Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 5:12:06 GMT -2
Mushroom-powered alternative meat startup Meati Foods has laid off % of its employees this week, three months after opening a new production facility in Thornton, Colorado, but says the move does not reflect weak demand for its products. .
The layoffs, first reported by The Denver Post, follow recent reductions in employee numbers at Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, and come as Circana released data* showing that retail sales of meat alternatives in the US The US have continued to decline, falling -% year over year. to $ million in April, with unit sales falling by -%.
Vice president of marketing communications Christina Ra said Meati Foods’ mycelium-based whole cuts launched in March were resonating with shoppers: “The meat is available at several retailers, including Sprouts and Meijer. “Our business relationships remain incredibly strong and we are in the process of finalizing partnerships with key retailers and foodservice operators in the US to drama C Level Executive List tically increase Meati’s presence.”
She added: “Meati remains on plan for a national omnichannel footprint later this year, and demand continues to far outstrip supply. We are as optimistic as ever about our short- and long-term opportunities and plans to capture % of what we believe will be a $ billion retail market in five years. We look forward to sharing news in the coming weeks that shows we are on the right track.”
“We are as optimistic as ever about our short- and long-term opportunities.”
When asked why the company had laid off staff, he said: “Building a disruptive company with a novel product from scratch is not easy. It requires constant agility to adapt, and we have applied incredible learnings to our operations to not only produce what is needed to achieve our near-term growth, but also support future ranch designs.
“On this path to scalability, we continually identify the most strategic way to allocate our resources and, unfortunately, this week we identified a small number of positions that were eliminated from Meati's workforce, totaling or % of the company . “Conversely, we also created entirely new roles, many in engineering, that will further ensure the long-term success of Meati Foods.”
Whole cuts based on mycelium
Founded in by engineers Dr. Justin Whiteley and Dr. Tyler Huggins, Meati Foods seeks to differentiate itself in the meat alternatives market with a mushroom-based platform capable of producing whole cuts of alternative meat from mycelium, the filamentous roots of the mushrooms.
The Boulder-based startup , which has raised more than $ million from investors including Revolution Growth and Grosvenor Food & AgTech, recently began production at its “Mega Ranch” in Thornton, Colorado.
The Thornton facility will eventually be able to produce million pounds a year (the equivalent of about million g steaks), said president and chief operating officer Scott Tassani, who told reporters in February that he hoped to capture " % of what we believe will be a $ billion retail market in five years.”
While such bold predictions raised eyebrows at the time, given that the company was barely off the grid, Meati Foods has the potential to disrupt the market, Tassani said.
“We have a pipeline of customers who want Meati Foods, and it's like nothing I've seen in my many, many years at General Mills, and I've launched thousands of new products. The first third of the Mega Ranch is fully operational right now and we still have significantly more demand than the product we have to supply in the near term. However, we will have a national omnichannel footprint by the end of ”
*According to Circana data processed by Analytics, US retail sales of meat alternatives fell -% to $ billion in the weeks ending April ,
The layoffs, first reported by The Denver Post, follow recent reductions in employee numbers at Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, and come as Circana released data* showing that retail sales of meat alternatives in the US The US have continued to decline, falling -% year over year. to $ million in April, with unit sales falling by -%.
Vice president of marketing communications Christina Ra said Meati Foods’ mycelium-based whole cuts launched in March were resonating with shoppers: “The meat is available at several retailers, including Sprouts and Meijer. “Our business relationships remain incredibly strong and we are in the process of finalizing partnerships with key retailers and foodservice operators in the US to drama C Level Executive List tically increase Meati’s presence.”
She added: “Meati remains on plan for a national omnichannel footprint later this year, and demand continues to far outstrip supply. We are as optimistic as ever about our short- and long-term opportunities and plans to capture % of what we believe will be a $ billion retail market in five years. We look forward to sharing news in the coming weeks that shows we are on the right track.”
“We are as optimistic as ever about our short- and long-term opportunities.”
When asked why the company had laid off staff, he said: “Building a disruptive company with a novel product from scratch is not easy. It requires constant agility to adapt, and we have applied incredible learnings to our operations to not only produce what is needed to achieve our near-term growth, but also support future ranch designs.
“On this path to scalability, we continually identify the most strategic way to allocate our resources and, unfortunately, this week we identified a small number of positions that were eliminated from Meati's workforce, totaling or % of the company . “Conversely, we also created entirely new roles, many in engineering, that will further ensure the long-term success of Meati Foods.”
Whole cuts based on mycelium
Founded in by engineers Dr. Justin Whiteley and Dr. Tyler Huggins, Meati Foods seeks to differentiate itself in the meat alternatives market with a mushroom-based platform capable of producing whole cuts of alternative meat from mycelium, the filamentous roots of the mushrooms.
The Boulder-based startup , which has raised more than $ million from investors including Revolution Growth and Grosvenor Food & AgTech, recently began production at its “Mega Ranch” in Thornton, Colorado.
The Thornton facility will eventually be able to produce million pounds a year (the equivalent of about million g steaks), said president and chief operating officer Scott Tassani, who told reporters in February that he hoped to capture " % of what we believe will be a $ billion retail market in five years.”
While such bold predictions raised eyebrows at the time, given that the company was barely off the grid, Meati Foods has the potential to disrupt the market, Tassani said.
“We have a pipeline of customers who want Meati Foods, and it's like nothing I've seen in my many, many years at General Mills, and I've launched thousands of new products. The first third of the Mega Ranch is fully operational right now and we still have significantly more demand than the product we have to supply in the near term. However, we will have a national omnichannel footprint by the end of ”
*According to Circana data processed by Analytics, US retail sales of meat alternatives fell -% to $ billion in the weeks ending April ,