Operator:
Thank you, everyone, and welcome to the Beyond Meat, Inc. 2025 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's conference over to Raphael Gross, partner of ICR, Inc. Please go ahead.

Raphael Gross:
Thank you. Hello, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's call. Joining me are Ethan Brown, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Lubi Kutua, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. By now, everyone should have access to our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings press release filed today after market close. This document is available on the Investor Relations section of Beyond Meat's website at www.beyondmeat.com. Before we begin, please note that during the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in our earnings release, along with the comments on this call, are made only as of today and will not be updated as actual events unfold. We refer you to today's press release, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 27, 2025, and our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, to be filed with the SEC along with other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements today. Please note that on today's call, management may reference adjusted EBITDA, adjusted loss from operations and adjusted net loss, which are non-GAAP financial measures. While we believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, any reference to this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to today's press release for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP measures. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Ethan Brown.

Ethan Brown:
Thank you, Raph, and hello, everyone. We entered a challenging year for our brand with an equally challenging quarter. We used this period, however, to accomplish a series of foundational building blocks for the company. First, we retired the majority of our 2027 convertible debt notes, and second, we raised significant capital, 2 measures that fundamentally changed and strengthened our balance sheet. Third, we invested in an enterprise-wide transformation initiative with a focus on rightsizing our operations and expanding our margins. Fourth, and as you will see reflected in our Q4 2025 numbers, we took another hard look at the assets, products and inventories, we believe, are not needed going forward and took action to disposition them. Fifth, we continue to lead the category in bringing clean plant-based meats to the consumer while hammering away at persistent misinformation promulgated by the incumbent industry. Finally, we laid the groundwork for repositioning Beyond Meat to Beyond the Plant protein company so that we can bring the strength of our brand, technology and expertise to adjacent categories. Having touched on the significant actions we took to strengthen our balance sheet through the elimination of approximately $900 million in debt and the addition of approximately $149 million in cash on our previous earnings call, I will forgo further detail here. Instead, I will focus my comments on a quick financial review of Q4 2025 before turning to our transformation work, product narrative and our brand repositioning and entry into adjacent markets. What I hope will be clear from these comments, especially for the investor who desires to drill down a level deeper than headline numbers, is that we are highly focused on reducing baseline operating expense and cash use, increasing conversion efficiency in our production facilities and addressing category headwinds straight on even as we take significant steps to diversify beyond it. Financial results for the fourth quarter 2025 reflect persistent weak demand in the plant-based meat category, resulting in lower volumes, the impact of which ripple throughout our P&L. This negative pressure was coupled with a number of significant nonroutine charges, many of which, though not all, stem from our transformation activities. Sales were $61.6 million, down 19.7% from the year ago period. Lower sales led to lower overhead absorption, which together with higher trade, negatively impacted gross margin. More significant, however, were large nonroutine or unusual items. These include such items as increased provision for inventory obsolescence, partly reflecting the strategic discontinuation of certain lower-profit products and accelerated depreciation related to the cessation of our operational activities in China, the net result was a reported gross margin of 2.3%. Similarly, despite progress in reducing the baseline cost of operating our business, significant nonroutine items, including large noncash charges, increased our reported operating expenses to $134.2 million versus $47.8 million in the year ago period. These included $48.1 million in noncash charges related to the write-down to fair value of certain of the company's long-lived assets; a $38.9 million litigation-related accrual; and higher noncash stock compensation expense of approximately $13.3 million related to our convertible debt exchange transaction. Stripping out these nonroutine items and the impact of the transaction-related change in noncash stock compensation, one can see that the run rate operating expense of our business is down considerably year-over-year. Finally, also reflecting the aforementioned transaction, net income of $409.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a loss of $44.9 million in the year ago period, reflecting a $548.7 million gain on debt restructuring. To summarize, our fourth quarter 2025 results reflect both continuing challenges in the category as well as substantial noise in our reported numbers due to, among other factors, several of our transformation initiatives. I will now turn to this transformation activity, where we are encouraged by the progress of our transformation office led by our interim Chief Transformation Officer, John Boken. As I noted, we've seen further reduction in underlying operating expenses, excluding the nonroutine items and transaction-related stock compensation increase for both the fourth quarter and full year 2025 on a year-over-year basis, and we are pursuing other cost reduction measures going forward. Also setting aside certain nonroutine charges, we believe we are making progress against our goal to sustainably return to healthy gross margins. As previously shared, we've largely completed the consolidation of our production network and continue to improve asset utilization at our manufacturing facilities. Further, we're now in the process of optimizing our new continuous production line at our facility in Columbia, Missouri and are investing in automation. These and other measures are already showing up in a year-over-year improvement in conversion costs across our network, a key component of our COGS reduction initiatives. Further, through our transformation office, we are seeking to reduce material costs through RFP actions, the cultivation of secondary sources and formulation improvements. We are further consolidating our warehouse network and reducing logistics expenses. We are exiting less profitable product lines, and we are making substantial progress on driving down inventory. Finally, we remain very focused on cash management and significantly reduced our baseline cash use in the fourth quarter compared to prior periods, excluding extraordinary items. I'll now turn briefly to our ongoing efforts to dispel the persistent cloud of misinformation regarding our products. As I have noted countless times in these calls, the incumbent industry did a masterful job of seeding doubt in the mind of the consumer. For the time being, we operate in an upside down world with proteins from peas, lentils, fava beans and brown rice, mixed with avocado oil and a limited number of other clean ingredients, is disingenuously, though broadly cast, as less than healthy. I believe this confusion will ultimately clear. In the interim, we remain focused on innovating around taste and health and helping to communicate the latter via various accreditations and certifications including our now 20-plus certifications from the Clean Label Project. For our latest center to plate innovations, such as Beyond Steak Fillet or Beyond Ground Fava, consumers can now order directly from Beyond Test Kitchen, our direct-to-consumer platform. These products, they're great taste, simple and clean ingredients and the impressive macro nutrient content are winning accolades from consumers even before they reach retail stores. Beyond Steak Fillet boasts 28 grams of protein, fava beans, wheat gluten and mycelia, and only 1 gram of saturated fat from avocado oil, while boosting 0 cholesterol and only 230 calories. Beyond Ground Fava delivers 27 grams of protein from fava beans and potato, 4 grams of fiber from psyllium husk, has no saturated fat or cholesterol and is only 140 calories. Moreover, Beyond Ground Fava is made from only 4 ingredients: water, fava protein, potato protein and psyllium husk and performed extremely well in niches such as tacos, Bolognese and protein bowls. Finally, I'll now turn to a key and central communication. Notwithstanding the many changes occurring through our transformation office that I've discussed above, what I noted late last year that going forward, you should not expect more of the same, I was most of all referring to the broadening of the aperture that you see as we move from Beyond Meat to Beyond The Plant Protein Company. I believe that no company has innovated with plants under more scrutiny than Beyond ever. We're now bringing the results in hard-fought expertise and capabilities, our commitment to health and clean ingredients and our brand to adjacent categories where we believe we can be disruptive and win. Our first foray in this broader delivery of the power of plants to consumers is our exciting new drink platform Beyond Immerse. The Beyond Immerse platform, a clear and slightly carbonated beverage, is designed to provide the consumer with protein, fiber, antioxidants and electrolytes, effectively immersing the body in the nutritional benefits of plants. We launched Beyond Immerse as we now plan to do with all new retail innovation on the Beyond Test Kitchen to early fanfare and excitement, generating over 3 billion media impressions and selling out of our first limited-run inventory quickly. Beyond Immerse is formulated to support muscle health and recovery, gut health, immune function and hydration. Each serving contains 10 or 20 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, and only 60 or 100 calories depending on the level of protein. Beyond Immerse is made without added sugar, sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners or flavors, stabilizers, carrageenan and many other ingredients present in many popular protein drinks. Easier to drink than a thick protein shake and made without whey so it's dairy free, the product is designed for the casual to competitive athlete as well as the busy student or professional who wants protein, fiber, antioxidant and electrolytes at the gym, home, work or on the go. Moreover, we believe it is particularly well suited for GLP-1 users. I personally find it satisfying post workout at breakfast or late afternoon when I'd like a boost between meals. It's been fun to watch consumers enjoy it. And like all things Beyond, we continue to innovate and iterate based on what we believe is a state-of-the-art science and consumer use and suggestions. Far from stepping away from our mission to change the source of protein at the center of the plate from animals to plants, we reaffirm it and take to these promising adjacencies to introduce our brand to a much larger number of consumers and currently participating in a plant-based meat category. We do so not to dabble but with a firm and serious belief that our technology, our brand and our commitment to human health and the power of plants allows us to successfully deliver unique and compelling value within the certain segments we've identified. In the end, it is our aspiration that though indirect, this expansion will lead more consumers back to Beyond at the center of the plate as they enjoy our brand, clean ingredients and commitment to their health in a less controversial, more convenient products like Beyond Immerse. As such, I close today's comments as I have many others that we remain focused on building tomorrow's global protein company of size and significance. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Lubi.

Lubi Kutua:
Thank you, Ethan, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin with a review of our fourth quarter financial results before providing some brief comments on our outlook and additional matters regarding some of our recent disclosures. Total company net revenues decreased 19.7% to $61.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 from $76.7 million in the year ago period. The decrease was primarily driven by a 22.4% decrease in volume of products sold, partially offset by a 3.5% increase in net revenue per pound. Ongoing softness in volume of products sold primarily reflects weak category demand in many of our key geographies and channels and lower sales of chicken and burger products to QSR customers, both in the U.S. and abroad. Net revenue per pound increased primarily as a result of changes in product sales mix, favorable changes in foreign exchange rates and price increases of certain of our products, partially offset by higher trade discounts. Breaking this down by channel, U.S. retail channel net revenues decreased 6.5% to $31.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $33.9 million in the year ago period. The decrease was primarily volume driven, which again largely reflects weak category demand, while net revenue per pound was flat. Although volume headwinds persist, we are beginning to see some benefit from recently announced distribution gains in the mass channel, which is helping to mitigate the general softness. In U.S. foodservice, net revenues decreased 23.7% to $8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $10.5 million in the year ago period. The decrease was primarily driven by a 25.1% decrease in volumes of products sold, partially offset by a slight year-over-year increase in net revenue per pound. Although category dynamics in the foodservice channel also remain weak, much of the decline in our business was due to the lapping of sales of chicken products to a U.S. QSR customer in the year ago period. Turning to International. International retail channel net revenues decreased 32.5% to $8.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $13.1 million in the year ago period. The decrease in net revenues was primarily driven by a 33.5% decrease in volume of products sold, partially offset by a 1.5% increase in net revenue per pound. The decrease in volume of products sold was primarily driven by reduced burger sales in the EU and certain retail channels in Canada. Although our Canadian business generally remains healthy, year-over-year comparisons were negatively impacted in part by stocking activity in the year ago period in anticipation of potential tariffs. Finally, in International Foodservice, net revenues decreased 31.8% to $13.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 from $19.3 million in the year ago period. The decrease in net revenues was driven by a 34.1% decrease in volume of products sold, partially offset by a 3.4% increase in net revenue per pound. The decrease in volume of products sold was primarily attributable to reduced sales of our chicken and burger products to certain QSR customers. The increase in net revenue per pound primarily reflected favorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates and changes in product sales mix, partially offset by higher trade discounts. Moving down the P&L. Gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.4 million or gross margin of 2.3% compared to gross profit of $10 million or gross margin of 13.1% in the year ago period. Gross profit and gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2025 included $2.4 million in noncash charges related to SKU rationalization initiatives and $1.5 million in expenses related to the shutdown of our China business. Additionally, gross profit and gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2025 were negatively impacted by increased cost of goods sold per pound, partially offset by increased net revenue per pound. Reduced production volumes in response to weak demand continue to represent a meaningful headwind in terms of fixed cost absorption even as we have been encouraged by improvements in our variable conversion costs. Overall, by cost bucket, the increase in cost of goods sold per pound primarily reflects higher materials costs and increased inventory provision, partially offset by lower manufacturing expenses, including depreciation and lower logistics costs. Operating expenses were $134.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $47.8 million in the year ago period with a significant year-over-year increase on a reported basis, reflecting the inclusion of certain large noncash charges. Specifically, and of note, operating expenses in the fourth quarter of 2025 included $48.1 million in noncash charges related to the loss from write-down of assets held for sale, reflecting certain PP&E assets which were no longer deemed core to our strategic objectives going forward, a $38.9 million litigation-related accrual and $13.3 million in incremental share-based compensation expenses related to the convertible debt exchange. Excluding these and other lesser items, the decrease in operating expenses compared to the year ago period was primarily driven by decreased marketing expenses. Below the line, total other income net was $542.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to total other expense net of $7 million in the year ago period. The increase was primarily due to a gain on debt restructuring, resulting from our debt exchange and to a lesser extent, a gain from remeasurement of warrant liability, partially offset by a loss from remeasurement of derivative liability and an increase in interest expense. Net income was $409.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 or $0.84 per common share compared to a net loss of $44.9 million in the year ago period or a loss of $0.65 per common share. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $69 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a loss of $26 million in the year ago period, although I would note that adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2025 includes the previously mentioned loss from write-down of assets held for sale. Turning to our balance sheet and cash flow highlights. Our cash and cash equivalents balance, including restricted cash, was $217.5 million as of December 31, 2025, and total outstanding carrying value of debt was $415.7 million, which includes the total undiscounted future cash flows of the new 2030 notes in accordance with TDR accounting guidelines. Net cash used in operating activities was $144.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to $98.8 million in the year ago period. Capital expenditures totaled $12.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to $11 million in the year ago period. Net cash provided by financing activities was $223.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $45.8 million in the prior year. In 2025, net cash provided by financing activities included $100 million in draws from our delayed draw term loan facility, partially offset by related debt issuance costs and aggregate net proceeds of approximately $148.7 million from sales of common stock under our ATM program. As a reminder of the key highlights -- as a reminder of the key highlights of our Q4 debt exchange, we exchanged over 97% of the $1.15 billion aggregate principal amount of the 2027 convertible notes for approximately $209.7 million in aggregate principal amount of new second lien 2030 convertible notes and approximately 318 million new shares of common stock. This leaves approximately $29.5 million of the 2027 convertible notes outstanding today. In combination with the nearly $150 million in net proceeds we raised from our ATM program in Q4, we believe these actions have meaningfully strengthened our balance sheet and support our continued efforts to execute our business transformation plan. Let me now touch briefly on our outlook. We continue to experience elevated levels of uncertainty and therefore, low visibility within our core category of plant-based meat. Accordingly, we believe it remains prudent to provide only limited and very near-term guidance until we begin to see more clear signs of stabilization within our operating environment. With that context, we are providing the following revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2026. We expect net revenues to be approximately $57 million to $59 million. Finally, I'll close by making a few remarks on some of our recent disclosures regarding the company's internal controls over financial reporting. As part of our fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial close procedures and in addition to a previously identified material weakness related to the account for nonroutine and complex transactions, we identified an additional material weakness related to controls associated with the accounting for inventory provision, including amounts recorded for the provision of excess and obsolete inventory. We are clearly disappointed with these findings and are actively working on plans to remediate the identified deficiencies. In part, while assessing the impact of these material weaknesses in our financial statements, we identified certain errors related to our previously issued interim condensed consolidated financial statements for 2025, which we determined were immaterial to those interim financial statements. We intend to correct those prospectively when we file our quarterly reports in 2026, and we have also furnished as corrected amounts for certain key affected financial measures in today's press release. We want to assure all our stakeholders that we are fully committed to our efforts for remediating the identified issues and strengthening our controls as applicable, and we have already taken measures to advance these objectives. Lastly, as we noted in our earnings release, we are unable to file our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, within the prescribed deadline as we require additional time to complete our fourth quarter and year-end financial close procedures. We are working diligently to address these matters. However, at this time, we are unable to estimate when the Form 10-K will be filed. As a result, the company will be considered an untimely filier and will no longer be eligible to use Form S-3 registration statements until it regains timely filer status by filing in a timely manner, all reports required to be filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended for a period of 12 calendar months. And with that, I'll turn the call over to the operator to open it up for your questions. Thank you.

Operator:
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Ben Theurer with Barclays.

Benjamin Theurer:
A few ones -- so maybe to kick it off a little bit on like the outlook for new products and product lines which you've talked a little bit about the beverage opportunities here. And then obviously, you've talked about a pipeline of potential new products under the new branding umbrella. So I really want to understand, Ethan, from you, is that to be seen as like really pivoting away from kind of like the initial mission of Beyond was to really look to diversify the portfolio. And we would like to understand where you are in terms of researching and developing those products to get a better understanding in terms of the time line when we can expect those products to come to market? That would be my first question.

Ethan Brown:
Thank you, Ben. I appreciate it. So I think, first and foremost, no, it is not in any way abandoning the original mission and focus that we have had. It's simply broadening the aperture of our business and meeting consumer where they are today. And if I could just comment a little bit on why we're making this pivot and then get into kind of the timing and focus of the pivot. If I thought that Beyond, in our original value proposition, were struggling during a period when the role of science and public discourse and social media, media and government was pronounced and effective when our pricing and economic stability and buying power are all favorable and the American political landscape were characterized by a sense of common ground versus the vision, and Beyond were really suffering, I would be very concerned for our long-term prospects and for the plant-based meat category overall. But none of that is true, right? This is a very difficult period for the world, it's a difficult period for our country, and I think one of the things that is most significant for our business in terms of what's impacting it is this kind of surround sound of pseudoscientific jargon and positioning and promotion that really overwhelms what is decades and decades and decades of science. And I think nothing in our lane is more obvious than -- is more obvious representation of this troubling trend and the resurgence of red meat. And I've spent over 17 years now seeking and listening to the council, some of the very best cardiologists in the country at some of our most prestigious institutions, and I can only look at these current trends with a mixture of sadness for the folks that are going to be impacted by it and increased in patients for those that are seeking to profit from it. I was very glad to see the American Heart Association today take a stand, I think a major newspaper, I actually got a clipping of it, summarize it as that new nutrition guidance from the American Heart Association advises getting proteins from plants rather than meat, choosing low fat or fat-free dairy and using olive, soybean and canola oil instead of beef tallow and butter. So you have a kind of an independent institution backed by science that is saying the exact opposite of where our culture is going on diet. But the good news is that this is a pendulum, it's going to swing and it's going to swing back, and I'm very comfortable that Beyond will prosper when it does. But I'm not going to wait around for that. And because of the work we've done, particularly over the last 10 years, to really lead the category and developing extremely clean, healthy products, we're really well positioned to look outside the category and take that technology, take that science, take that brand into segments that are -- and categories that are many, many, many times the size of the plant-based meat category. So you have a great brand. We just for example, again, got the Time Magazine list best brands in the world. You take the science that continues to win awards and accolades for some of the development work we've done around the plant-based protein for the center of the plate and you take a massive trend within the consumer that is around protein and fiber and things like that, you say, okay, where can we apply all this? And the first, we did a lot of work over the last year understanding which adjacent markets we can get into. And the first one that we've identified and been public about and others will follow is the beverage category. And we launched an initial version online earlier and sold out very quickly that initial inventory. And what we're doing is, as we did with Beyond Ground Fava, learning from the consumer what they like and don't like and making adjustments. And that process is going great. And so the product that we're going to be launching soon, I think, is going to be one of the best protein drink markets, protein drinks on the market. It satisfies so many different needs for the consumer, whether it's protein, fiber, antioxidants, electrolytes, does so in a really clean way. And fascinating for me as we get into these other categories and I start looking at some of the key competitors in those categories, the really big ready-to-drink protein companies, they're putting things in their products that we could never put in our products because of the scrutiny we're under, because of our guidelines around clean ingredients. When you're looking at, I think, one of the top ones is sucralose, there's carrageenan, has [ sulfamic ] potassium, another one has artificial flavors and all of the above. Another one has hexametasulfates as well as all of the above, it just goes on and on, things that we put in, they'd be kind of front page news from our friends in the incumbent industry. So we're going to take that relentless innovation. We're going to take that to clean ingredients. We're going into those categories. And so I think the drink category is the one that's most clearly on the horizon for us, the one that I'm willing to most speak most publicly about. And so I think this summer, you'll see us be pretty active there.

Benjamin Theurer:
Okay. Got it. And then this is maybe more for Lubi. If we kind of like look at the balance sheet and like in connection with the cash flow statement, clearly, throughout the quarter, you got a little bit of a relief on where we are on the cash balance. But if we kind of look at just the underlying trends within cash from operations, it continues to be somewhat in that range, 40 million, 50 million-ish negative on a quarterly basis shaping out at about 140, 150 for the year. So what are the things that you can kind of like work on, just given where the environment is. And I mean, your outlook for 1Q clearly points to not necessarily a top line-driven recovery in 2026. So all that operating leverage continues to be probably a headwind or the lack of operating leverage put it this way. So what are the levers you can pull to kind of like maybe further reduce with any incremental cash burn with durations that you're facing?

Ethan Brown:
I can just give a quick answer and then turn it to Lubi. One, I think you'll see that we're doing some really interesting things with inventory. So that's going to give us some favorability. And then second, I think you just got to back out some of these onetime charges that have been so difficult for us. And once you do that, you see a dramatically slowing use of cash. So you do it this quarter, for example, you are down significantly from where we were a year ago, if you back out those onetime charges or some of the extraordinary stuff related to convertible debt exchange. And I think you'll only see that as we go forward, it will continue to be favorable for us.

Lubi Kutua:
Yes, Ben, I appreciate the question. Yes, I would probably echo a lot of what Ethan just mentioned. We have been focused now for a while on our working capital management and in particular ensuring that our stocking levels of inventory are appropriately sized given where the business is. I think the team has done a really good job in managing the inventory down, but I think there's more to come in that regard. The other important thing to -- and again, Ethan mentioned this, is in the last couple of quarters, we have had some fairly large what we would consider sort of nonordinary course business expenses, right, in the fourth quarter? In particular, these were related to the debt exchange. The business -- we continue to execute our transformation plan, all right, for this business. And so from time to time, we will see some of these unusual items, all in sort of service of trying to reposition this business more appropriately towards our goals to profitability. But I would expect that in 2026, some of the larger items, certainly that we saw in recent quarters should not recur. Recall as well that last year in 2025, we unfortunately did have a couple of reductions in force and the associated severance payments that are related with that -- related to that. And then just lastly, I would say that we are focused on trying to expand our gross margin. Ethan, in his prepared remarks, mentioned that we're standing up our sort of first continuous production line or we do end-to-end production, and we're going to be -- that's going to give us an opportunity to internalize additional volume that's previously outsourced and increase our internal asset utilization. So I think all of those measures taken together should help to reduce that rate of cash consumption.

Operator:
Next question comes from Kaumil Gajrawala with Jefferies.

Kaumil Gajrawala:
I guess first question -- congratulations on the financing and all of that. Maybe are there things that you can now do that maybe you're prohibited from doing before as you sort of execute the turnaround? And then also, I guess, in the context of the of the refinancing in the -- as it relates to the filing and some of the financial disclosure issues, does that change anything related to the transactions that you've done? Or is there anything that we just need to be aware of if for some reason the 10-K comes out even later than planned, just things that we should know about that could happen.

Ethan Brown:
Thanks. I'll take the first one and then pass it on to Lubi. I don't think we're going to be making any outsized investments as a result of the cash we brought on. I think we're just continuing to focus on EBITDA positive target and minimize cash use. But there are some things that we now have the ability to do. So if you look at last year, we cut way back, and I think part of the issue with our fourth quarter results on the top line, we didn't market a lot. And we were just in cash conservation mode as we were doing our debt exchange, which was incredibly expensive. And so I pulled back considerably on marketing. So this year, we won't do that, particularly as we as we get into some of these exciting categories where marketing is important. And then just on like the automation and on continuous lines and things like that, you will see us make CapEx investments that will allow us to drop down more cash out of just general sales and operations. But I do think if you take a step back and look at our P&L for the quarter, as we were talking about on operating expense, there's just a lot of noise in these numbers, and I tried to touch upon that. Like I think if you look at gross margin, for example, we did have lower volumes, which led to some of this lower fixed overhead absorption. But we did have these charges, right? We had some of the SKU rationalization charges. We had expenses related to shutting down our China business. Then we had much higher inventory provisions than normal, things like that, so that's masking these kind of lower conversion costs throughout our plants, lower logistics costs and things of that nature. And so if you take a step back to, okay, the company is converting materials at a lower rate than it has before, right, and then you go to OpEx and you say, okay, strip out all those onetime charges, the company is operating this business at a much lower rate than it was before. And so now it's just incumbent and cash is too, same thing. If you take out all of those onetime charges, cash consumption is lower. And so if you start to put that picture together, you say, what this company really needs to do this fix this top line. And I've tried for years to do that through the existing category. And I think the headwinds are going to be here for a little bit longer. And it's something we got to get outside the category to address, and that's why you see us in some of these adjacencies. So it's difficult for people to see if they just look at the top line numbers, but take a step back, what the missing piece really is becoming now is just getting a top line to be where we need to be, and we're very focused on that.

Lubi Kutua:
Yes. And Kaumil, maybe if I would just add a couple of things to that. So as far as what putting the sort of balance sheet restructuring behind us now enables us to do. I think Ethan sort of covered that well and the raising of the additional proceeds from the ATM allow us to, I think, spend a little bit more on the marketing front, which we do think will be important to stabilize the top line and as we start to expand into some of these adjacent categories. But I think the other thing as well is just the focus, right, that we are able to reallocate to the primary business. As you guys know, I mean, we had been talking about the debt restructuring for quite some time on these earnings calls. And so that did consume quite a bit of the management team's focus. And so it's a relief to put that behind us and really focus now on the very important steps and measures that we need to continue to make to turn the business around. Your question regarding the disclosures around the material weakness and the impacts that's had on our financial statements. I would say it doesn't necessarily change anything immediately. But obviously, we're very focused on ensuring that we can file our 10-K as quickly as possible, notwithstanding the fact that we were not able to do so within the prescribed time line.

Kaumil Gajrawala:
Got it. And then as it relates to the benefits product, what does the supply chain look like for something like that? Can you leverage your current PP&E assets to produce it? Do you use third-party co-packers? It sounds like it just sounds different from the core of what you're doing that, yes, it's cool, likely to be promising, but how does that impact the actual practicality of production and such?

Ethan Brown:
Yes. That's a very, very good question. Before I answer, I want to just note one thing on the core business that I moved over to too quickly. If you look at the results on a segment-by-segment basis, in U.S. retail, we were down 6.5%. And to me, that's actually encouraging. Because if you look at the overall numbers, they were down more than that, right? But if you start to see stabilization in the U.S. retail in our core business, which I think we're going to see, though I can't say exactly when, then everything we're doing on these adjacencies is kind of additive, right, if you can turn around that retail position in terms of the retail number. And so I was very encouraged by that, and it has to do with some of the new distribution we've been able to obtain in some of the larger mass stores. So as we layer in things like drinks, I think getting the reconnected to the U.S. retail consumer seems like it's within reach. On the supply chain side, I guess, the first thing I would say is that despite our past, we actually have a lot of beverage expertise. We have some of the -- I think, some of the best minds and beverage on our Board with Seth and Justice and Jim and Boston Beer, Kathy and Coke, so it's not like we're coming into this without a lot of experience. It's just something we haven't done before as the company. And so the supply chain is actually pretty similar from an ingredient perspective. We're dealing with protein. We're dealing with fiber. We're dealing with flavor, things like that. So that is not a stretch for us at all. And the production, if you think about turning plants into needs for the center of the plate and you think about blending together protein and fibers and flavor in a drink, the latter is much easier. And so this is not something that we're worried about from a logistics perspective. Co-packing is readily available throughout the United States. It has much less arduous terms from a scale-up perspective. Often, we have to go teach the co-packer how to make our products. That's obviously not the case here. And I think what you're really going to see is our ability to understand all the characteristics of plant materials, the proteins, the fiber and how to optimize their taste for the consumer is going to shine in these drinks, and that's what I'm excited about.

Operator:
The next question comes from John Baumgartner with Mizuho.

John Baumgartner:
Maybe first off, Ethan, just to build on that last line of thinking. Just sticking with the expectations for the beverage expansion and the adjacencies more broadly. Can you walk us through how you plan to scale it, how you'll manage distribution, the specific channels that you'll enter? How you will allocate budget to enter these categories? Just how do think about milestones you ramp up and the impact on cash burn?

Ethan Brown:
Sure. So we're taking a pretty careful approach. So you'll see the same pattern that we've just done with drinks now initially launching D2C getting feedback from the consumer making adjustments. And then you'll see us go into a particular regional distribution, likely emphasis on natural and then into mass. And so we'll take a step by step. That as we see success or failure, we'll adjust how much we're spending. But so far, and this is very early days, the indications we're getting from the drink are very positive. In terms of distributor interest and things like that, all of it is speculative at the moment. So I don't want to promise anything. But I think what you'll see is a kind of measured approach from us, and we'll spend a certain amount, make sure that we're still on track, then it's an additional amount. But one of the neat things is that we're not necessarily creating entirely new brands, right? Like so the drink is called Beyond Immerse, but we're relying on the fact that Beyond is a very well-known brand. So we don't have to kind of reinvent the wheel. And we have a strong consumer base that's particularly interested in what we're doing. And so that gives us an advantage relative to someone who's just starting out, right? We're able to sell additional product to a consumer that's already buying Beyond. I don't know, Lubi, if you have any comments.

Lubi Kutua:
No. I think you covered it well, Ethan. What I would say is to your question around potential impact on cash burn, I think one of the things that's attractive about the beverage category -- can be attractive about the beverage category, particularly at scale, is the margin profile, right? So obviously, as we are in relatively limited distribution and producing at much smaller quantities, the economics won't look quite as favorable as if we are successful and begin to scale up. But certainly the margin profile for that category of products would be attractive. And so with the supply chain that we have in place and these co-packer agreements, et cetera, we actually think that the impact on the total cash use will not be overly burdensome.

John Baumgartner:
Okay. And then I'm curious about your vision for the Beyond Meat portfolio going forward as you work through this SKU rationalization. I guess where have you chosen to retrench in terms of product or new products? And what have you identified as the foundation for the core going forward? Is it steak? Is it burgers? How should we think about that?

Ethan Brown:
Yes. So as I mentioned in my comments, we have 20-plus products that are clean label project certified. And I really focus on those. And the Beyond portfolio, for example, and because just in my own taste and my own health. And areas where maybe there's less differentiation than I'd like to see. You can make sure what that might be, some of the breaded items, things like that, less interested in that, more interested in where we can deliver really unique value to the consumer. And so Beyond Steak Fillet is a good example. That's 20 grams of protein. It's 1 gram of saturated fat from avocado oil. It's got mycelium, which is a terrific ingredient; it's got fava beans, et cetera. So focusing on things that really help tell the story around Beyond and tell the clean ingredient and healthy narrative are the ones that we're focusing on going forward.

Operator:
The next question comes from Peter Saleh with BTIG.

Peter Saleh:
Great. Maybe Ethan, I guess the first question I had was on the beverage lineup. You mentioned initially getting some feedback and then making adjustments. So maybe can you talk a little bit about the initial -- what feedback you may have gotten and any adjustments you've made? And then if you could just help us out here, what is the target customer here for this beverage lineup. And then I have a follow-up as well.

Ethan Brown:
Sure. So I think one of the things we're learning about beverages is unlike where we have a really clear North Star, what does this taste like a beef burger or not, the reason there are so many definitions in markets that people have different tastes, right? And so what we're trying to do is find that sweet spot where we can appeal to a broad group of consumers, taste profiles. And so I think what we found is the 10-gram we put out kind of home run. The 20-gram, a lot of people are going to love it or didn't like it much. And enough people, thankfully, love it, that we're able to keep going. But that was more polarizing than the 10 gram. And so what we've done is tap back some of the intensity of the flavors in the 20-gram and some of the sweetness in the 20 gram. And the product that they've developed, and we're probably on our sixth or seventh iteration since we launched, is just phenomenal. Again, I put -- I stand behind us. I think it's going to be one of the best protein drinks on the market, to the holistic picture, the protein content, the fiber, antioxidants, the electrolytes, the environmental footprint, the ease of consumption. I'm probably drinking too many a day, and I've watched people in our office, in my home. It is all of a product. And so I'm looking forward to it. But that was the type of feedback we reacted to it. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? Like even with the Beyond Ground Fava, which we just got an award that's under embargo right now for the innovation there, was that 4 ingredient, 27 grams protein product, we just like to iterate with our consumers. Like it's a new model, I think, in food that we're very, very fast in what we do and letting them weigh in and tell us what they like and don't like.

Peter Saleh:
Great. And then just, Lubi, on the gross margin for 2026, is there anything you can provide or share with us at this point? And should it mirror '25, should be much better, lower? Anything on the cadence, that would be helpful.

Lubi Kutua:
Yes, Peter, unfortunately, like we're not providing guidance for gross margin for the year. And I think just to provide a little bit of context around that is one of the reasons why we continue to provide only near year-end guidance on revenue is the fact that our category right remains -- our core category, plant-based meat remains sort of very volatile and volumes remain soft. And obviously, with that being, obviously, at this stage, the vast majority of our business, right? The impact that softer volumes has on margins can be pretty significant, right? And so I mentioned in my prepared remarks that we -- that the lower fixed cost absorption continues to be a headwind on margin. And so I think it's just extremely difficult for us to sort of forecast gross margin to any degree of certainty when there's so much variability on the top line. So we -- obviously, we have initiatives in place that are aimed at expanding margins, right, including like the continuous line that I mentioned. But ultimately, we need to see some stabilization on the top line in order for us to have sort of greater confidence in terms of where margins will shake out.

Operator:
This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ethan Brown for any closing remarks.

Ethan Brown:
Thanks, everyone, for the questions. Appreciate all the interest, and got to go look back over the last year, I do want to complement the team this transaction that Lubi and his group executed was just enormous undertaking. And so there's a lot of work that went into that. And I think he's particularly pleased to have that behind him. But as we look forward, we're excited to see what's going to happen as we pivot our brand into some areas that are maybe not as challenged in our core category. We're going to be talking with you guys pretty soon, and I think we'll have more information then as to how things are going. Thanks very much.

Operator:
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.