Beyond meat, it comes to Alibaba stores in China

Plant-based protein plant maker unveils new partnership with Chinese technology giant on Wednesday Alibi (BABA), which will bring Beyond Burgers to supermarket shelves in mainland China for the first time.

Alibaba begins operations by unveiling the products at 50 of its Freshippo stores in Shanghai, the company’s futuristic supermarkets where customers use the app to order food and buy groceries. The connection marked Beyond Meat’s first placement in supermarkets in mainland China, where it was first introduced in April with great Starbucks connection. Prior to that, the company’s goods were available in Hong Kong.

Beyond also has a new contract with local food distributor Sinodis, which will help the company supply restaurants and caterers in China, Brown says.

Alibaba, for its part, wants to cash in on the growing phenomenon. “We have seen a growing interest in vegetable meat among our customers and look forward to offering more meat products in the future,” Jiayu Zhao, senior director and head of trade at Freshippo, Alibaba’s department that oversees new retail initiatives, said in a statement. .

In addition to being available in stores over cakes, Alibaba will start offering them on its app so anyone who wants to order something at home can deliver them.

The companies plan to expand their partnership in the fall, and from September they will procure burgers at dozens of other stores in Beijing and Hangzhou, they said.