- Beyond Meat’s burger does not contain any unique or proprietary ingredients that make it different from other vegan burgers currently on the market.
- Beyond Meat does not incorporate any cell based technology. Compare to Impossible Foods star ingredient, heme, which is made through bio-engineering and cellular fermentation.
- Beyond Meat has unique packaging and a robust marketing plan to rebrand vegan as trendy with the help of notable influencers.
Beyond Meat has trademarked: The Future of Protein — fairly strong marketing statement for a company making vegan burgers. So what makes Beyond Burger’s product so “futuristic”? Beyond Meat’s main product, the Beyond Burger, is primarily made from pea protein isolate, canola oil, coconut oil, beet juice (to make the burger look red) and a small amount of stabilizers and gums. It boasts 20G of protein. The recipe contains no cell based technology, or proprietary ingredients.
Let’s review some of the top selling vegan burgers currently on the market (not an extensive list and only contains products that are exclusively vegan and do not contain cheese or eggs, which unlisted and popular veggie burgers contain)
- Field Roast Burger: primarily vital wheat gluten, expeller pressed palm fruit oil, barley, and some vegetables and spices, 25G protein
- Quorn Vegan Meatless Spicy Patties: primarily mycoprotein (from fungus), wheat flour, stabilizers, and seasonings, 8G protein
- Amy’s Veggie Burger: primarily organic mushrooms, organic bulgur wheat, organic onions, organic oats and some vegetables and seasonings, 6G protein
- Boca Vegan Burger: primarily soy protein concentrate and wheat gluten, 13G protein
- Morningstar Farms (owned by Kellogs): primarily wheat gluten, soy protein isolate, soy flour, 9G protein
- Sweet Earth Foods: primarily sweet potato, vital wheat gluten, brown rice flour, edamame, brown rice and some vegetables and seasonings, 14G protein
- Dr. Praegers Veggie Burgers (very similar to the Beyond Burger ingredients): primarily pea protein, avocado oil, sweet potato, squash puree, carrots puree, 28G protein
The other vegan burger on the market that is important to note is Impossible Burger. Impossible Burger is distinctly unique from every other vegan burger product on the market because it incorporates cell based technology. Impossible burger uses cellular fermentation to synthesize heme, a proprietary ingredient that brings the Impossible Burger most closely to resembling actual meat. The ingredients of the Impossible Burger include: soy protein concentrate, coconut oil sunflower oil and soy leghemoglobin (heme!), and some additional stabilizers and vitamins, 19G protein
So where does Beyond Burger really differ?
- Gluten Free! (the majority of the burgers on the list are not gluten free)
- High protein! (at 20G it is on the higher end of the spectrum however Dr. Praegers boasts 28G and is also Gluten Free)
- Packaging! The Beyond Burger is presented to look very similar to raw meat.
- Marketing! The Beyond Burger has some notable brand ambassadors including Kyrie Irving, JJ Reddick, Chris Paul, Alex Honnold, Tia Blanco and Deandre Hopkins to name a few.
Are these qualities enough to warrant their future of protein claim? How about that $1.2 billion valuation?
