Good day all. With the economy heading south thanks to the incompetence and stupidity of the Biden maladministration, companies are cutting back on hiring and are also starting to do layoffs. Many of these companies serve niche markets. One of them is Beyond Meat.
Beyond Meat is a plant based substitute for..well meat. While I’ve never had it, those that have say it tastes like real meat. I’m of the opinion, why buy fake meat when you can barbecue the real thing? Apparently, other people are making the same decision since sales are down. Now Beyond Meat is forced to lay off some of it’s employees. Here are the details from the Daily Fetched:
Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat has been forced to lay off about 200 employees, or 19% of its workforce, due to declining sales and stock market losses, according to a regulatory filing disclosed Friday.
As Tech Crunch reported:
The company cited declining sales and said the layoffs are “based on cost-reduction initiatives intended to reduce operating expenses…and target cash flow positive operations within the second half of 2023.”
Beyond Meat expects the cuts to be completed by the end of the year.
Ahh yes, the traditional “Merry Christmas! You’re fired!” messages from company management.
Company shares, which opened Friday on the Nasdaq already 87% down from its 52-week high, fell even further in mid-morning trading following the layoff news. The stock hit a 52-week low of $12.76 earlier in the week, the last trading around $13.95, which puts the company’s market value below $900 million.
I just looked up the stock price and the history. It’s gone from a high of $222.86 dollars per share back in July of 2019 to its current price of about $13.56 dollars per share. That is a company heading for Chapter 11 reorganization before to long, if they can’t turn things around.
As part of the job cuts, the company said the role of chief growth officer/North America president was eliminated. Deanna Jurgens, who held that role, will leave the company on October 17.
It seems that consuming Beyond Meat products might have a negative side effect. Cannibalism.
Last month, Beyond Meat’s chief operating officer was arrested by police after biting a man’s nose during an altercation in Arkansas. 53-year-old, Doug Ramsey, who became COO of Beyond Meat in December, was arrested on September 17 on charges of terroristic threatening and third-degree battery, the Washington County, Arkansas, information page said.
Looking at their sales numbers, it’s not good.
The company reported a decrease of 1.6 percent year over year at net revenues of $147.0 million – missing out on the expected $149.2 million. Gross profit saw a loss of $6.2 million, while net loss was $97.1 million ($1.53 per common share) versus the $1.18 forecast.
Of course, the company has a ready excuse.
Beyond Meat’s president and CEO, Ethan Brown blamed growing inflation on the results.
“In second quarter 2022, we recorded our second-largest quarter ever in terms of net revenues, even as consumers traded down among proteins in the context of inflationary pressures, and we made solid sequential progress on reducing operating and manufacturing conversion costs,” Brown said.
That sounds like whistling past the graveyard to me. As I mentioned before, I have not tried Beyond Meat and don’t have any plans to. I can’t compare its costs to a pound of beef since I’ve never looked at it. I know people who have tried it and they said it tasted like meat. Looking at the list of ingredients, I think I’ll stick to the real thing. It’s tough for the employees who are loosing their jobs and I hope they find new ones real soon. As for Beyond Meat? If you can serve it medium rare, perhaps I’ll consider trying it.
Thatisall
~The Angry Webmaster~
If the vegan option is so good, why do they work so hard to make it taste like food?
Chemical companies need to make money too, 😉