In Russia, from November 5, 2019, sales of vegetable meat, a product of the American startup Beyond Meat, will start.
Deliveries to the supermarkets of the Azbuka Vkusa retail chain will be started by the distributor Alianta Group. At the first stage, the products will be sold in 29 stores of the retailer. It is known that a package of two cutlets based on alternative meat will cost 750 rubles in the retail network. Thus, the cost of 1 kg of meat from Beyond Meat will be about 3,300 rubles. The company expects that about 1,000 packages of new products will be sold per month.
Beyond Meat was founded in 2009. Vegetable meat, which has become especially popular in the United States and several European countries in recent years, is made from pea protein, water, rapeseed and coconut oils, and other ingredients. Since 2018, vegetable meat products have been actively used by the largest fast food operators, including Burger King, KFC и McDonald's. In 2019, the first "organic" burgers appeared in Russian restaurants.
Experts believe that Beyond Meat products, which are more expensive than marbled beef and other premium meats, may be in demand in Russia from vegans and vegetarians, as well as representatives of generation Z. The exclusive distributor of the American company in Russia, Alianta Group, is considering the possibility of cooperation with other retailers, as well as options for supplying other Beyond Meat products to the country. Interested in the sale of vegetable meat, including Lenta and X5 Retail Group. Today, Russia sells about 5 tons of new meat per month, but during the year the distributor predicts a 3-4 times increase in this indicator, while retail chains will account for about a third of all sales.
In the spring of 2019, Moscow’s White Rabbit Family, one of the best restaurants in the world, was the first in Russia to sell burgers with vegetable meat. According to its own estimates, the restaurant has already sold 20 thousand of these burgers, earning about 10 million rubles. In autumn, products with alternative meat appeared in TGI Friday's and Teremok restaurants. It is noteworthy that the import of conventional meat from the United States to Russia is still banned.
