by CHEN Xiaotong

Beyond Meat has removed its flagship stores from major Chinese e-commerce platforms, effectively halting direct sales in the country and signaling an accelerated retreat from a market once viewed as a key strategic priority.

The company's store on Alibaba's Tmall, one of China's largest online marketplaces, posted a notice on Nov 27 saying it would cease operations. Its Pinduoduo store, operated under PDD Holdings, was also inaccessible. Calls to Beyond (Jiaxing) Food Co., Ltd., its wholly owned China entity, could not be completed.

Founded in 2009 in California, Beyond Meat was one of the world's best-known plant-based protein pioneers, gaining early attention for its pea-protein burgers and drawing investments from Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio. Its 2019 IPO surged 163%, briefly making it the global face of the plant-based meat boom.

That momentum has since faded. Beyond Meat's revenue fell from US$419 million in 2022 to US$327 million last year, with annual net losses still around US$150 million. Operating losses in the first nine months of 2025 neared US$200 million.

The company made an ambitious push into China starting in 2020, partnering with Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hut, and opening a plant in Jiaxing, near Shanghai, in 2021 — its first end-to-end production site outside the United States, intended to localize supply and develop China-specific products such as Beyond Pork.

But sales never scaled as expected. Local media reported earlier this year that the company had already paused most China operations, and the disappearance of its online stores suggests the withdrawal is now entering its final phase.