Despite the decelerating demand for alternative-protein products in the US, Meati Foods maintains its confidence in reaching its $1 billion sales goal by 2025.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, the company has recently secured additional funding following its $150 million Series C funding round in July. They have introduced a direct-to-consumer service to complement their existing retail presence in Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and Meijer.
Tyler Huggins, Co-Founder and CEO of Meati Foods, mentioned that the company’s assortment of mycelium-based meat alternatives, including chicken breast, breaded chicken cutlets, steak, and seasoned carne asada steak, can also be found in “several thousand foodservice establishments.”
Huggins clarified that there is no shortage of demand whatsoever, stating, “We definitely have a billion dollars worth of interest.” This comment was made in response to questions about the feasibility of the $1 billion target set by President Scott Tassani last year.
“We continue to build out our commercial platform as rapidly as we possibly can and are setting ourselves up for unprecedented growth. We’re being as aggressive as we possibly can.”
In June, Meati Foods disclosed staff reductions, although Huggins remained discreet about sharing additional details.
He countered, “We’ve set very ambitious and mission-driven goals. That path is a winding path. In the early days, it was all about speed, growth and getting to market and getting product out there in a substantial way and we’ve achieved that. We’re making difficult calls now to establish a sustainable business model.”
Huggins asserted that taste serves as the foremost factor distinguishing Meati Foods in a market experiencing a slowdown in sales growth. The co-founder, along with Justin Whiteley, who established the company in 2019, highlighted the products’ distinctive attributes, including their nutritional composition (comprising 95% to 97% mushroom root or mycelium) and their texture.
“It just shows you that the demand is there, the market is there. People want alternatives. They want diversity in their diet. It’s just got to be good tasting and it’s got to be real whole food,” he said.
“We’re not out there saying you’ve got to remove animals from the supply chain. We’re saying, yes, we believe in a regenerative, sustainable ethical food system for sure. But we also believe in diversity in our food system that includes both animals and non-animal-based products.”
Meati Foods, based in Thornton, Colorado, where it runs an expansive ‘mega ranch’ complete with in-house mycelium production, is experiencing substantial retail expansion. According to Huggins, the company’s operations are divided roughly 60-40 between brick-and-mortar retail and foodservice, reflecting its rapid growth.
“We recently launched a D2C platform, which is a great way to get product out there and see what people will like,” he said. “And then, from there, if we find one SKU works really well, we can roll that out through foodservice and retail.
The Thornton site can accommodate further manufacturing expansion and is operating at a run rate of “tens of millions of pounds of product”, Huggins explained.
“Our goal has always been impact and that requires scale. We went for it and it’s been paying off,” he added.
For now, Meati Foods remains focused on the US despite international interest with a key requisite of offering value to the consumer.
“We just provide such nutrient density. I would argue we are a great value and a great price comparison,” Huggins said when asked how the business positions on price to real meat.
“We’re a whole new category of meat that provides you with a much better nutritional profile than anything else out there in the market. And dollar to dollar, you get better nutrition.”
Meati Foods will use the new funding to try to foster further growth and expansion, along with entering new retail and foodservice partnerships. Last year, the company’s total external capital injection was $228m before the addition to the Series C financing.
“We’re definitely on a rapid ramp right now and just continue to support that growth,” Huggins said.
