Disruption in the meat industry: new technologies in nonmeat substitutes

Abstract

After World War II, consumer patterns of food consumption changed dramatically. Initially, it was mobility, economic evolution, and home appliance technologies that induced a shift toward meals eaten outside of the home and to ready-to-eat foods at home. More recently, health concerns and sustainability issues shifted consumer tastes among meat products and gave rise to a change in attitudes about raising animals for human consumption. On the supply side, new technologies in nonmeat production enabled new producers, most notably Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, to enter as fringe competitors to vertically integrated, oligopolistic meat processors. Today, these nonmeat products represent a small, but growing, share of consumer expenditures at grocery stores, restaurants, and direct-to-consumer delivery channels. In this paper, we evaluate the disruption of the traditional meat industry through the lens of consumer spending trends and substitution among meat products and find that the development of alternative meat products is market-driven rather than policy-driven. Given these findings, we identify implications for product development and industrial organization.