Most Innovative Companies What’s behind the Beyond Meat rebrand?
Aug 7, 2025
Clint Rainey, a Fast Company contributor, reveals insights into Beyond Meat's rebranding to 'Beyond,' tackling the challenges of a competitive market. Kristen Toussaint, staff editor, discusses the company’s strategic shifts and evolving identity in the alternative protein sector. The conversation also shifts to tech nostalgia, as Harry McCracken and Jared Newman reminisce about 1995's technological milestones, like Windows 95, and their impact on modern innovations, celebrating how far tech has come since those early days.
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Beyond's Target Audience Ambiguity
- Beyond Meat's products mainly target the 'middle' consumers who eat meat occasionally but want plant-based options.
- Vegans and habitual meat-eaters are less likely to be the company's core audience.
Plant-Based Meats Can Feel Unnatural
- Kristen felt uncomfortable eating early plant-based burgers as they mimicked meat too closely.
- Yaz had a similar experience finding Impossible Burgers wrong after years of vegetarian eating.
Choose Vegan Home Cooking Over Alt-Meat
- For mixed diet groups, cooking something vegan from scratch often yields better meals than relying on plant-based meat alternatives.
- Beyond Meat suits non-creative consumers looking for convenient, universally acceptable dinner options.