Beyond Meat, a leader in plant-based meat products, has announced a manufacturing partnership with Netherlands-based meat distributor and supplier Zandbergen, to facilitate the production of vegan meat in Europe.
Zandbergen will provide additional infrastructure to Beyond Meat for catering to the growing demand for plant-based meat alternatives and to attain its goal of becoming a global protein company.
As a part of the partnership, Zandbergen is constructing a new manufacturing facility in Zoeterwoude in the Netherlands, which is expected to commence production in 2020.
The facility will be Beyond Meat’s first production plant outside of the United States.
The move aims to reduce the brand’s transportation footprint and increase the speed at which it can supply products to customers across Europe.
'Strategic Partners'
"The consumer response in Europe has been very positive and we look forward to being able to better serve customers with locally-produced products," said Beyond Meat's executive chairman, Seth Goldman.
"We are pleased to have strong strategic partners in Europe like Zandbergen to help us grow our global footprint," he added.
As consumers are getting more health conscious, the demand for plant-based meat substitutes is rising.
Last year, Zandbergen started distributing Beyond Meat’s products throughout Europe across foodservice and retail.
“As the demand for plant-based products continues to expand in Europe, we are thrilled to be partnering with Beyond Meat to produce their innovative products outside the US,” said Adriaan Figee, the chief commercial officer of Zandbergen.
Most recently, Beyond Burger joined the meat offering at Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, Delhaize in Belgium and Tesco in the UK.
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