In the recent rise of plant-based meat alternatives, one common factor that many major startups share is a place of origin in the United States. The massive meat and agriculture industries in America and a concerted backlash to the gigantic presence of factory farming have provided the perfect breeding ground for startups to develop products and seek support. However, although the United States remains the nexus of the meatless industry, the industry has shown massive growth worldwide in the past few years. From exported products by major American companies to new startups across the continents, plant-based meat has truly begun to go global. From Scandinavia to Brazil and Canada to Ireland, plant-based patties are the new culinary norm. (Below is the Instagram feed of Swedish plant-based burger company Max Burgers.)
Plant-based protein is entering Chinese market
One of the biggest current markets for expansion is China, which boasts a massive population that consumes a high volume of meat-based foods. Although Starbucks has partnered with Impossible Foods in America for its first plant-based meat alternative products, it opted to have Beyond Meat provide the options for stores in Canada and China. Beyond Meat’s focus on exporting to China provides them with this avenue and countless others. If the company can continue to properly build their presence there, they will have secured a massive market by working proactively to create an opportunity. Impossible Foods has also expressed a clear interest in thorough Chinese expansion, declaring an intent to find local partners for Chinese meatless production and serving samples at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last year. Several large plant-based meat companies domestic to China-namely Shenzhen Qishan Foods, Sushou Hongchang Foods, and Ningbo Sulian Foods-have undergone recent re-branding and refocusing to shift products that they traditionally supplied to religious organizations towards wider consumer consumption.
2020 is the year of Plant-Based meat alternatives globally
Although not every nation proves as tempting a target for the biggest meatless companies as China does, many other countries have seen new and promising startups of their own. The UK is already home to several companies that have found quick success, The Meatless Farm Company, Moving Mountains, and THIS at the forefront. The Netherlands has seen a uniquely impressive surge, with Meatless and Seamore emerging out of Amsterdam, and Vivera, originally a company with diverse meat products, switching gears to set its sights on meatless alternatives for a vegan audience.
A Russian startup called Greenwise has quickly expanded in Russia’s market and looks to take a place in Europe’s market as a whole, with one of its entrepreneurs already anticipating a rise in competitors that will have to be beaten to the finish line. Prince Khalid bin Al-Waleed, the son of massive Saudi Arabian mogul Al-Waleed bin Talal, has made major investments in plant-based patty companies and advocates a bright future for the industry. Infinite Foods is promoting plant-based food products as a solution to many of the nutrition problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. No matter where you look across the globe, the industry is sprouting up everywhere.
Takeaway
If anything has become clear across the last few years, it is that the meatless burger industry isn’t just here to stay in the United States, but here to stay all around the world. Although many startups are doubtless destined to fail, the ones that do find their way to the top will continue to grow in their domestic market sectors, building intelligently off the models established by American Silicon Valley startups. Plant-based meat is not just a fad, and its future is truly international.