JBS Closes Its Alternative Protein Startup
JBS USA announced it is closing its Planterra Foods business unit subsidiary just two years after its launch. The news was first reported in the Denver Business Journal on Saturday.
Planterra Foods is a plant-based protein manufacturer that launched the “OZO” brand at Kroger during the summer of 2020. Shuttering the startup will idle a 189,000-foot factory in Denver the company opened in December 2021 and lay off about 120 employees.
In a statement to Food Navigator, JBS said, “We continue to believe in the potential of plant-based options for consumers and remain committed to the alternative protein market. JBS will focus on it efforts on its plant-based operations in Brazil and Europe, which continue to gain market share and expand their respective customer bases.”
Sales of alternative proteins have slowed significantly the past year with market analysts noting double digit declines in dollar sales and volume in the refrigerated segment. The frozen segment has fared better, but Food Navigator reports that fresh plant-based products were not delivering the same kinds of turns or profitability for retailers as conventional meat.
Other traditional protein companies have ventured into the alternative category in recent years, but some are now rethinking their position.
After an 18.2% decline in plant-based sales in the second quarter of 2022, Maple Leaf Food’s CEO Michael McCain said on the company’s earnings call in August, We used to believe in a transformational category outcome” for meat alternatives. “This did not materialize…and we no longer believe that it will materialize.”
McCain and other company executives now believe the hockey-stick growth chart projections for alternative meats were way too ambitious.
