Stock Traders Lost £313 Million Betting Against Bleeding Burgers

Fake meat means big money, and big money means big losses

Speculators “shorting” — betting against — Beyond Meat’s stock in the USA have been left embarrassed after an unexpected climb led to a collective $398 million (£313 million) loss. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat’s patty is getting ‘even meatier’ ahead of planned US expansion and a new European production facility that should bring its burgers ever closer to the London market. With coconut oil and cocoa butter ‘marbling,’ apple extract that will turn brown as it cooks, and pea, mung bean and rice proteins, it’s just another day in the fake meat arms race with Impossible Foods, which, as ever, needs to be scrutinised for its messy morals and the co-option of purported environmental and ethical good. [CNBC]

And in other news...

• Interested in the growing conversation around natural wine that is leading industry figures to make some pretty bold, sweeping, maybe unwise statements? Eater London has the talk for you, tonight.
• Jason Atherton’s new, £15 million Mayfair restaurant has a familiar neighbour: his former boss and partner, Gordon Ramsay.
• A huge new food ‘theatre’ will open at Centre Point and feature some of the city’s most exciting restaurants.
• Domino’s tried to deliver four large cheeseburger pizzas to the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace.
• Robin Gill can’t open restaurants fast enough: more details on his Great Scotland Yard hotel restaurant portfolio.
• Hawksmoor will close its sister neighbourhood restaurant brand, Foxlow, for good.
• Two more London restaurant chains turn to fake meat. Leon has launched ‘Jack Wings,’ which are nothing like chicken wings but are made of jackfruit, and Hard Rock Cafe will use the U.K.-based Moving Mountains for its own fake meat burger. [Inews]
• The wine bar that lets customer dispense themselves, Vagabond, will open a sixth site in Paddington. [Propel]
• Amazon has shut down its USA branch of restaurant delivery services. The giant recently led a huge investment in restaurant delivery juggernaut Deliveroo, so it isn’t quite giving up on sending food to people as well as literally anything else. [Eater]
• Ed Sheeran briefly turned into a Heinz condiment in the name of #adverts. The pop star has a tattoo of the ketchup logo on his arm. [The Takeout]
• Good tweet: