Beyond Meat and PepsiCo Team Up to Make Plant-Based Jerky

(Bloomberg) -- PepsiCo Inc. and Beyond Meat Inc. are planning a vegan jerky snack as the first product in their joint venture, according to people familiar with the matter, setting up a test of whether the food giant’s marketing muscle can build enthusiasm for plant-based meat.

The companies announced the creation of the Planet Partnership last January, saying that it would focus on creating, producing and marketing new plant-based snacks and drinks. The venture will bring together Beyond Meat’s product innovations with PepsiCo’s distribution and marketing, the companies said at the time.

Competitors have already pounced on the plant-based snacking trend with faux-jerky options. Conagra Brands Inc. has a line of Gardein-branded jerky made with wheat and soy.

Beyond Meat and PepsiCo declined to comment.

In a video posted to YouTube, Amber Criste said she had been given a package of the jerky by a local store owner. “It is good,” she says in the video. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Criste, who got the product in upstate New York, said Beyond “nailed the beef jerky flavor,” and that she preferred the teriyaki flavor to the original flavor.

The joint venture is led by Chief Executive Officer Daniel Moisan, a PepsiCo veteran. It will be co-located with Beyond Meat in El Segundo, California, Moisan told Bloomberg in May. 

PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta told CNBC in September that the company hoped new products would be released by early 2022.

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