Beyond Meat CEO: No Official Deal With McDonald's

Beyond Meat Inc BYND has not officially won a contract to supply McDonald's Corp MCD with a meatless burger, CEO Ethan Brown said Tuesday on CNBC's "Mad Money."

What Happened: A Beyond Meat spokesperson said Monday afternoon it "co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform."

Brown reiterated that McDonald's did not develop its own burger by itself, although he said Beyond Meat has not yet won a contract or officially secured a partnership with McDonald's for a meatless burger.

McDonald's could very well choose to partner with Beyond Meat or one of its rivals, including Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, which  "desperately" needs to show a major victory in its plant-based business, "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer told Brown.

The CEO responded: "Everything I'm seeing, you know, all the investment we're making here, the scaling we're doing here, would suggest that the relationship there is really strong, and that's really all I can say."

Related Link: McDonald's CEO Talks Plant-Based Burger

Why It's Important: Beyond Meat is "doing things now to prepare for things in the future" that involve cooperation with McDonald's, the CEO said.

The relationship between the two companies is "very strong" and the two are collaborating "on a number of different fronts."

Beyond Meat cannot confirm or deny "which supplier they've chosen or who they're going to be working with," he said. 

What's Next: Beyond Meat remains focused on building out a global portfolio of partnerships with restaurants, Brown said. For example, Beyond Meat recently confirmed a deal to supply plant-based sausage items to Pizza Hut in the U.S., and it has already launched partnerships with Taco Bell in China.

"The key for us is to not get ahead of those partners," the CEO said. "Let's let them make the announcements."

BYND Price Action: Beyond Meat shares were up 0.75% at $125.95 at last check Wednesday. 

Courtesy photo.