Beyond: New $100M Investment Amid ‘Disappointing’ Q1

It was not the start to the year that Beyond Meat was hoping for.

The beleaguered plant-based meat company described its Q1 earnings yesterday afternoon as a “deviation from the previous two quarters” with sales slipping 9.1% year-over-year and a 11.2% decrease in volume.

• Net revenues were $68.7 million, compared to $75.6 million in Q1 2024.
• Gross margin was down 1.5%, compared to +4.9%, in the same period last year
• Adjusted EBITDA was down $42.3 million, or -61.6% of net revenues

Beyond Meat CEO and founder Ethan Brown called it “a particularly dark quarter,” with double-digit declines in U.S. retail (-15.4% to $31.4 million) and foodservice (-23.5% to $9.4 million).

Brown pointed to the decision by many retail partners to transfer plant-based meat products from the refrigerated section to the frozen aisle, leading to an “interruption in availability” for Beyond Meat.

A slight uptick in velocity at the end of 2024 with some of its distribution partners was attributed to the educational marketing campaigns intended to dispel the “misinformation” being spread about the health impacts of plant-based meat, Brown said.

“I view this really as an aberration versus a trend,” he said in the question-and-answer section of the call.

Beyond Meat removed its 2025 guidance amid the “elevated level of uncertainty” it was facing, limiting its outlook to the second quarter where it anticipates net revenues between $80 million to $85 million.

Amid the backdrop of macroeconomic headwinds like tariffs and “skittish consumers,” Beyond Meat announced it had secured a $100 million senior secured debt from Unprocessed Foods, LLC, an affiliate of the non-profit plant-based advocacy organization Ahimsa Foundation.

Details on how and where this new “financing facility” will be deployed remained vague, but CFO Lubi Kutua said that “having flexibility with capital is beneficial” to Beyond following through on its initiatives to reach EBITDA positive by the end of 2026.

“In order for us to get there, we have to stabilize the topline, expand gross margin and maintain pretty tight operating expenditures,” Kutua said.

The company has tried to tamp down on its operating costs by consolidating its manufacturing footprint, reducing its workforce and pulling out of some markets (China most recently) that were underperforming.

Beyond has tried to lean into consumer trends by adding avocado oil into many of its formulations as part of its Beyond IV platform. It has also prioritized some of its products, expanding Beyond Steak in February and announcing last week a partnership with over 1,900 Kroger stores on its new Beyond Chicken Pieces.

Analysts at Jefferies called the Q1 report “weak” and were surprised by Beyond’s decision to pull its 2025 guidance altogether; as a result, the investment bank downgraded its full-year net sales estimates further to $303 million, representing a -8% decline.