Not way back, plant-based meat appeared poised to take over the world’s dinner plates. Fuelled by considerations about animal welfare, the setting and well being, funding poured into the choice protein sector. The frenzy for fake burgers and sausages hit a peak with Past Meat’s US preliminary public providing in 2019.

The shares, priced at $25, surged virtually 10-fold inside two months of buying and selling to present the corporate a market worth of near $14bn.

The inventory has crashed 94 per cent since then. Past Meat reported a first-quarter lack of $59mn this week on a 16 per cent drop in revenues to $92mn.

Why has pretend meat misplaced its sizzle? The primary downside is that it has not gained sufficient converts. Within the US, gross sales of plant-based meat substitutes have plateaued following a lift from pandemic stockpiling. Gross sales totalled $1.37bn final yr, in contrast with $1.38bn in 2021 and $1.4bn in 2020, in line with the Plant Primarily based Meals Affiliation. Value will increase helped flatter the numbers. Gross sales volumes declined 8 per cent yr on yr.

The second situation is that plant-based meat is costlier than the actual factor. Omnivores have been buying and selling all the way down to cheaper cuts of animal meat. Vegetarians have been defaulting to easier plant proteins comparable to tofu or quinoa.

The third issue — highlighted by Lex amid preliminary market enthusiasm for Past Meat — is low boundaries to market entry. There are actually greater than 60 plant-based meat firms, every with greater than $500,000 in retail gross sales, in line with The Good Meals Institute.

{The catalogue} of issues places Past Meat in a decent spot. Money and equivalents have shrunk for the eighth straight quarter to $258mn. Internet debt stands at $1.1bn. The corporate plans to boost $200mn through a inventory sale. It introduced two rounds of job losses final yr.

Privately held rival Unattainable Meals has reportedly been planning to chop jobs too, regardless of file gross sales in 2022. Brazilian meat large JBS has shut its US plant-based meals enterprise, Planterra Meals, simply two years after launching it.

In its heyday, Past Meat’s shares traded on as a lot as 122 occasions income. The valuation has fallen to only two occasions. However that also seems to be costly in contrast with different meals producers comparable to Hormel and Conagra, each of that are worthwhile and boast rising gross sales.

The inventory now resembles the unappetising leftovers from a failed culinary experiment.