Steven Parsons, Foodservice Manager at Beyond Meat, Talks McPlants, Wetherspoons and Sticking by Your Guns.

Since 2009, Beyond Meat has been on a mission to make plant-based options accessible worldwide, teaming up with big names like McDonald’s and Starbucks. Steven shares their fascinating story, from landing a deal with Wetherspoons to setting up manufacturing in Europe. We'll also chat about the importance of brand recognition and the resilience of Foodservice. Plus, Steven offers some insider tips for challenger brands eyeing this lucrative market.

Join us at the Foodservice Summit on March 19th where Steven will be spilling the tea on a panel about getting your brand on the menu in national restaurant chains.

Could you tell me about Beyond Meat’s journey into Foodservice?

Our vision is to become a global protein company that gives people everywhere access to delicious and nutritious plant-based meat options. Founded in the US in 2009,  Beyond Meat products are crafted to have the same taste and texture as animal-based meat while being better for people and the planet. Aligned with our strategy to make plant-based meat more accessible to the mainstream consumer, we partner with well-known, ubiquitous brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks and Pizza Hut to develop delicious, exciting plant-based menu items such as the iconic McPlant or Beyond Pepperoni pizza. Because of our trusted reputation and leadership in plant-based meat and our ability to deliver on innovation, we are able to partner with these beloved brands to allow consumers to Eat What They Love, with the upsides of plant-based meat. 

As a category leader, our products are now available at approximately 190,000 retail and foodservice outlets in over 75 countries worldwide. Our delicious and iconic product - the Beyond Burger - launched in the UK in 2018. One of the first big Food Service milestones in the UK was a listing with Wetherspoons. Since then, we’ve strengthened our partnerships over the years with Honest Burger, Harvester and Byron Burger, and hundreds of pubs and restaurants across the Mitchells & Butlers and Greene King groups.

When Beyond Meat started looking for someone to manage the Foodservice business in the UK a few years ago, I jumped at the chance. Part of my role is to oversee and grow the business, maintain the relationships we’ve got and work with Bidfood and Brakes (some of the largest foodservice operators who we connected with through Authentic Food Group) to grow the opportunities for Beyond Meat and encourage restaurants to see the benefits of having plant-based meat part on their menus in the UK!

Was getting that Wetherspoons listing the turning point?

I think it was. Having that additional volume was really critical - we needed to grow the business and Wetherspoons have done a phenomenal job at that - they are one of our key partners in the UK.

Another key turning point was when we began to be able to manufacture in Europe. In 2020, we announced the opening of our first co-manufacturing facility in Europe, as well as the acquisition of our first owned manufacturing site in Europe, both in The Netherlands. Together, the facilities significantly increase the speed and scale in which we can produce and distribute our products throughout EMEA while also improving our cost structure and sustainability of operations.

Beyond Meat has successfully built a premium plant based brand, how do you ensure that the high standard is being maintained when your burger is served in Foodservice outlets, like Wetherpoons for example?

We’re really proud of the taste and quality of our Beyond Meat products, and ensure that we carefully tailor our products and services to the needs of restaurateurs and foodservice partners. It is important to us to support our partners in the best way possible. Whether that’s by creating seasonal recipes that support different areas of gastronomy; sharing step by step preparation guidelines; or setting up a training session on how best to cook our products. In this way, we make it as easy as possible for restaurateurs to integrate plant-based meat into their menu.

Getting your name checked on the menu, how valuable is that to you?

Getting our Beyond Meat name on the menu certainly helps us create more brand awareness. But it goes both ways - we do see that sales increase in restaurants when they put the Beyond Meat brand name on their menu. Consumers are now very aware and appreciative of the brand and know that it means the quality is so good.

There’s been a decline in sales in the plant-based category in retail in recent times, has the Foodservice channel been affected by this also?

Although the plant-based category has been under pressure, Beyond Meat continues to drive growth within the plant-based category in retail - both in value and in volume. With consumers loving our delicious plant-based products and key retailers believing in our brand, this has allowed us to gain thousands of new distribution points across the UK. Food Service still remains strong as it is a critical part of our business in the UK. We’re still winning new business and have some fantastic accounts coming on board and we’re looking forward to seeing a lot more growth in the area in 2024.

Any advice for challenger brands in our community looking to get into Foodservice?

So much! Be very clear on the sectors you want to penetrate and where you want to sell your product. Price is really important, Foodservice has lots of different value chains and it can get quite confusing, it’s a lot more complex than retail with the levels of the margin chains. Talk to people, understand what different value chains are. And finally, go after it and stick with it! Foodservice takes time so stick by your guns.