Beyond Meat Cuts Staff Due to Weak Sales

Beyond Meat is cutting 19% of its non-production workforce after a weaker-than-expected third quarter.

The plant-based meat company said the reduction of about 65 employees is part of a broader corporate review. The company is also considering nixing some product lines, changing pricing, shifting its manufacturing, and restructuring its Chinese operations.

Beyond Meat’s shares rose 20% in afternoon trading Thursday.

"We anticipated a modest return to growth in the third quarter of 2023 that did not occur,” Beyond Meat President and CEO Ethan Brown said in a statement.

Brown has said that plant-based meat sales were hurt by high inflation, which sent some shoppers back to cheaper animal meats.

Plant-based meat is also fighting perceptions that it’s overly processed and unhealthy, stoked in part by ads released by rival food companies.

Beyond Meat plans to release its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 8. Now, it expects revenue of $75 million for the July-September period. That would be 8.5% lower than the same period one year ago.

The company said it now expects full-year net revenue in the range of $330 million to $340 million, which would be 19% to 21% lower than the previous year.