Beyond Meat S-1

I am an omnivore, but deeply interested in meat substitutes. Before trying the burger by Impossible Foods, it was my opinion that the patty by Beyond Meat was definitely the best.

I am a big burger consumer, and I tend to rank the various substitute burgers on a scale that indicates how satisfied I feel afterwards, and how accurate the imitation is.

I felt like the Beyond Burger was 8/10 in terms of being as satisfying as a burger, but only 6/10 in terms of being a good imitation.

For an example on why I use the different scales, plant-based patties tend to sear differently than real beef, tending to produce a thin crisp layer. This isn't great in terms of being a good imitation, but it actually has really good mouthfeel, so it increases the enjoyment.

Being 8/10 in terms of satisfaction is a pretty important threshold for me. It is at the level where I can eat one and feel like I ate a burger. Most veggie patties are in the 4-7 range (Gardein is pretty good) in terms of satisfaction, and even lower imitation quality.

When I first had the Impossible Burger a couple years ago, it was 9/10 satisfying and 8/10 imitation. It still had the distinctive plant-based patty crispiness, but the internal texture was much more accurate. This was back when the Impossible was only in a few dozen restaurants in the country, so this was at a nice place in Las Vegas. I got an Impossible and a Wagyu beef burger side by side for comparison. By the time I finished, the most obvious physical difference I'd noticed was that the Impossible burger loses heat much faster than a real beef burger.

In January 2019, Impossible began rolling out their 2.0 recipe, and they are now in hundreds of locations. I got the 2.0 at an upper tier burger place ($20 for a burger) and again did a side-by-side test. The Impossible still lost heat faster than a real beef burger, but the characteristic thin crispy sear on the patty was reduced significantly.

Visually, the inside of the patty was virtually indistinguishable from real beef. It's 10/10 satisfying and 9/10 imitation. I think it's indistinguishable from a Burger King quality burger, but still not quite as hot and juicy as a more expensive gourmet beef burger. I imagine they might be able to just make a less healthy version that is packed full of various oils and whatnot to get that quality.

Once the Impossible Burger rolls out to grocery stores later this year, I will never have to buy ground beef again.

To Beyond Meat's credit, their Beyond Brats are the best veggie sausage I have had, and as far as I know, Impossible doesn't have immediate plans to take on that market. I've found that they have supply chain/production issues with Beyond Brats, though, as they are almost always sold out at the Whole Foods near me.

TL;DR I believe Impossible Foods is going to eat Beyond Meat's lunch

A&W (Canada) has Beyond Meat burgers. I liked it just as much as a beef burger.

I don't know what's "fairly strange" about it. Meat consumption, for Americans, does not make up a big fraction of our CO2 footprint.

Globally it's quite significant, but "get[ting] in front of developing nations eating of ruminants" is a much more politically fraught issue than doing the same in the U.S. My brother and I are 3-4 inches taller than my dad, because we grew up on a meat and dairy rich American diet, versus the rice and lentil-based diet my dad grew up with in his village in Bangladesh. Help me figure out the right messaging for what we should tell Bangladeshis that they shouldn't eat meat now that they're finally getting to be able to afford it.

As to the other components of GHG emissions--those are ramping up outside the U.S. as well, explosively so. Food delivery services are becoming quite popular in Dhaka. Help me figure out the messaging for how we tell Bangladeshis they can't have drive-through Starbucks and avocado toast like western people.

There aren't any "synthetic meat" products. These are plant proteins; and my understanding of the related Impossible burger co. uses a GMO to produce an animal protein within a plant.

As a meat eater, I've had mixed results with Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger. With real meat, it's pretty hard to mess up a burger; if it's anywhere from medium rare to medium well, it's still going to be a pretty tasty burger. The current burger substitutes require a much more narrow window before they just don't taste very good. That said, I'm extremely bullish on these; they're already great and they're only going to get better from here.