The rise and fall of plant-based meat (what happened to Beyond Meat?)

A $4B fake meat empire built on social media hype — then the same algorithm killed it with a 90% stock crash.

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By The Numbers

$4B

valuation at IPO peak

300%

sales growth in one year

-90%

stock crash in one year

What They Nailed Early

Hit the perfect cultural moment when millennials wanted environmental virtue through food. Tripled revenue in a year riding social media-driven demand for plant-based alternatives. Created a product that actually tasted good — unlike the nasty patties of the '90s.

What Changed

COVID broke the social media spell that created the category. Consumers started questioning the health claims, environmental benefits got debunked, and the price premium became untenable. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat scaled to 13 suppliers expecting the party to never end — just as giants like Tyson, Nestlé, and Impossible flooded in with copycat products.

Where it Landed

Stock down 90% from peak. Sales declining 10-30% annually. Cut from 13 suppliers to one. Still over $1B in category sales, but the fad momentum is gone and competition is crushing margins.

The Principles

Social media giveth, social media taketh away. The same virality that builds demand can flip overnight and kill it just as fast.

Don't scale for the peak of a fad. Beyond Meat built 13 suppliers expecting eternal growth — then had to painfully collapse back to one.

Undifferentiated products in crowded markets die on price. When Tyson and Nestlé copy you, your only moat was being first — and that evaporates.

Builder's Takeaway

If you're riding a social media-driven trend, remember:

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Virality cuts both ways — plan for the narrative to reverse

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Scale for sustainable demand, not fad peaks that might evaporate

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Build real differentiation before giants flood in with cheaper copies

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