In 2016, Beyond Meat released its original plant-based Beyond Burger to much acclaim. However, much has changed since its release, including a more scrupulous consumer base looking more closely at ingredient labels.
What will consumers see when looking at the labels of new Beyond Meat products? Whole-food ingredients such as fava beans and avocado oil. The brand is evolving with consumer demands while keeping true to its goal of giving consumers toothsome proteins to replace eco-damaging animal products.
And Beyond Meat has something new to excite consumers into action: Beyond Sun Sausage, a new plant-based sausage that Beyond is positioning as its own form of crave-able protein.
Beyond Meat
“Our goal is and always has been to make delicious and healthy plant-based protein options,” a spokesperson for Beyond Meat tells VegNews. “For Beyond Sun Sausage, we wanted to offer consumers something that was new and unique, without being constrained to trying to mimic beef, pork or poultry.”
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Beyond Meat’s new “Sun Sausage”
The Beyond Sun Sausage is crafted from wholesome plant-based ingredients such as yellow pea, brown rice, fava bean, and red lentil proteins. Made with avocado oil, it comes in three bold flavors: Cajun, Pesto, and Pineapple Jalapeño.
Beyond Meat
Each link contains 12 grams of clean protein and only one gram of saturated fat. This product line has been certified by both the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Heart-Check program and the American Diabetes Association’s Better Choices for Life program, ensuring its status as a heart-healthy option.
“Consumers are increasingly seeking diverse and clean protein sources for various meals, occasions, and lifestyles,” the spokesperson says.
“Beyond Sun Sausage was intended to be a unique product with bold, culinary-forward flavors and filled with wholesome fruits, vegetables, and legumes and is for anyone who’s looking for new, clean, and healthy sources of plant-based protein,” the spokesperson says.
Available exclusively at Sprouts Farmers Market stores nationwide, this new product line highlights Beyond Meat’s commitment to advancing taste and nutrition, while offering consumers a solution to reducing their consumption of animal products.
The Beyond IV platform
The new Sun Sausage line is the latest expansion under the Beyond IV platform. Introduced earlier this year, this fourth-generation innovation represents a pivotal moment in Beyond Meat’s product evolution.
The platform includes improvements to the flagship Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef, incorporating nutrient-dense ingredients such as red lentils and fava bean protein to increase protein content to 21 grams per serving. The shift to avocado oil has not only reduced saturated fat by 60 percent but also decreased sodium content by 20 percent. Like the Sun Sausage, these products have also gained AHA approval.
Beyond Meat
Both the new Beyond Sausage and Sun Sausage were created with ease of use and versatility in mind. “The new Beyond Sun Sausage is a home cook’s dream—they’re packed with bright, beautiful plant-powered ingredients like spinach, bell pepper, pineapple, and jalapeño, bringing bold, culinary-forward flavors that can enhance any dish,” Diana Stavaridis, Senior Culinary Manager at Beyond Meat, said about the Sun Sausage in a statement.
“When you prepare Beyond Sun Sausage, you’re serving love to your taste buds, heart and planet, and we’re excited for our fans to try this delicious new product as it’s unlike anything else currently available in the plant-based space,” Stavaridis said.
To help consumers integrate these plant-based innovations into their everyday meals, Beyond Meat has released its first-ever cookbook, Serve Love. This collection of AHA-certified heart-healthy Beyond Meat recipes features Beyond Sun Sausage, Beyond Burger, Beyond Beef, and Beyond Steak, all designed to make nutritious, sustainable plant-based meals more accessible.
Beyond Meat makes 2024 a pivotal year
In addition to restructuring its ingredient panels and campaigns, Beyond Meat is also working to get its books into the green. The company has faced financial challenges, including a significant cash burn over the past couple of years. Beyond Meat used more than $400 million in cash in 2022 to build sustainable volumes through price cuts. Despite these efforts, the company’s financial performance remained under pressure.
Beyond Meat
Earlier this year, Beyond Meat entered discussions with bondholders to restructure $1.1 billion of its convertible notes. This balance-sheet restructuring aims to address the financial challenges and position the company for sustainable and profitable operations.
“Together with measures we are exploring to bolster our balance sheet, we continue to work to position 2024 as a pivotal year as we strive to achieve sustainable and profitable operations,” Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said in a statement.
The company also faced a revenue decline, with an 18-percent drop in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Despite the slump, Beyond Meat remains optimistic about the future, focusing on promoting the health credentials of its new Beyond IV products to counteract misinformation about plant-based meats’ health benefits.
Beyond Meat’s most recent “There’s Goodness Here” marketing campaign aims to highlight the enhanced taste and nutritional profile of its new products, which continue to evolve to better serve consumers.
Beyond Meat
“We are proud to be raising the nutrition bar for the plant-based meat category with our emphasis on health-focused innovation,” the Beyond Meat spokesperson says. “We will continue our work with leading doctors, registered dietitians, researchers, and the top health organizations as we increase our portfolio of delicious and healthy plant-based protein options.”
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Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior News Editor at VegNews and is always keeping an eye on all things vegan in her home city of San Francisco, CA and everywhere else.
