The company issued a notice late last week to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment that the brand's corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility will be shut down completely by December 20. Some 121 jobs will be lost in the process.
Planterra, in case you are unfamiliar with the name, produces fake meat products under the name Ozo. It is a similar concept to Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. (Related: Trends show that most people want nothing to do with fake meat.)
Like many other fake meat companies, Planterra launched its Ozo product line in early 2020, right around the time when the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) scamdemic was launched.
It appears as though the globalists had big plans for fake meat after the world was forced to shut down for several years to fight the "virus." Since that time, however, fake meat popularity has plummeted to dismal lows.
"The closure of Planterra is an ominous sign for the plant-based meat space in the U.S.," reported Food Dive about the matter.
Why did Planterra announce permanent closure just a week after announcing a big expansion?
According to the Denver Business Journal, Planterra employees were sent home midweek last week in conjunction with the customary legal notice that was issued to the state.
Nikki Richardson, a JBS spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the company is working to try to find new roles for Planterra employees at other JBS locations.
What is strange about the announcement is that just a week prior, Planterra had announced a foodservice expansion. Ozo's Plant-Based "Bacon" was supposed to become available on breakfast sandwiches at Gregory's Coffee and Veggie Grill.
In other words, Planterra said it was in the midst of a major expansion just a week before publicly announcing its permanent closure. Why would the company make this change so abruptly?
"We continue to believe in the potential of plant-based options for consumers and remain committed to the alternative protein market," Richardson said about the decision.
"JBS will focus its efforts on its plant-based operations in Brazil and Europe, which continue to gain market share and expand their respective customer bases."
On the surface, Planterra is said to have been performing well for JBS. The company was set to become the official plant-based protein of the Chicago Cubs, a major achievement.
In addition to fake bacon, the company also introduced fake "chicken." It also unveiled a new R&D Innovation Center at its Colorado headquarters last August.
To go from all that to a complete shutdown came as a surprise to some. To others, it demonstrates the nature of corporate deception as JBS was apparently trying to keep its stock price stable amid internal problems with its fake meat division.
"Outward appearances ... can be deceiving," Food Dive says. "JBS is publicly traded, but the company is so massive globally, especially in its home country of Brazil, that it has not singled out Planterra's performance in any recent earnings reports."
"The business unit is lumped under JBS Beef North America, which saw a 4.6% decrease in year-over-year revenue in its most recent quarter. Other publicly traded meat companies have struggled with revenues recently because of costs, inflation and supply chain woes."
For at least the past year, fake meat sales across the entire sector have been dwindling. During the 52-week period ending on September 4 of this year, IRI data cited by Bloomberg shows a 10.5 percent drop in retail fake meat sales.
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