Deal with McDonald's and Yum! Brands

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) products will soon be widely available at McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)-owned KFC (T:3420), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell's most famous fast food restaurants.

The plant-based protein company announced on Thursday that it has signed a three-year agreement with McDonald's to make Beyond Meat its preferred supplier of 'meat' for McPlant sandwiches. The partners also intend to develop other menu items that will contain alternative protein. These could be plant-based pork, chicken and egg products.

As for Yum!, Beyond Meat said they will "co-create and offer innovative plant-based protein menu products that can only be found at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell over the next few years". Beyond Meat has not disclosed the financial terms of either agreement.

Neither came as a surprise Beyond Meat and McDonald's have been collaborating since 2019, when the fast-food giant tested a product made with the Beyond Meat patty. The collaboration with Yum! began back then with the test launch of Beyond Fried Chicken at Georgia KFC.

Nevertheless, the current agreements represent a big step forward for both joint projects. These anchor deals are sure to be followed by further collaborations with chain operators and franchise operators.

Also on Thursday, after the market close, Beyond Meat released its Q4 2020 results, which were worse than analysts' forecasts. Revenue rose almost 4% year-on-year to $101.9m, but net loss (adjusted, non-GAAP) rose to $21.4m or $0.34 per share. Analysts, however, had expected revenue of $103.2m and a net loss per share of $0.13.

The company's shares lost 5.46% during the main session on Thursday and are adding 4.28% today on the pre-market.