• “Cow-free burgers simulate meat products like chicken and beef sausages and pork.” — repetitive use of “and”

Technological innovations have gone beyond killer apps, faster computers, and other digital disruptions. Biotechnology is currently driving new waves of agricultural innovations, medical innovations, and food technologies. Consumer preferences keep evolving and have become diverse. Recently, companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have come up with cow-free burgers that are produced in the labs ("The Quest to Engineer a Tasty Cow-Free Burger," 2019). This new innovation has been driven by the need to reduce the effects of climate change in the world. Farming of Meat is known to be a major contributor to greenhouse gases which drive climate change. Unfortunately, the consumption of Meat is expected to rise as more people escape poverty. This would imply that the effects of meat farming will continue to be a major contributor to climate change. However, researchers have come up with a solution; meatless products as substitutes to the meat products. For the welfare of animals, planetary reasons, as well as human-health reasons, a segment of customers, are moving to plant-based foods as a way of combating the adverse impacts of meat consumption. In order to satisfy the needs of this segment, Beyond Meat has begun producing a cow-free burger that is produced using plant-based Meat. This paper analyzes the target market for this new product.

Beyond Meat Company

Beyond Meat was founded by Ethan Brown in 2009 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company sells plant-based meat substitute products across different nations in the world. It is currently producing products developed to simulate pork, chicken and beef sausage and burgers. The company started as a start-up in California with investments from investors like Bill Gates, Tyson Foods, and Humane Society. However, in 2019, Tyson Foods exited the company ahead of its IPO (Initial Public Offering). The simulated beef-products were first developed in 2014 (Sexton, 2016). The company has been expanding its production space in order to penetrate different markets in the United States and in other parts of the world.

The Target Markets

Defining the market by product or consumer characteristics may be a mistake for any company. A market, must not be defined around an unstable factor that is only valid form a limited period. It should rather be defined around something that will remain stable for years to come, making long-term investments attractive and offering the organization a vision for its future (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). When it is defined in this way, there will be more markets for the product out there which will be around for years, perhaps centuries to come.

Stereotypic Users

There is a growing need for healthy and environmentally products in the world, and Beyond Meat aims to satisfy this need. The company researchers are hoping to come up with more products that will satisfy customers who do not want to choose between a juicy burger and a livable world. In addition, the demand for Meat is increasing in the market with more turning to Meat as the main source of protein. The demand for food may not be adequately met by animal meet in the next twenty to thirty years. This means that the market for meat substitutes will continue expanding.

There are two types of markets that will be captured by these products. They include conservationists (those who want to protect the world from climate change) and animal lovers.

Conservationist consumers

Customers who want to protect the world from the effects of meat farming will be able to achieve their agenda by consuming cow-free burgers. This group of consumers are conscious of the effects of human activities on the world and would do anything to protect the world. Currently, a large number of people in the world understand the negative effects of climate change. The media has been able to increase awareness about these issues. The melting glaciers in the arctic circle, the rising temperatures, and the rising seas levels are covered constantly by the media. This phenomenon has resulted in an increase in consumers who want to protect the environment.

Animal lovers

There many people in the world who strongly believe that animals should be given the same treatment as human beings. To them, it is unacceptable to exploit animals or use them for any harmful purposes, even if it benefits humans. These people believe that it is wrong to use animals for medical experiments, clothing, and even food. However, there are still others who do not hold such radical beliefs but still believe that in protecting the animals. They include vegetarians who refrain from consuming Meat in order to protect the animals. Others believe that, if there was another way of producing Meat without killing animals, they would happily consume it. All these people fall into the category of animal lovers. They always want to protect animals from harm by humans. The cow-free burgers will definitely capture this category of consumers.

Competitors in the Markets

Plant-based meat production is indeed the future of Meat in the world with the increasing demand, and Beyond Meat is expected to make money in this sector. However, its burgers are not the only products in the market today, aiming to meet the demands of meatless products. Impossible Foods, a company that also specializes in plant-based meat products, is one of its main competitors. It sells a similar burger under the brand name, "Impossible Whopper." The company is one of the major players in the market and leverages its innovation in molecular engineering to produce products that are hardly indistinguishable from Meat. It discovered heme; a molecule rich in iron that replicates the flavor of Meat in their products. This makes it harder for other players in the industry to compete with it ("Impossible Foods Competitors - CB Insights," 2019). Currently, the company has concentrated on American consumers and avoid international markets. However, Beyond Meat focuses on both domestic and international consumers, as shown below.

The Impossible burger has one main flaw at the moment; its price is strikingly high. As the company becomes even more popular, the prices of its products should reduce; however, it is unlikely that this will happen anytime soon. Beyond Meat must continue researching new cheaper ways of producing plant-based Meat to be more competitive.

Another competitor major competitor is Memphis Meats, a company based in San Francisco. It produces Meat using self-reproducing cells. The Meat is animal-based but avoids the need to slaughter, breed, or raise a large number of animals. It produced its first meatballs in 2016 and is still in the market. It aims to reduce the cost of plant-based and lab-grown Meat to compete more favorably with other meat companies ("Impossible Foods Competitors - CB Insights," 2019). In the future, Memphis Meats could become a fierce competitor of Beyond Meats if it decides to produce burgers.

1-Beyond Meat, 2-Impossible Foods, 3-Memphis Meats, 4. Vegan Burgers.

In summary, Beyond Meat’s cow-free burgers are anticipated to compete well with other products in the market. The fact that the market is still relatively undeveloped means that there are many opportunities the company can exploit and become a market leader. The company should also partner with other companies who already have established distribution channels if it wants to capture an even larger market share.

References

Top of Form

Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. (2015). Essentials of marketing research. Nelson Education.

Headley, B., Goldberg, J., & Shokrae, S. (2018). Superiority Burger cookbook: The vegetarian hamburger is now delicious.