
The American Institute for Economic Research raises an interesting question about fake meat: Is it more Entrée or Agenda? Never mind, I’ll answer: It’s agenda.
The Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes, the surge in retail trader activity, and pandemic-driven valuations have led many previously high-flying public firms to face a sudden reversal of fortunes. Transitioning from pandemic-era policies to a more typical economic environment, firms again need strong business fundamentals to survive in a competitive landscape. A reality check has arrived for the “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC Theatres, the SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies) like WeWork and Virgin Orbit Holdings, and even firms with tangible post-pandemic prospects, like Zoom and Netflix.
Wait, what does that have to do with meat?
Among the casualties are a growing number of plant-based meat substitute companies that initially garnered substantial investor interest but have since grappled with low and diminishing consumer demand. In June of this year, UK-based Meatless Farm shut its doors not long after Heck, a maker of meatless sausages, announced that it would substantially reduce its consumer offerings. Nestlé-owned Garden Gourmet also pulled its vegan offerings from UK shops in March 2023. Canada’s Very Good Food Company, a vegan food producer which soared 800 percent on the day of its public offering in 2020, recently collapsed after revealing it had never been profitable.
Oh. That.
Here’s where I part ways with the AIER. I suspect that the failures of these companies aren’t so much the economic policies of the Biden(‘s handlers) Administration, horrendous as they are. The failures of these companies are far more likely because their products taste like sawdust and cow shit.
Fake meat is, of course, largely agenda-driven. It’s driven by animal rights loons and “ethical vegan” gasbags, who are literally trying to have their burgers and eat them, too.
Still, these are private companies, bound to sink, swim, or drown per their own corporate decisions and practices; in this case, it looks like they bet on the wrong horse. After all, you can pretty much always bet on “ethical vegans” to abandon their supposed principles when they become expensive or inconvenient.