Introducing meatless bacon: The next big thing from Beyond Meat

The folks at Beyond Meat are looking to give vegetarians something to sizzle in the morning. Photo / Getty Images

With burgers and sausages under its belt, Beyond Meat is now creating a plant-based alternative for the carnivore breakfast staple: bacon.

The company doesn't have a launch date, but Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown said in an interview that the product is improving as it goes through development.

The company, which has seen its stock soar almost 700 per cent since its initial public offering in May, is rapidly expanding its reach. Its plant-based burgers, faux ground beef and sausages are sold in more than 30,000 supermarkets, restaurants and other venues around the world.

Bacon would follow the company's recent focus on breakfast: Doughnut shop Tim Hortons serves Beyond Meat's sausages on breakfast sandwiches in almost 4,000 locations. Beyond Meat also announced a breakfast sandwich partnership with Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. on Wednesday.

Conversations with potential customers for the bacon are already underway.

"We're looking forward to trying their bacon whenever we can," said Emily Murphy, director of speciality procurement at Baldor Foods, a produce-focused distributor with centres in New York, Boston and Washington. "We understand from Beyond that it's in the works."

With consumers increasingly concerned about the impact of meat consumption, the industry is anticipated to continue growing in coming years.

There has, however, been pushback from the farming industry, which has taken exception to the use of word 'meat' in describing their products.

The concern stems from the fact that muddies the water by promoting something that's meat-free as if it contains meat.

There have also been similar concerns in the dairy industry, which has become increasingly protective of the word milk in response to the growing prominence of vegetable-derived alternatives.