Beyond Meat rebrands, citing 'misinformation campaign'

Beyond Meat is switching things up.

The plant-based company has officially dropped the “meat” from its moniker, rebranding as Beyond The Plant Protein Co., or simply Beyond, as it seeks to expand its product line.

“For me, [the rebrand] is an opportunity to reshape the company around very real food that is directly from plants,” CEO Ethan Brown said at the Natural Products Expo West, the Associated Press reports. “It’s about delivering all those benefits of the plant kingdom to the consumer in ways that they’re going to be able to easily integrate it into their lives.”

The name change is a part of the company’s larger goal of “countering [the] misinformation campaign” surrounding plant-based protein and plant ingredients.

During Beyond’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Brown told investors, “We continue to address misinformation surrounding our plant-based meats. As many of you are aware, as industrial livestock and pharmaceutical interests rally around scare tactics and misinformation to confuse consumers, we are driving the health profile of our products to greater heights so as to reduce the disingenuous to the absurd.”

“There is a very significant set of misinformation out there that slowly, I think, we are making progress toward and helping to erode,” he continued. 

The rise and fall of Beyond Meat

Ethan Brown founded Beyond (BYND) back in 2009. 

His goal was to “create products directly from plants that are in the form of meat that improve human health but also that are helpful to the earth,” he told Fortune Magazine’s “Leadership Next” podcast in 2025.

Initially, Beyond had a good deal of success, landing early investments from Tyson Foods and partnering with McDonald’s for the McPlant in 2021.  

Related: 22-year-old fast-food burger chain closes locations in bankruptcy

However, not long after the company went public in 2020, it started receiving pushback from incumbent industries. Leaders in the big pharma and meat spaces characterized Beyond’s offerings as “highly-processed and full of chemicals,” Brown said on “Leadership Next.”

The so-called smear campaign worked on consumers, and by Q3 2025, the company said its net revenues had decreased by 13.3% year-over-year. Stocks have been trading below $1 since the start of 2026.

Beyond Meat has rebranded as Beyond The Plant Protein Co. in an effort to impact customer sentiment.

Image source: Beyond Meat

But Beyond isn’t going down without a fight. 

At the Natural Products West Expo, Brown told the AP he feels confident that Beyond will be able to weather this misinformation storm. 

Plant-based meat and protein alternatives will be a “much more dominant choice” in the next couple decades, he said, but for now brands like Beyond will just have to navigate a “period of confusion.”

“It’s just not the moment for plant-based meats right now,” Brown told the AP.

What’s next for vegan alternatives?

While Beyond hasn’t given up on its plant-based meats, the company is expanding its product range, hoping new offerings will shore up revenues as they wait for consumer sentiment to change.

“We have tremendous innovation capabilities, and I want to make sure that those are being put to the best use for the consumer,” Brown told investors during November’s call. 

“[Beyond] understands plant protein and plant ingredients in a way that many, many other companies do not,” he continued. “As we look at other areas to sort of tilt our arsenal of technology and R&D toward, I hope I am not drinking the Kool-Aid on this, but I think that our ability to go in there and do things that are disruptive is exciting.”

In January, Beyond launched the first of these disruptive innovations — a sparkling protein drink called Beyond Immerse. A month later, it released four additional flavors, each of which comes in a 10-gram and 20-gram protein option.

Other vegan food companies that have been affected by similar “misinformation campaigns” have followed suit, pivoting away from their core products to better meet consumer demand.

These companies include:Impossible Foods: In January 2026, Impossible Foods announced a partnership with EQUII to develop protein-packed breads and pastas.Eat Just: Last spring, the company known for its vegan egg alternatives launched a single-ingredient protein powder at Whole Foods.Silk: America’s #1 plant-based beverage brand, Silk, launched a protein drink in January 2026.

Related: Fast-food chain owner files Chapter 11 bankruptcy as brand struggles

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