El Segundo, California-based Beyond Meat Inc., a manufacturer of plant-based meat, has appointed food industry veteran Jorg Oostdam to the newly-created leadership position of general manager, Europe.
With more than two decades of experience in the food and retail sector, including a 15-year tenure at Mars Inc., 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 of 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.”
Oostdam has been a leader in geographical expansion, portfolio extensions and organizational development throughout his career. He most recently served as CEO for Zed Candy, where he relaunched the brand and expanded the business into 14 new markets globally. Prior to that, Oostdam was VP and general manager of EMEA for Heartland Food Products Group, where he scaled the Splenda business and expanded the international sales and marketing teams.
A veteran of Mars, Oostdam held several leadership roles at the organization including general manager of Switzerland and general manager of Spain, as well as marketing and sales positions in the Netherlands and Northern Europe.
“Europe’s appetite for plant-based meat is on the rise, and there’s no better time to join the Beyond Meat team,” Oostdam said. “I’m excited to help set the vision and strategic direction for Beyond Meat’s long-term growth in Europe as we make plant-based meat more accessible to customers and consumers across the region.”
Global demand for plant-based meat continues to increase, with the European plant-based-food sector growing by 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 such as Beyond Mince and Beyond Meatballs in select markets.
Oostdam will be based in the Netherlands and will start with the company in February.
