Impossible Foods Slashes Wholesale Prices
Impossible Foods, the closely held plant-based-meat maker, is cutting the wholesale prices of its products by 15% on average.
The company's publicly traded rival, Beyond Meat (BYND) - Get Report, early in Tuesday trading was nearly 5.5% higher. In a broad-market slump, Beyond Meat shares recently were trading down 0.2% at $95.89.
Impossible Foods, Redwood City, Calif., credited manufacturing efficiencies and economies of scale as the reasons for the price cut.
Impossible is making its push at a time when Beyond Meat’s stock is dipping following its quarterly earnings release.
While Beyond Meat tripled its revenue for the fourth quarter, the company posted a loss of a penny a share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting a profit of a penny a share.
Beyond Meat has been adopted by numerous retailers. Most recently the Seattle coffee-bar giant Starbucks (SBUX) - Get Report said that starting March 3, it would be introducing a Beyond Meat, cheddar and egg sandwich as part of its core menu offerings at some 1,400 Canadian stores.
Impossible’s highest-profile partnership is the Impossible Whopper, through Restaurant Brands’ (QSR) - Get Report Burger King fast-food franchise.
The plant-based meat landscape is also getting more crowded with Nestle (NSRGY) - Get Report, family-owned Perdue Foods and Tyson (TSN) - Get Report all recently launching alternative-meat options.
Also in the market: Maple Leaf Foods of Canada with its Lightlife brand; the Smithfield Foods division of China's WH Group with the Pure Farmland brand, and Hormel (HRL) - Get Report with the Happy Little Plants label.
