Beyond Meat Trims Workforce, Names Transformation Chief as Losses Mount

While reporting a bleak second quarter on Wednesday, Beyond Meat announced plans to shrink its North America workforce by 6% to strengthen its balance sheet, marking the company’s latest effort to combat years of falling sales and weak demand for plant-based meat analogs.

In the quarter ended June 28, net revenues plummeted 20% to $75 million, primarily driven by a double-digit decrease in volume of products due to weak consumer demand, reduced points of distribution in the U.S. retail channel and lower sales of burger products to quick-service restaurant (QSR) customers in international markets.

During a call with analysts and shareholders, CEO Ethan Brown said retail represented a large share of the shortfall relative to expectations due to several factors: price parity between alt-meat products and their conventional counterparts, a “negative narrative” surrounding the brand and category and the cyclical fashion of consumer trends.

Instability has been a consistent theme in the channel for quite some time, according to Brown, with multiple entrants flooding the market, resulting in a general shrinking of shelf space and “disruptive” aisle relocations.

“With this macro context setting the stage, we saw delays in anticipated distribution and major promotions at certain large retailers throughout the quarter. [Additionally], we continue to experience the impact of [disruptive relocations] arising from the move of our other products at many retailers from the refrigerated aisle to the frozen aisle,” said Brown.

As Beyond Meat seeks to rebuild its presence across the “critically important” retail channel, it will prioritize consolidating offerings and high-impact chains. The company hopes this strategy will drive results similar to its higher-performing current customers.

The sole bright spot in Beyond Meat’s second quarter was its U.S. foodservice channel, which saw revenues climb 6.8% to $11.1 million. The growth was primarily attributable to an increase in net revenue per pound and volume of products sold.

Seeking to improve its balance sheet, the company will spend the next several quarters doubling down on its transformation efforts, starting with the aforementioned layoffs.

Beyond Meat’s job cuts will affect approximately 44 employees. The company estimates that it will incur one-time cash charges between $0.8 million and $1.3 million in connection with the Reduction in Force (RIF), the majority of which will be incurred in Q3 2025.

Over the next year, Beyond Meat forecasts the RIF will result in approximately $5 million to $6 million in cash compensation expense savings. The company recently entered into two separate agreements related to its campus headquarters building, but believes it can reduce or offset a percentage of future rent obligations through workforce reduction.

“We are confident in our ability to drive down routine enterprise-wide expenses to better fit the current revenue opportunity. This disappointing quarter is now thankfully in the rearview mirror,” said Brown.

In its search for top-line stabilization, the plant-based protein producer has also appointed John Boken, managing director in the Turnaround and Restructuring Services practice at AlixPartners, as interim Chief Transformation Officer. Boken has over three decades of experience in interim management, corporate turnaround and restructuring.

Once a leader in the plant-based sector, Beyond Meat’s stock has plunged from $25 per share in its initial public offering in 2019 to a measly $2.92 per share as of August 7.

The “disappointing” second-quarter results come just one week after Beyond Meat announced it will be dropping the second half of its name to realign itself as a protein business as opposed to a meat alternative. According to Brown, the company has been formally using the shortened name in certain instances “for some time now” and it “provides for reduced emphasis on facsimile.”

“You’re seeing the thoroughness of this reset across [products], the appointment of a transformation industry veteran, our push to build back core product distribution and our increased use of Beyond as a primary mark so as to open the brand’s aperture over time to protein opportunities that fall outside of beef, pork and poultry replication,” said Brown, highlighting the company’s new fava bean-based Beyond Ground product.

He continued, “The necessity of this reset does not, however, reduce or diminish our conviction or enthusiasm for the future that awaits. We believe that the factors that encumber our success today are transient.”