Plant and Bean: Meat-substitute manufacturer enters administration citing rising costs and inflationary pressures

Administrators are now exploring options for a possible sale of Plant and Bean Limited.

The company has appointed James Clark and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory to act as joint administrators.

Mr Clark, who is managing director at Interpath Advisory, said: “Businesses across the food and drink sector, and especially those in highly competitive sub-sectors such as alternative protein, are facing immense pressures at the moment, with rising costs impacting profitability.

“Over the coming days, we will be working with key stakeholders to explore the possibility of a sale of the business.”

Interpath Advisory also noted that Plant and Bean has experienced significant inflation across its cost base, including increases in food and energy prices.

Brecks Food declined to comment on Plant and Bean Limited entering administration.

In Plant and Bean’s latest accounts, issued at the end of 2021, the company owed just over £9 million to creditors. The firm had also taken out a bank loan of around £2 million that year.

In its 2021 accounts, the company noted that it had been “severely impacted” by rising raw material and energy prices.

It also noted that the cost of dried egg white had posed a major challenge, as a result of the “prolonged” avian flu pandemic across Europe at the time.

Founded in 2019 and based in Boston, Lincolnshire, Plant and Bean manufactures meat-free products for the likes of Quorn, Princes, and Wicked Kitchen.

Following the appointment of the joint administrators, the Company is carrying out limited trading while the Administrators explore options for a sale of the business and its assets.

Interpath Advisory says it has retained approximately 25 employees to assist with ongoing activities.

At the time of entering administration, the firm employed 25 staff members, a representative of Interpath Advisory noted.

In 2020, Plant and Bean announced that it was opening Europe’s largest plant-based meat factory, based in Lincolnshire.

At the time, the firm said it would create around 500 jobs through opening the facility.

The news of Plant and Bean entering administration comes as multiple firms have reduced or halted production of plant-based meat alternatives.

Last month, Yorkshire-based Heck said it was reducing its range of meat-free alternatives due to a lack of sales. The company reduced its plant-based range down to two products from an initial 10.

Earlier this year, Nestle also announced that it would stop selling its meat-free Garden Gourmet range in the UK, just two years after it first launched the range.

Alternative protein manufacturer Beyond Meat also saw its sales slump towards the end of 2022, with revenues down 20.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of the year.