Beyond Meat says being attacked made it stronger

Do you think they still do well?

i do I think they changed the story. I think they took something that was a threat to them and characterized it in a negative way. I think people believe it, so I think it’s effective. Yes.

I’m in the UK, where the McPlant burger with the Beyond patty has been available at McDonald’s for several years. How come it was discontinued in the US?

uhh. (Pauses.)

Without commenting specifically on McDonald’s—I really don’t want to—think about the structure of the United States. You have (Michigan), South Carolina and Tennessee as an auto industry, right? Those three states, plus a few more, could be really strong in Washington.

Now imagine that there is a lobby in almost every state. Ag industry lobby, right? Animal protein lobby. They have such a grip on Washington. So we’re going to have a different environment here in the US in terms of being able to communicate directly with the consumer. In general, we deal with the consumer better in Europe than in the US.

Speaking of Washington, RFK Jr. Trump’s candidate Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is very against processed foods. How does Beyond fit into the Make America Healthy Again agenda?

Honestly, it should be at the forefront, and I’m excited about a few things about some of the ideas I’ve heard.

First, you know Nova system? This happened to include plant-based meat in the category of processed foods. It doesn’t happen out of the Sermon on the Mount or anything, it’s just a group of people putting their characterization together. And we do not belong to that party. We don’t want to be there. We are a food that goes through a series of steps to reach a result, but it is a better process than when people consume factory farmed meat.

When you look at the benefits to the human body and the environment, it’s a strong win. I believe we can give this administration that distinction.

The second piece is something that was earlier in Kennedy’s career, the concept of the restoration of nature. Our ability to enable the reconstruction of a significant part of the global landscape is unparalleled. One statistic you should be aware of is that our products use 93 percent less land than animal protein. You can use that land, so not only are you extracting methane, but you can use the rest of the land to rewild and remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Have you contacted RFK Jr.?

Not yet, but I’m waiting.