MingsBings Broadens Portfolio to Sell Meat-Based Products, Citing Slower Uptake of Alt-Meat

Moving outside the vegan space for the first time, frozen food brand MingsBings is adding four meat-based varieties to its lineup this week in a bid to broaden its consumer audience.

With many shoppers concerned about the ultra-processed nature and long ingredient lists in some plant-based meats, cheeses and egg alternatives, among other related category issues, MingsBings co-founder and CEO Stephen Osipow said there’s a significant number of consumers sticking to animal proteins. But in the spirit of the brand’s original ethos, all four SKUs – Ham & Cheese, Cheeseburger, Supreme Pizza and Buffalo Style Chicken – are bulked up with better-for-you ingredients such as riced cauliflower, tomatoes and potatoes.

Rather than making plant-based an “all or nothing” proposition, the new frozen bings (picture a Chinese take on filled flatbreads, or in this case, a Hot Pocket) open a second path with which the brand can reach the majority of alt-meat shoppers, who also buy meat, he said. Some grocers are actually cutting back their alt-meat displays, he added, so the new line gives Mings more room to run.

“I don’t know who’s running the campaign against alternative meats and alternative cheeses, but they’re doing an excellent job,” Osipow said.

Founded in 2020, Mings Bings was inspired by Chef Ming Tsai’s background in fusing east–west cuisines, as well as his personal experience switching to a mostly vegan diet after his wife developed lung cancer. Along with the bings, the company produces a line of dipping sauces that are currently being reformulated. More products across the store are also in development.

Currently the bings are sold in over 5,000 retailers including Whole Foods, Stop and Shop, Publix, Giant and Harris Teeter.

The company has raised over $2 million from investors, and Osipow said it also closed a convertible note in July to fund the expansion and a rebrand.

Both the vegetarian and meat-based bings will be line priced at an MSRP of $6.49 for two individually wrapped bings.

Other vegan brands have made similar changes, particularly in frozen. In 2022 ice cream company Coconut Bliss relaunched as Cosmic Bliss, adding grass-fed dairy-based ice cream. Meanwhile, after being acquired by Perfect Day, dairy-based ice cream company Coolhaus said it would switch to only using the tech company’s animal-free dairy protein. That move never happened. When the company was again sold, this time to Superlatus, only a few SKUs had been changed over.

Alt-meat companies such as BeyondMeat have also struggled with similar issues surrounding plant-based meat adoption. On recent earnings calls the Beyond Meat executives said the company was working on clearer marketing messaging in order to combat consumer confusion and better state the health benefits of alt-meat.

More SKUs also allow for the company to better utilize its newly patented bing-wrapping production equipment, Osipow added. The company self manufactures after being unable to find a copacker that could both make bings but also produce certified gluten-free and nut-free products. Until now, the bings have been made by hand.

“When you have an asset, like [this machinery] you need to utilize it,” Osipow said.

Vegetable-only products may also be forthcoming, and there’s something to that strategy as well: Whole Foods Market predicts in 2024 that customers want to “put the ‘plant’ back in ‘plant-based,’” rather than eating ultra-processed meat alternatives.

“It just would have taken a really long time to [see consumer adoption of bings by] staying plant-based,” Osipow said. “So that’s where you get into the tricky conversation of how do we stay true to our mission…while still accomplishing the goal of taking this form factor that’s super unique and really special to us and getting it out to as many people as possible?”