On Tuesday, Beyond Meat announced that its meatless burger patties will be available for purchase in Alibaba’s Hema grocery stores, marking the company’s entry into supermarkets in Chinese mainland
Starting on Saturday, July 4, the plant-focused company’s Beyond Burger products will be available at 50 Hema locations in Shanghai – the same city where the first Hema store was built. The US-based company plans to expand its product offerings to 48 more Hema locations in Beijing and Hangzhou by September of this year, CNBC reports.
In case you haven’t realized by now, Beyond Burger is a burger patty that’s made with pea protein, rice protein, bean protein and potato starch. However, the plant-based patty has developed quite a following around the globe, with Snoop Dogg collaborating with the company for a Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich by US-based coffee and baked goods chain Dunkin’.
The meatless patty first made its China debut in Starbucks as part of the coffee chain’s sustainability campaign in April. Other Yum China-owned fast food chains like KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have also started selling Beyond Meat products earlier this year.
Plant-based meat companies have been making waves in China as the country looks to shed its reliance on pork, beef and other animal products. While some products, such as Beyond Burger, cater to fans of Western food, Shenzhen-based Starfield released a version of Cantonese cuisine’s popular changfen, swapping pork and beef with plant-based mince.
READ MORE: New Meat: Is China Ready for a Plant-Based Future?
[Cover image via @beyondmeat/Instagram]
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