Beyond Meat’s protein soda may be its last chance and best hope

Beyond Meat just launched a new product that’s further away from meat than ever before: protein soda. Beyond Immerse is the company’s first product that makes no attempt to imitate meat at all, marking a sharp shift in Beyond’s business model. It may seem like it’s coming out of left field, but it all falls into place once you realize how poorly the veggie burger business is performing for Beyond. The shift toward protein is still a long way off for a company that has never turned an annual profit — but it’s an attempt to capitalize on the one remaining market that might give it hope.

Immersion is a strange thing in itself. Unlike most protein drinks, which are usually chalky at best, it claims to be “crisp and refreshing” and comes in three fruity flavours: Peach & Mango, Lemon & Lime, and Orange & Tangerine. Each flavor then comes in two versions, with either 10 grams or 20 grams of protein, with either 60 or 100 calories per 12-ounce can, with 7 grams of fiber in either case.

As you’d expect from Beyond, Immerse is entirely plant-based. The protein comes from peas and fiber from tapioca, with stevia, “natural flavors,” and a few juice concentrates and food colorings to round out the ingredient list. Beyond makes sure this applies to a few healthy food boxes, and promises plenty of antioxidants and electrolytes, too.

The Immerse’s macronutrients are suspiciously impressive. I drink a protein shake most days, and a 100-calorie worth of the powder I choose will provide me with only 19 grams of protein and no fiber at all, served in a semi-palatable sludge that I have to try—and fail—to convince myself that it tastes like a milkshake. If Immerse can actually deliver better macros, and be as “clear and invigorating” as Beyond promises, the appeal is clear. Other people seem to agree. on Beyond the Test Kitchen websitewhere the first limited edition Immerse is available exclusively, and every flavor released has already sold out.

Perhaps that should not be surprising. Protein snacks, drinks and supplements are big and growing business. US sales of ready-made protein shakes It grew by 71 percent Between 2021 and 2025, their market size now stands at $8 billion. Much of that protein comes from dairy-derived whey, but plant-based protein is also growing — beverage and powder sales increased 11 percent from 2023 to 2024. According to the Good Food Institutewhich constitutes a $450 million business in itself. These numbers pale in comparison to the larger “functional beverage” market — prebiotics, probiotics, fiber, protein, electrolytes, pre-workout, post-workout, CBD, and more — that has been With a value exceeding $200 billion in 2024 It is only expected to grow from here. The beverage fridge at my local store is stocked with gut-friendly kombucha, cold-pressed ginger shots, and electrolyte-packed recovery drinks from brands big and small, with more every time I look. Poppi, a prebiotic soda touting the benefits of apple cider vinegar, has attracted investment Shark tankspent millions to run Super Bowl ads for two years in a row, and in 2025 was acquired by Pepsi for $1.95 billion (it also Class action settlement Its “gut health” claims were misleading, but it can’t all be good news.)

You can see why Beyond would want to get on board. It already has “leading expertise in unleashing the power of plants,” according to founder and CEO Ethan Brown, and is one of the few plant-based food brands that can truly claim to be a household name. Most importantly, protein drinks are clearly profitable — and if there’s one thing Beyond needs right now, it’s profit.

Beyond Meat was founded by Brown in 2009 and within a few years was established Excited headlines Suggesting that the future of food was here. In 2019, Beyond went public. Its stock launched at $25 per share but rose to $65 on its first day of trading, making it the market leader. Fastest-growing U.S. IPO since Palm Inc. In 2000. A few months later, shares peaked at just under $240 per share, giving the company a valuation of more than $14 billion. It has secured supermarket distribution with Walmart, Target, and Kroger; Provided her with fake meat McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chickenand subway.

But the glory days did not last long. Beyond has posted back-to-back losses since going public. Profit sometimes seems like an optional notion in modern capitalism, but if investors don’t see profit, they expect to see growth, and that’s where Beyond stops: After peaking in 2021, Beyond’s annual revenue has steadily declined, reaching $326 million in 2024. None of these fast-food deals have resulted in permanent products on American menus. Beyond’s stock price has been in free fall for years, except Short-lived rise as a stock meme Last October. It is currently trading at less than a dollar per share, which puts it at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, and is in danger. Class action lawsuit from its shareholderswhich allegedly concealed the need to write off legacy assets worth $77.4 million.

What went wrong? While Beyond Meat’s management has undoubtedly made mistakes over the years, it is in fact the most notable victim of the collapse of the meatless meat market. The Good Food Institute found that plant-based meat sales in the United States fell 7 percent from 2023 to 2024, marking the third straight year of decline. “The category is smaller today than it was two years ago, four years ago, five years ago,” Peter McGuinness, CEO of Beyond, Impossible Foods’ main competitor, said. He said New York Earlier this month. “This is not good.”

In fact, it could be argued that Beyond and Impossible have done well by surviving for so long, but they both struggle. Imposible never materialized long-rumored plans for an IPO of its own, likely being delayed due to Beyond’s public issues, but it has suffered repeated rounds of layoffs. McGinnis said last year The Wall Street Journal That profitability is likely years away.

Both companies are at the center of two major trends working against them. The first is the return of meat to the menu. The Good Food Institute points to a 4 percent decline in plant-based food sales between 2023 and 2024, while Food Industries Association It found that meat sales grew nearly 5 percent over the same period, reaching a record high of $105 billion. The number of vegetarians and vegans has decreased 2023 Gallup Consumption Habits Survey It’s estimated that 1 percent of the U.S. population is vegetarian and 4 percent is vegetarian, down from 3 percent and 5 percent in 2018. But vegan wasn’t meant to be Beyond’s entire market — they were meant to convince large swaths of us to eat less meat in favor of plant-based alternatives. For a while it looked like it was working, and by 2023, Nearly half of American restaurants Offering vegetarian menu options, and reducing meat consumption, esp Reducing climate impactwas at the heart of the cultural zeitgeist. But by 2025, only 22% of Americans are Try to limit your meat intakeDown from 37 percent three years ago.

This may be bad enough for Beyond, but it has a second problem: processed foods have also been discontinued. A slice of pea protein, oils and starches is processed through an extruder and treated so that it appears to bleed, exquisitely. Researchers have linked ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to… 32 different adverse health effects, The scalpel He has She described them as a threat to global healthand San Francisco Suing processed food giants. Then there’s RFK Jr., who New dietary guidelines I might list the only part of current American health policy that I can support, which is getting Americans to do so Limit highly processed foods (And in a double whammy for Beyond, eat more meat.) There’s no real evidence yet of declining sales of UPFs as a whole, but it’s unlikely to be recommended to anyone trying to eat healthier at the moment other than pancakes. Instead, they may be asked to eat whole foods, stick to snacks with fewer than five ingredients, and eat more meat but perhaps cut back on beef. Further does not enter the picture.

All of this goes some way to explaining why Beyond is turning to salvation in soda, of all things. Next time you pass the drinks fridge at the supermarket, take a look at the ‘healthy drinks’ on display. Do you know two things that almost all of them have in common? They don’t include meat (I hope), and are heavily processed. Health-conscious people don’t want their food to be manufactured in a factory or filled with preservatives, but they rarely mind when it comes to what they drink. My Instagram feed is filled with fitness advocates promoting “clean” eating and whole foods, while discounting branded discount codes for processed protein powders. There are double standards at work that probably won’t last forever, but as long as they do, you can see why Beyond Meat wants to take full advantage.

Protein soda, no matter how refreshing or fiber-rich, is unlikely to completely turn around Beyond’s fortunes. But it doesn’t need that now: it just needs time. It’s time to convince investors to stick around, it’s time to raise the stock price by a dollar or two, and maybe it’s time to shake up food fads again and give meatless meat a second life.