Whether you call it blended meat or by the relatively new moniker “balanced protein,” the category created by mixing animal meat with plants has struggled to gain momentum in retail. Nosh’s resident ex-butcher-turned-balanced-protein enthusiast Lukas Southard is here to cut to the meat of the category dynamics. In addition to the exit of notable big meat players from the blended segment (like Applegate Farm’s Well-Carved line and Tyson’s Raised & Rooted’s pivot to fully plant-based), attrition has also hit startups and insurgents like Choppy! (formerly Paul’s Table) and food technology company SCiFi Foods, to name a few. Finding continued funding was too high a barrier for many small blended meat brands. But the reason investment dried up could be a result of a broader problem coming from an adjacent category: plant-based meat alternatives. "Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into vegan chicken companies from venture capital firms because consumers allegedly want to save the planet through food, but there's actually no data that substantiates that they do that with their dollars,” said Choppy! co-founder Brice Klein. In essence, investors had bet big on alt-meats (and many were burned), all while the returns did not prove there was room for a middle-ground between plant-meats and conventional protein. But blended meat has persisted. Like its category adjacent counterpart, it has found its way in foodservice where consumers have a low-risk entry point to trial the items. The hope is that eventually consumers will seek out a taste in retail. Many stakeholders point to a messaging problem as the other big hindrance to securing more buy-in. The solution? Repositioning away from climate-centric marketing approaches. Instead, many brands are focusing on the health attributes of adding vegetables to a burger and prioritizing flavor. Put simply: “The opportunity still exists; the need is still out there,” said Tim Dale, category innovation director at sustainable food non-profit Food System Innovations (FSI). But brands must find a better story to tell, one eschewing narratives about being the next Beyond burger or Impossible nugget, but rather aligns closer to traditional meat as a healthier alternative, Dale said. “How do you tell a story that this is a meat product for meat eaters, but has been improved with plant-based ingredients as opposed to becoming less than [its meat-only counterparts]?” Could the balanced proteins category ever create viable retail demand? Let me know your thoughts at lsouthard@bevnet.com. Read how the blended meat category is forging inroads as a better-for-you alternative on Nosh. | 
