Beyond Meat — Trillions of Opportunity
The Future of The Future of Global Sustainable Food Consumption — Beyond Meat | Exactly Why BYND is Important!
In this post, I want to share some perspective on why Beyond Meat is such an important company — not necessarily today, this month, or this quarter — but years out when it will be partly responsible for the upcoming shift towards sustainable food in disruption of the entire incumbent meat production sector.
I do not currently own stock in BYND and am not advising you to do so, but I will be adding it to my portfolio in the future alongside Tesla, Palantir, and Lemonade as it stands today.
I’m looking to focus on no more than five core stocks for which I have full conviction, have time to follow closely, and understand to a high enough degree to remain confident in my ownership.
Why Beyond? Why would I consider adding this company to my portfolio? That’s what this video is for — to share the supporting evidence behind my belief that BYND is a leader and has a head start with its plant-based products that will only become more and more highly demanded going forward.
Overview
An excerpt from Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Buy Drawdown — https://amzn.to/3bLbp2L
“Think of the causes of global warming, and fossil fuel energy probably comes to mind. Less conspicuous are the consequences of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food system is elaborate and complex; its requirements and impacts are extraordinary. Fossil fuels power tractors, fishing vessels, transport, processing, chemicals, packaging materials, refrigeration, supermarkets, and kitchens. Chemical fertilizers atomize into the air, forming the powerful greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Our passion for meat involves over 60 billion land animals that require nearly half of all agricultural land for food and pasture. Livestock emissions, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, are responsible for an estimated 18 to 20 percent of greenhouse gases annually, a source second only to fossil fuels. If you add to livestock all other food-related emissions — from farming to deforestation to food waste — what we eat turns out to be the number one cause of global warming.”
When we think of sustainable companies, Tesla comes to mind. And sustainability is a trend for which I am passionate. While I wouldn’t be able to accelerate such a change by simply investing my own money in various companies, I also realize that I can be on the right side of change — a change that I strongly believe will happen swiftly and deliver outsized results to a number of businesses driving such societal impacts.
While Elon Musk is focused partly on making attractive electric cars a given, Ethan Brown is bringing plant-based meat to the masses — something just as important.
The Sustainable Way
Now, why is such a shift to sustainable eating inevitable? First, I’ll read some more excerpts from the scientists that wrote Drawdown to get their take.
“Overconsumption of animal protein also comes at a steep cost to human health. With billions of people dining multiple times a day, imagine how many opportunities exist to turn the tables. It is possible to eat well, in terms of both nutrition and pleasure, while eating lower on the food chain and thereby lowering emissions. According to the World Health Organization, only 10 to 15 percent of one’s daily calories need to come from protein, and a diet primarily of plants can easily meet that threshold. A groundbreaking 2016 study from the University of Oxford modeled the climate, health, and economic benefits of a worldwide transition to plant-based diets between now and 2050. Business-as-usual emissions could be reduced by as much as 70 percent.”
So there’s just an introduction to the health impact of plant-based eating. Here’s a little more context for the monetary savings involved.
“The potential health impact on millions of lives translates into trillions of dollars in savings: $1 trillion in annual health-care costs and lost productivity, and upwards of $30 trillion when accounting for the value of lives lost. In other words, dietary shifts could be worth as much as 13 percent of worldwide gross domestic product in 2050.”
And here is another short excerpt with some additional commentary.
“However they are achieved, plant-rich diets are a compelling win-win for society. Eating with a lighter footprint reduces emissions, of course, but also tends to be healthier, leading to lower rates of chronic disease. Simultaneously, it does less damage to freshwater resources and ecosystems”
Meat Culture
An obvious objection to Beyond Meat products and others is their deviation from traditional meat and the associated culture that is already so ingrained in society.
“The case for a plant-rich diet is robust. That said, bringing about profound dietary change is not simple because eating is profoundly personal and cultural. Meat is laden with meaning, blended into customs, and appealing to taste buds. The complex and ingrained nature of people’s relationship with eating animal protein necessitates artful strategies for shifting demand. For individuals to give up meat in favor of options lower on the food chain, those options should be available, visible, and tempting. Meat substitutes made from plants are a key way to minimize disruption of established ways of cooking and eating, mimicking the flavor, texture, and aroma of animal protein and even replicating its amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, and trace minerals. With nutritious alternatives that appeal to meat-centric palates and practices, companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are actively leading that charge, proving that it is possible to swap out proteins in painless or pleasurable ways. Select plant-based alternatives are now making their way into grocery store meat cases, a market evolution that can interrupt habitual behaviors around food. Between rapidly improving products, research at top universities, venture capital investment, and mounting consumer interest, experts expect markets for non-meats to grow rapidly.”
The Impact
So, before I dive into Beyond Meat’s specifically, I want to share one final quote from Drawdown which shares the specific impact that a transition to a plant-rich diet will have.
“IMPACT: Using country-level data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we estimate the growth in global food consumption by 2050, assuming that lower-income countries will consume more food overall and higher quantities of meat as economies grow. If 50 percent of the world’s population restricts their diet to a healthy 2,500 calories per day and reduces meat consumption overall, we estimate at least 26.7 gigatons of emissions could be avoided from dietary change alone. If avoided deforestation from land use change is included, an additional 39.3 gigatons of emissions could be avoided, making healthy, plant-rich diets one of the most impactful solutions at a total of 66 gigatons reduced.”
Why Beyond Meat?
Again, I return to the question: why Beyond Meat? Why not some other company? Firstly, BYND is one of the few publicly traded and accessible businesses tackling the aforementioned. There is Impossible Foods, but that is not yet public. There are others such as Tattooed Chef, TTCF, but they do not have the brand of Beyond, nor, it appears, the financials. Ultimately, for me it’s too early to tell if they will be successful. Beyond Meat, on the other hand, has a strong underlying business from restaurant deals and retail partnerships.
Conclusion
People can call the stock overvalued all they want or say they do not like the taste of the food, but from what I can tell Beyond Meat is at the forefront of commercializing the science of plant-based meat. They have a strong brand, powerful industry connections, and an exciting product roadmap ahead.
Until next time…