Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

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Alpha8472
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Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by Alpha8472 »

Fake meat sales are declining. Price is a factor as well as the perception that it is not healthy. Also there is a backlash against fake meat being too woke.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com ... -too-woke/
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 28th, 2022, 10:49 pm Fake meat sales are declining. Price is a factor as well as the perception that it is not healthy. Also there is a backlash against fake meat being too woke.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com ... -too-woke/
I suspect consumption is higher than ever. Places have just stopped "pushing" it. They were really trying to shove this stuff down people's throats. There is limited interest for these products. The market became saturated. They can only sell so much to restaurants and retailers with little demand before the restaurants and retailers get tired of the shrink and say no more. What I expect to happen next is certain states will pass legislation to force consumption of this product. Growth of these products politically is very important to combat "climate change" (not going to go there on the merits of this argument as I roll my eyes) and they have made it clear if people do not change habits the way they desire, they will in certain states especially on the west coast legislate to force people to change their habits. These companies will cry to politicians on the west coast that they will go out of business if something isn't done to increase demand and the politicians will help them.

Meat prices have increased substantially and if you go to a Safeway these plant based alternative meats cost less than most of the regular meat in NorCal. I guess chicken legs, pork sirloin, and beef bones may still be cheaper but at NorCal Safeway where 80/20 ground beef has a regular retail of 7.99/lb, a bone in pork chop has a regular retail of 7.99/lb, and a cubed steak has a regular retail of 9.99 the plant options are definitely cheaper.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by veteran+ »

So tired of the "woke" nonsense to denigrate and make fun of everything under the sun.

I wish "they" would come up with a new word to make it more interesting.

🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: September 29th, 2022, 8:43 am So tired of the "woke" nonsense to denigrate and make fun of everything under the sun.

I wish "they" would come up with a new word to make it more interesting.

🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
I don't know about any adjectives, but I just don't think this current Beyond/Impossible stuff tastes good. Further, it has a very funny taste and a very funny texture. I am not sure signing up with venues like Burger King, McDonalds, and KFC were great ways to launch a product... just my opinion. Also it has a higher salt content than standard meat based dishes have ounce for ounce for some reason which could be a serious concern for those watching salt intake. Given the lack of demand it will be difficult to have low salt/no salt/regular varieties at this time.

I did like those Chipotle Softitas though... those were tasty and worked well in a soft taco. I've also had more than a few "veggie burgers" (bean based I believe) that I thought were tasty over the years.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by storewanderer »

Noticed Grocery Outlet's freezer has 3-4 doors worth of various fake meat products. What was funny is they had 10+ different SKUs on markdown (you rarely see that in the freezer) at 2 for .97, etc. just trying to give this stuff away. Within a couple days of expiration. Rarely see frozen items expiring there.

I took a look at some of the products and the ingredients. Water, soy, and multiples types of oil were often the top 5 ingredients. What is this exactly? How is this supposed to be healthy? I am surprised OIL is permitted in these products.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by Brian Lutz »

I don't know how the fake meat products handle things, but there needs to be at least some fat in meat or it just doesn't cook well. We often use ground turkey instead of ground beef here, and that's typically available in 93% lean and 99% lean versions. In my experience the 99% version requires a decent amount of oil added when you cook it or it will be extremely dry, and even with oil added it's not as good as the 93% version. I don't have that problem with the 93% version, so that's pretty much all we get now.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: October 1st, 2022, 1:14 pm I don't know how the fake meat products handle things, but there needs to be at least some fat in meat or it just doesn't cook well. We often use ground turkey instead of ground beef here, and that's typically available in 93% lean and 99% lean versions. In my experience the 99% version requires a decent amount of oil added when you cook it or it will be extremely dry, and even with oil added it's not as good as the 93% version. I don't have that problem with the 93% version, so that's pretty much all we get now.
True I guess the oil is the replacement for the fat that is usually in the meat. I bought 96% ground beef a few times and stopped due to the difficulties cooking it. I never added oil, kept trying to add water... not good. Often buy 93% at Raleys or 90% at Smiths and have no issues with it.

Now I wonder how those bean burgers I eat sometimes are made/hold together. Probably time for me to find an ingredient list.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by Brian Lutz »

The only "fake meat" I have much experience with is the Morningstar sausage patties (which used to be served regularly in the cafeteria at my last job during breakfast) and those hold together just fine. Nobody is going to ever mistake those for real meat, but they are decent as is. It's hard to get the texture correct, but I don't recall any problems with them falling apart.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: October 1st, 2022, 1:58 pm The only "fake meat" I have much experience with is the Morningstar sausage patties (which used to be served regularly in the cafeteria at my last job during breakfast) and those hold together just fine. Nobody is going to ever mistake those for real meat, but they are decent as is. It's hard to get the texture correct, but I don't recall any problems with them falling apart.
I think those sausages have been around for a long time.

For people who do want these alternative meat products Grocery Outlet's frozen aisle is the best place to go by far if you get a location that is carrying this stuff (the rural ones don't seem to have any of it beyond a couple random thrown in SKUs but larger areas they have 3-4 doors of the stuff). Best mix, best price.
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Re: Fake Meats Sales Slide On Price & Being Too Woke

Post by mjhale »

Morningstar Farms has been around for a long time. They have a good variety of non-meat products. Depending on your taste sensibilities their product is of decent quality, not the real thing but good enough if that is your food choice. The rest of these fake meat companies look like they are trying to be meat "technology" companies. Get an idea, develop a product, bring in investors, make a big splash, IPO, get huge valuation, pay off investors, then reality sets in that the product isn't that good and no one is buying it. I wouldn't want to be the person who bought Beyond Meat stock at their peak of $234 or even their 52 week high of $109. Their stock closed at $14.17 on Friday, 9/30. Meat substitutes can be a viable product as Morningstar Farms shows but if you are going to run your company like your "meat tech" is the next great thing and we all need it (whether by choice or force) don't expect the buying public to embrace you with open arms.
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