Beyond Meat's CEO Just Teased The Possibility Of Hot Dogs
Recently, Ethan Brown, the CEO of Beyond Meat, initiated an AMA on the subreddit dedicated to the company. One question Reddit asked is whether the company had any intention to produce Beyond Hot Dogs. A few days later, a response came stating that the company works across the broad categories of beef, pork, and poultry. Then, the answer came: "Until we launch hot dogs, I hope folks enjoy our Beyond Sausage links (Brats, Hot Italian, and Sweet Italian)."
Strictly speaking, this is not a promise to produce hot dogs. If Beyond Meat never launches hot dogs, customers can still enjoy the Beyond Sausage until that never arriving possibility. However, it seems likely that Beyond Meat will follow through on this tease as their Beyond Sausage would not be able to compete in the plant-based hot dog arena. As one person responded to the suggestion to enjoy Beyond Sausage, "They are tasty. But they are soooo not hot dogs." Beyond Meat, then, has both a market imperative to make this product and no real reason not to do so.
Beyond Meat is already behind
Another answer to the question that Beyond Meat did not give is that there is already an established plant-based hot dog company called Field Roast. Granted, it lacks the broad name recognition that Beyond Meat and Impossible Food enjoy. However, it does enjoy uncontested success.
Last month, the company managed to snag an exclusive contract to cater to the Los Angeles Dodgers with a plant-based version of their Dodger Dog. This is a big deal as the Dodger Dog is so iconic that multiple news outlets, including CBS Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Times (via Yahoo! News), and LAist, felt compelled to cover the change of the product's meat supplier. Field Roast is, as their press release makes pains to point out, the first company to have received this recognition. In business terms, the big importance is also the monopolistic hold Field Roast now has over vegetarian Dodgers fans. There is no other plant-based meat company to compete with them and so, they effectively have a trapped market to subdue.
Beyond Meat may hesitate in pursuing the Beyond Hot Dog because of such competition. It seems more likely to us, however, that they will pursue the creation of their own hot dog even more fervently so they can lock down a fanbase at other ballparks.