Has fake meat had its chips? Appetite appears to fade for vegan burgers as sales slump

Beyond Meat launched with the slogan "eat what you love" but consumers' love affair with its pricey meat substitutes seems to be waning. Quarterly sales at the vegan burger maker have slumped by almost a third as shoppers shift from its products in the cost of living crisis.

- Sarah Butler, Julia Kollewe

The US company, whose plant-based products include burgers that appear to bleed and imitations of sausages and meatballs, has cut its annual revenue forecast in the latest sign that the fake meat food bubble is bursting.

After several years of rapid expansion fuelled by private equity investment, meat substitutes have dropped off many menus. Sales unexpectedly slid 6% in the UK last year.

Vegan specialists such as Meatless Farm, in Leeds, and the Lincolnshire-based Plant & Bean, which supplied companies including Quorn, and Tesco's Wicked Kitchen, called in administrators earlier this year as they battled lacklustre sales and hefty cost increases.

Meanwhile, the London-based Innocent Drinks, which is owned by Coca-Cola, plus Sweden's Oatly, and the Swiss food company Nestlé, are among those that have pulled vegan products from sale in the UK this year.

As the UK experience is echoed in the US and elsewhere, Beyond Meat, founded in 2009, has seen its market value plummet to $981m from more than $10bn at its height in 2019 when it was worth more than Xerox or the US department store Macy's.

Sales of fake meats in the UK are expected to fall or flatline again this year, according to the market research firm Mintel.

With the cost of living crisis affecting household budgets, shoppers have turned to cheaper proteins including processed meat and traditional vegan or vegetarian options such as chickpeas, lentils and beans.