Beyond Meat, a California-based leading producer of plant-based meats, announced it's entering Japan through a  partnership with one of the country’s largest grocery store holding companies United Super Market Holdings (USMH).

This partnership will constitute a distribution and product development deal with USMH having exclusive distribution rights for Beyond Meat products in Japan as well as the ability to use Beyond Meat products in any new products developed for the home market. 

The co-development arrangement of the partnership will be facilitated through USMH innovation initiative AKIBA-runway and the resulting products will be sold under USMH brand Green Growers and will be customized to suit the taste of Japanese consumers.

Analyst QuickTake: Beyond Meat has shown an underwhelming performance in 2022 whether it be earnings or product partnerships hence this latest partnership makes up for an interesting development. Revenue from its international segment in particular saw a decline in 1H 2022, due to unfavorable foreign exchange rate impacts and increased trade discounts. Beyond Meat previously had plans to enter the Japanese market via an investment from Mitsui but the expansion fell through in 2018. Further, Japan’s meat consumption is well behind nations such as the US or China and while their cuisine includes items such as tofu, vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian diets are uncommon practices with a high preference for raw seafood. Therefore it is debatable whether the Japanese market is the right move at a time of uncertainty for the company.