All Fizzle, No Steak (Or Even if You Build It, They Might Not Come)

In the early days of television, a British program posed the question, “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral,” to a trio of experts, who were tasked with determining the origin of different objects. Those were simpler times, when a vegetable was allowed to be a vegetable, and nobody, including Beyond Meat, was thinking up ways to turn it into a burger — much less a steak.

Carey Smith | Founding Contrarian

I admit, I am not a fan of faux meat. Clearly, a lot of other people feel the same way. How else to explain the fact that Beyond Meat, a plant-based pioneer, now faces an “existential threat,” according to a report from investment firm TD Cowen, because of its inability to attract and retain customers.

The company’s problem, in an inedible nutshell, is that the stuff it sells lacks flavor, the very quality that’s essential for it to be successful. And I know that because I’ve tried it more than once.

Meanwhile, Beyond Meat claims that its product is not only delicious but healthier for the planet, making it just one of a bandwagon full of companies going nowhere, despite all their eco-promises — from makers of electric vehicles to heat pumps to a host of “sustainable” clothing lines. These “going-nowhere concerns” all listened to the media hype and believed the old saw that, “If you build it, they will come.” They failed to determine whether there was genuine, sustainable interest in the product — or even whether there was much demand for it in the first place. Lo and behold, there wasn’t.

In recent years, I met people growing “chicken meat” in giant vats. An interesting experiment, maybe. But have people been clamoring for it? I don’t think so. In fact, a similarly cultured chicken was recently approved for U.S. consumption by federal regulators, but since it’s much costlier to produce than chicken grown the old-fashioned way, it’s hard to imagine it ever becoming successful.

The first question every would-be founder should ask is: Does my product solve a real problem? But equally important is a second question: Does the problem directly impact customers’ lives, and, if so, are they willing to make sacrifices in order to solve it, whether in taste, comfort, convenience or paying higher prices? The only way to know the answer to that is by asking potential customers. And yet, for reasons I don’t fully understand, founders seem loath to do that.

If they had, they might have saved themselves and other people a lot of time and money, because when it comes to products being peddled under the glittery halo of sustainability, the answer to the second question has been, for the most part, a resounding “No.” McDonald’s discovered that with their McPlant burger, as I wrote about a while ago, and that was just one of several failed fast-food partnerships for Beyond Meat.

When it comes to food, there are far more sensible ways to make beef production easier on the planet. And making chicken farming more efficient and humane is a whole lot better than trying to grow it in vats. In other words, the solution to the problem — be that problem real or perceived — lies elsewhere. (It reminds me of the years I spent selling roof sprinklers to cool buildings before moving on to high-volume, low-speed ceiling fans.)

We don’t need to keep trying to turn vegetables into something they’ll never be. Vegetables are great in their own right. They’re so great, in fact, that they can be a meat substitute when prepared well. Just ask anyone who’s ever tasted a good ratatouille.

In the words of the late Frank Zappa, “Call any vegetable, and the chances are good, the vegetable will respond to you.” Just don’t call it a plant-based meat substitute.