There's A Beyond Meat Shortage At Freebirds Restaurants

Beyond Meat Inc BYND CEO Ethan Brown said during a recent conference call the company has sufficient capacity to supply customers, but the popular rise of the plant-based meat has led to a shortage for one restaurant chain.

What Happened

Brown was quoted by CNBC as saying during the company's first-quarter conference call it has the "right structure" to "take on many of the largest [quick-service restaurants] out there."

"You will see some isolated incidents where we're maybe a bit lower than our otherwise very strong fill rates and that has to do with things like product transition as we transition The Beyond Burger 1.0 to The Beyond Burger 2.0," Brown said on the call.

On Wednesday morning, chatter surfaced about restaurant chain Freebirds being sold out of Beyond Meat products. Benzinga contacted a Freebirds location in Nashville and was told by a store manager the entire chain is dealing with shortages of Beyond Meat products.

The Tex-Mex restaurant has several locations throughout the country, mostly located in Texas and Oklahoma. The company's website confirmed the shortage:

Why It's Important

Confirmation of a supply shortage at a restaurant chain could be viewed as either a positive or a negative for Beyond Meat.

On the positive side, it may demonstrate demand for Beyond Meat products is substantially larger than anticipated. The company may be able to adjust its supply chain to quickly and permanently address shortages. On the other hand, it could be viewed that Beyond Meat may be facing supply issues that take time to resolve.

Beyond Meat's stock traded higher by 8.5 percent at $136.84 after falling 25 percent in Tuesday's session. The stock is up 500 percent since its IPO in early May.

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Photo courtesy of Beyond Meat.