Beyond Meat is continuing its efforts to reduce operating costs following challenging Q2 2025 financial results, revealing a 19.6% decrease in net revenues year-over-year.

In the second quarter ending 28 June 2025, Beyond’s net revenues were $75 million. Its gross margin decreased to 11.5%, compared to 14.7% in the year-ago period, including $1.7 million in expenses related to the cessation of the company’s operations in China.

Ethan Brown, president and CEO of Beyond Meat, said the “disappointing” results reflect “ongoing softness in the plant-based meat category, particularly in the US retail channel and certain international foodservice markets”.

As a result, the company is ramping up its cost reduction efforts and “transformation activities,” aiming to strengthen its financial profile and support its long-term goals.

Part of this will include a reduction of its workforce in North America by approximately 44 employees, representing around 6% of the company’s total global workforce. This was approved by management on 6 August 2025, aiming to reduce operating expenses.

Also disclosed on 6 August was the appointment of John Boken as Beyond Meat’s interim chief transformation officer, aiming to help the company support enterprise-wide implementation of its objectives.

Boken has been a partner and managing director at restructuring services consultancy firm AlixPartners for over six years, bringing over 35 years of experience in interim management and corporate turnaround.

The company said it continues to experience ‘an elevated level of uncertainty’ within its operating environment, therefore will not be providing full year guidance. It is also limiting its revised outlook for the third quarter of 2025, with net revenues expected to be in the range of $68 million to $73 million.

Beyond’s continuing financial challenges reflect broader difficulties faced by the plant-based food and beverage industry, with sales having slowed significantly in the meat alternatives sector since the investment boom of the late 2010s.

However, recent research estimates that the market will double in value by 2030, indicating an optimistic outlook for the category – but brands will need to meet demand for options that satisfy consumers’ changing preferences in order to remain successful.

Increasing scrutiny over the ingredients labels of these products, as consumers become more concerned about ‘ultra-processed foods,’ has led many businesses to reformulate and even transition away from hyper-realistic meat mimicking products.

Even Beyond itself, which is renowned within the industry for its ‘bleeding’ burgers and other juicy meat-like alternatives, is reportedly initiating a rebrand amid the broader industry shift away from imitation – in July, the company announced the upcoming launch of a brand-new product line made with just four ingredients and designed to provide a ‘blank canvas’ for consumers, rather than replicating a specific meat product.

Top image: © Beyond Meat