Beyond Meat turns to healthier ingredients

New burger set to debut amid falling US sales

Beyond Meat is revamping its signature plant-based burger, hoping that healthier ingredients will help it boost flagging U.S. sales.

The El Segundo, California-based company said Wednesday its new Beyond Burger patties and Beyond Beef grounds cut saturated fat by 60% by switching from canola and coconut oils to avocado oil. The new beef products also have less sodium and more protein.

The new products go on sale in the U.S. this spring.

Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown said this is the biggest leap forward the brand has made since the Beyond Burger went on sale in 2016.

Beyond Meat is also under pressure to reverse declining U.S. sales. In the first nine months of 2023, the company’s U.S. revenue dropped 34% on weak consumer demand. The company said in November it was cutting 19% of its workforce and considering cutting some products.

Inflation is one reason U.S. buyers turned to cheaper sources of protein in recent years. But consumers’ doubts about the health of plant-based meat has also been a consistent problem. The outgoing Beyond Burger contains 25% of the recommended daily intake of saturated fat, for example, and 17% of the recommended intake of sodium.

The new Beyond Burger significantly improves that health profile. It has 2 grams of saturated fat, or 10% of the recommended daily intake, and 14% of the recommended intake of sodium. A single patty has 230 calories, which is the same as the outgoing burger.

For comparison, a Kroger-brand 80/ 20 beef patty has less sodium but 9 grams of saturated fat – or 45% of the recommended intake – and 290 calories. The new Beyond Burger also has less saturated fat and sodium than its chief plant-based rival, Impossible Foods’ Impossible Burger.

Beyond Meat – which has always used pea protein to make its burgers – added lentils, rice and faba beans to the new burger to improve chewiness and boost protein. The burgers now have 21 grams of protein, compared to 19 grams of protein in both the 80/20 beef patty and the Impossible Burger.