I'd be a bit more inclined to invest in Quorn. (They're owned by the multinational Monde Nissan, that's listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange - a bit beyond my reach and knowledge.)
(The other famous long-established brand in the UK is Linda McCartney, whose parent is now the US food company Hain Celestial. As with Innocent, which is now owned by Coca-Cola, we're often ahead of the curve, then we get bought out.)
(AI knocked this one out, so strange
they still can't get the text right. Kinda
makes it more visual though.)
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Addendum
Let's say you like ice cream, it's one of your favourite foods. Then I develop a product that's similar to ice cream.
However, instead of saying, "Hey, you like ice cream, you may also like this."
I say to you, "You're very naughty for eating ice cream. My product will completely replace it, and if I have my way you'll never eat another bowl of ice cream as long as you live."
How would you feel about my company and my product? I'm not only chastising you, I'm the guy that's taking away your favourite food, your bowl of ice cream, your childhood treat ..forever.
Not a great marketing pitch. You're probably going to hate me and my company. Fear it even. Fear I'm going to force you to change your life in some fundamental way that makes you worse off.
Well, that's been the marketing push to 90% of the market when it comes to meat substitute products. Especially during what we might call "The Woke Era."
So, lesson number one, the customer is king.
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