Beyond Meat's Shifted Focus To Retail Drove Record Sales In Q2, CEO Tells Cramer

Beyond Meat Inc. BYND increased its focus on retail business to boost sales as the pandemic intensified, CEO Ethan Brown told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday.

Beyond Restaurants, And On To Store Shelves: The faux meat manufacturer shifted its business, which was split evenly between retail and food preparation segments, towards grocery stores, as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered restaurants and other eat-in establishments, Brown said at the CNBC "Mad Money" show. 

“Today we stand at 88% retail and 12% food service,” the Beyond Meat CEO revealed, adding that the company had to move assets and equipment to effect the necessary change. 

Beyond Meat products are available in 112,000 stores globally.

Home Cooks Are Driving Sales Amid Pandemic: The plant-based meat company reported second-quarter losses of 2 cents per share earlier this week, mostly in line with market expectations. Quarterly sales rose to $113 million in the same period, an increase of 68.47% year-over-year. The sales figure beat analyst consensus of $99.84 million by 13.48%.

Brown gave credit to company employees for helping transition the products for retail use, as more people took to cooking at home amid pandemic. 

Discounts And Freebies To Attract Meat Eaters: Beyond Meat has developed a value pack for retailers, and is offering discounts to customers to try its vegan alternatives, during the COVID-19 crisis, as beef prices remain high.

The discounts are a part of the growth strategy for the company, as well as related to making available more protein options for consumers. The company is also offering free products to first responders and those in need, MarketWatch noted.

Impossible Also Turns To Retail: At July-end, competitor Impossible Foods started selling its vegan meat products at 2,100 Walmart Inc WMT stores.

The company’s CEO Patrick Brown described it as a significant step. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat products are available at Kroger Co’s KR stores.

Price Action: Beyond Meat shares traded nearly 6.7% lower at $132.69 on Wednesday and gained 0.35% in the after-hours. 

Photo courtesy: Marco Verch on Flickr