Big bets on (veggie) burgers

Emailed on May 3rd, 2019 in The Friday Forward

Beyond Meat shares popped 163% yesterday on their first day of trading, marking the best IPO day performance since before the financial crisis.

Burger King's test of Beyond's competitor, Impossible Foods, patty in their Whopper was such a success, the chain is planning to roll the Impossible Whopper out nationally this year.

While Impossible nabbed BK, there is widespread speculation that Beyond Meat will strike a similar deal with McDonald's or Wendy's (Former McDonald's CEO Don Thompson is on the Beyond Meat board, having invested through his VC firm Cleveland Avenue)

And these products aren't just for vegetarians and vegans, with Impossible CFO David Lee telling Axios' Dan Primack Monday that around 90% of his company's customers consider themselves to be carnivores.

Before you hop on the post-IPO bandwagon: More than a dozen states are considering legislation that would make it illegal for companies to use the word "meat" to describe burgers or sausages that are made from plant-based materials or in labs.

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