Beyond Meat’s trademark applications show the company’s plan to occupy all of the same markets as animal-based foods, from seafood to dairy.
The Californian brand has filed a whopping 108 individual trademark applications since 2012. These include Beyond Pork, Beyond Turkey, Beyond Lamb, Beyond Shrimp, Beyond Tuna, Beyond Crab, Beyond Egg, and most recently, Beyond Milk.
According to the USPTO trademark database, Beyond Meat intends its ‘Beyond Milk’ IP to cover “food products made of milk substitutes based on vegan substances,” including milk and milk products “based on or made with” plants, nuts, seeds, oat, wheat, rice, or milk powders.
The number of trademark applications by Beyond Meat reveals the sheer scale of the company’s plans for research, development, and innovation within the growing plant-based food sector. As noted previously by CEO Ethan Brown, the company aims to offer replacements to all traditional animal products with authentic, tasty, sustainable, and healthier plant-based options.
Beyond Meat and other brands have already clashed over unannounced but trademarked names for products. These include Beyond Milk and Beyond Cheese, both of which will occupy fast-growing plant-based categories. Global Market Insights Inc. expects the non-dairy milk market alone to hit $21 billion by 2026, while the vegan cheese market could exceed $4,650 million by 2027.
Beyond meat: trademarked chicken and vegan seafood
It’s likely that the potential of the vegan chicken market prompted Beyond Meat’s recent expansion into plant-based poultry, and many commentators (including LIVEKINDLY) predicted that 2021 would be the year of meat-free chicken products.
Since the start of 2021, Beyond Meat has launched chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, and orange chicken. But these are far from the brand’s first forays into chicken products. Beyond Meat was originally best known for its flagship Chicken Strips (now discontinued) before it became synonymous with the beef-style Beyond Burger.
Over the last three years alone, the company has filed additional trademark applications for Beyond Fried, Breaded, Sliced, Popcorn, and Shredded Chicken. Deanna Jurgens, the Chief Growth Officer of Beyond Meat, said: “We’ve doubled down on plant-based chicken this summer, just as consumer demand for chicken is skyrocketing.”
The vegan seafood market is also poised for steady growth in the coming years, and Beyond Meat trademarked Beyond Shrimp, Beyond Tuna, and Beyond Crab in 2020.
