Last week’s news about Beyond Burger going public with a $4.5 billion market valuation was shocking. Together, the 6 largest meat companies have a combined $60B in market capitalization, with the largest, Hormel, boasting a $23B valuation. They are under threat. New players like Beyond Meat is just the beginning of another megatrend … like iPhones and Teslas are to their industries. Impossible Foods is getting ready to go public. Others are following.
This Bloomberg opinion piece summarizes Wall Street’s excitement very well:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-12/capitalism-red-in-tooth-and-claw-is-going-vegan
From the piece:
“Veganism is an idea whose time has come, partly due to individual lifestyle and health concerns but mostly because of the environmental damage caused by animal agriculture. Ruminant animals including cattle produce methane which contributes to global warming, while growing feed crops for livestock leads to deforestation.
The number of Americans identifying as vegan climbed sixfold in the three years to 2017, with 6% saying they shun animal-derived foodstuffs, according to research firm GlobalData. In January, Caroline Lucas, the U.K. Green Party’s only Member of Parliament, called for a tax on meat to help the farming industry reduce its carbon emissions.
Meat-free food is all the rage. Restaurant Brands International Inc.’s Burger King said recently that it plans to start selling Impossible Whopper burgers in all of its 7,200 U.S. restaurants after a successful trial run in St. Louis using veggie patties made by Impossible Foods Inc. Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food company, will start selling its Incredible Burger in European supermarkets in the coming weeks and has predicted that its sales of plant-based edibles may reach $1 billion within a decade.”