Americas favorite meat is now fake?

 I saw this article that has chicken tenders in the title, now usually this would not be something I would click on but being that the article was on Bloomberg it kind of stood out because of the fact that it is entirely written about fake chicken. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-08/beyond-meat-introduces-chicken-tenders-to-a-crowded-u-s-market

The three main points of this article cover things like the recent interest around the U.S. in fake meat and particularly chicken due to the fact that it is America's favorite meat apparently, as well as some of the technology behind how they make this fake product so real, and lastly whether or not this product is any good for you. This article states that there are currently no other fake chicken substitutes, and that their product is already being sold in some restaurants around the country and will be sold in stores shortly depending on the short term success. But expectedly they also say three of their tenders are being sold for eight dollars in some restaurants, in my opinion for them to have any kind of chance in store this price would need to drop drastically to compete with any other frozen product. With that, they say that their product is nutritionally very similar to competitors animal based products, which again makes me wonder how they are going to be able to target any market that isn't vegetarian. 

The company Beyond Meat is building a name which is very self explanatory, and is even used as slang for any kind of fake meat. This company is seemingly one of the larger and more established fake meat producers as they have and have had fake beef products in stores for some years now. They are even establishing themselves on the stock market with almost a 13% increase this past year and a shar value of nearly $150 dollars, which is certainly not terrible for a company that I couldn't have imagined being successful even ten years ago. Beyond wants to be the top dog of fake meat and they have made prevalent, fake beef isn't the only product they sell, they also recently launched a pea based sausage, so it's clear they are doing their best to create a full spectrum of fake meats and build a menu that people can live off of. 

This article didn't really mention any challenges they are having but like I said before I think this is a completely uphill battle for them. The target audience is a very very small percentage of the U.S. and for that reason I think they will and are ultimately struggling to branch out, which in my opinion is why they are now trying chicken. But at the same time, the same people that are shopping for this product are seemingly willing to pay a premium for their special food, which is understandable, so maybe this is how they are able to stay afloat, or even thrive. 

If I were them I would do my absolute best to do two things, first I would really drive home that niche market especially in restaurants where people are willing to pay a premium regardless of what they are eating. I would make some sort of approval saying "Beyond Meat products sold here", I would make it a community. Second, and more importantly, people who don't have any need to eat fake meat need to be eating it. Now speaking for myself, I would never ever buy this product. I might try it but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy this, and I think that is a problem that doesn't have a solution. 

Here is another relevant article about fake beef which I think is a more promising product due to the fact that caddle are very expensive. https://www.outsideonline.com/health/nutrition/impossible-foods-beyond-meat-alt-meat/