El Segundo / CA. (bmi) Beyond Meat Inc., a leader in plant-based meat, announced the appointment of food industry veteran Jorg Oostdam to the newly created leadership position of General Manager, Europe. With over two decades of experience in the food and retail sector, including a 15-year tenure at Mars, Incorporated, Oostdam will drive Beyond Meat’s expansion in Europe and accelerate its strategic growth worldwide.
«I’m very pleased to welcome Jorg as our new General Manager in Europe, a key geography as we build tomorrow’s global protein company,» said Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO, Beyond Meat. «Jorg’s leadership and experience will be instrumental in providing our delicious and nutritious plant-based meats to European consumers, in building out our local production and innovation capabilities, and in growing a robust local supply chain in service to our longer-term goal of price parity with animal protein.»
Global demand for plant-based meat continues to increase, with the European plant-based-food sector growing by a sizeable 49 percent over the past few years. Beyond Meat’s end-to-end manufacturing capabilities in the Netherlands have increased the speed, scale and efficiency in which the company can produce and distribute its products across Europe. This allows Beyond Meat to improve the sustainability of operations, whilst getting one step closer to achieving price parity with animal meat. In 2021 alone, Beyond Meat announced European offerings with Starbucks, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s, as well as major retail expansions throughout Europe including the introduction of new products in select markets. The appointment of Oostdam is another sign of Beyond Meat’s commitment to the region and investment in creating the infrastructure needed to support the company’s growing presence across Europe. Oostdam will be based in the Netherlands and start with the company in February 2022.
