By Patrick Coffee
Beyond Meat, whose sales of plant-based beef, chicken and pork have been declining along with consumer interest in the category, is introducing a line of protein drinks it hopes will go down more smoothly.
Skinny cans of the fruit-flavored, carbonated Beyond Immerse are now for sale by a "test kitchen" announced by the company last fall to offer new products in limited quantities.
"Protein has never been more in demand," a spokeswoman said. "And we as a company, at our core, are a protein company."
Whether the expansion into a hot but competitive arena can reverse Beyond Meat's steady drift into meme-stock territory is another question.
The biggest challenge may lie in asking consumers to make a leap from a brand associated with chewy, savory meals and sustainability to a product more suited for on-the-go sustenance or post-workout recovery and that has nothing to do with meat alternatives, said Savannah Wei Shi, associate professor of marketing at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business.
The move recalls the toothpaste brand Colgate's failed 1980s venture into frozen dinners, she said.
Beyond Meat declined to comment on any marketing plans for the new drink.
One factor in Beyond Meat's favor is that the beverages themselves are unlike the dense, calorie-heavy shakes that dominate the protein beverage market, according to Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
People don't picture carbonated water when they think of protein drinks, Calkins said. "That's a different proposition."
The test-and-learn approach of making the beverages available on Beyond Meat's site for a limited time also reduces the financial risks of bringing new products to market, he said. "The problem with most new products is they don't work," said Calkins.
But even if the drinks prove popular, any effort to distribute them on a wide scale would likely be challenging for a company focused on reducing costs, he added.
Diversifying its product line may have appealed to Beyond Meat as consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives drops from its pandemic-era high, said Andy Tsay, professor of information systems and analytics at the Leavey School.
Beyond Meat's losses widened in the most recent quarter to $110.7 million from $26.6 million one year prior, and revenue fell by 13%.
"Despite continued cost cutting actions, it does not appear to have a clear path to higher profitability unless volumes turn positive in a sustained way," JPMorgan analysts wrote following the company's latest financial results.
The plant-based meat industry has too many players for the available demand, Peter McGuinness, CEO of Beyond Meat competitor Impossible Foods, said last year.
Businesses often try to parlay their core competencies into new product lines and markets, said Tsay. But the approach brings stresses such as added costs and complexities in distribution and manufacturing, he said.
The automation that has been a key part of Beyond Meat's recent attempts to reduce production expenses would not eliminate these challenges, according to Tsay.
Patrick Coffee writes for WSJ Leadership Institute's CMO Today. Reach him at patrick.coffee@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2026 14:38 ET (19:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments