Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
It’s been a tough week for all kinds of meat, so the steaks couldn’t be higher in this week’s food news roundup.
Meating expectations: The weakening demand in the plant-based meat category continued in the first quarter, Beyond Meat reported in its earnings call this week.
The alt-meat company’s revenues were down 15.7% year over year to $92.2 million in the first quarter. However, CEO Ethan Brown said the results “demonstrate solid progress against our strategy and plan,” as the company managed to reduce its net loss from $100.5 million in Q1 2022 to $59 million. Its gross profit and margin benefited in part from lower manufacturing costs.
In US retail, the company’s net revenues dropped 35.3% as consumers continue to trade down to cheaper animal protein. Brown said the company is “focused on restoring growth” in retail for its refrigerated product through a new marketing campaign called “Better with Beyond” and activations with retail partners. It’s also introducing a “new generation” of burgers in the retail frozen section and foodservice.
- Its international foodservice biz was the only one that notched growth in the quarter, almost doubling to $19.1 million.
The company projected a decrease in net revenues of 10% to 1% for the year. “I think this is a business that is turning a corner,” Brown said. “This next quarter, the quarter we’re in, is a high comp, but we’re looking forward to really the second half of the year getting back to growth.”
Tough loss: Tyson Foods reported a loss of $97 million in its latest quarter, the company’s first loss in 14 years, coming in far below expectations. As chicken prices, pork demand, and cattle availability all dropped, its three commodity divisions are struggling simultaneously, a “highly unusual situation” CEO Donnie King told analysts he’d never seen before. Tyson, the country’s largest meat supplier, sliced its full-year sales forecast as a result.
Break the price: As CPGs benefit from price hikes, more grocers are pushing back. Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt halted supplies of Mondelez products such as Oreos, claiming Mondelez asked for an additional price bump after their agreement had been finalized. It called such hikes “no longer justifiable.” Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize also said it was pushing vendors in Europe to lower prices as commodity costs fall.