Nobody really wants to eat lab-grown meat. Because it's, you know, meat grown in a lab. Nobody wants that.
And industry leaders are clearly getting the message, because they're trying to shift tactics to bolster their flagging sales:
These days, stories of struggle [in the fake meat industry] are more common than success. Beyond Meat, a public company, has seen revenue drop, and Impossible Foods, a private company, is in no hurry to hold its IPO.
When Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness took the stage recently at the Adweek X Conference in Los Angeles ... it was for anything but a victory lap. The industry, he said, should shift from "insulting to inviting" consumers.
Translation: "Please eat our synthetic meat product!"
Somehow I doubt it's going to work. The industry numbers are looking very grim indeed:
Beyond Meat for 2022, its last full year, reported a $366.1 million net loss on $418.9 million net revenues, down 9.8 percent from a year ago. Beyond Meat's stock has dropped from a stratospheric $200 in 2019 to about $9 in early December, with a 52-week range of $5.58 to $22.87.
"Higher prices" of fake meat are driving the collapse in demand, as well as "lingering negative perceptions surrounding taste, value, and versatility" of the petri dish products.
You don't say? People have a low opinion of the "taste" and "value" of pea protein grown in a stainless steel vat somewhere?
So weird that humans, who have eaten meat since they were kicked out of the garden, are hesitant to dive into more expensive slop made of chemicals and who knows what that's designed to sort of look like meat but is actually NOTHING like meat.
Note that the backlash is strong enough that in some places they're even just outright banning the gross stuff:
Another CEO, meanwhile, told the media it's just a matter of messaging:
"Regain the narrative by focusing on the amazing benefits of eating plant powered protein."
Yeah, you go and "regain that narrative," folks, and tell us how it works out for you! 😂
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