[…] in January, ownership of the Yves trademark had been transferred from its former owner, Hain Celestial Canada, to Maple Leaf Foods, a major Canadian meat producer.
[…]
Grogan [Maple Leaf Foods COO] also confirmed that six Yves products—Yves Veggie Ground Round in original and large sizes, Mexican Veggie Ground Round, Veggie Ham Slices and Veggie Turkey Slices—will return to grocery store shelves on July 1 this year, coinciding with Canada Day. He added that there are no plans for major recipe changes and that all new products will be manufactured in Maple Leaf’s facilities.
In the longer term though, it also gives said company an easier way to pivot besides doubling down on meat production. I’d rather meat production companies try to pivot away early than fight to the bitter end. It’d make the fight a lot easier if they don’t see animal rights as an existential threat to their company and instead more of a “guess we gotta change our lineups”
(This is assuming that they are genuinely doing this as a pivot)
Controlled opposition would be my guess. Snatch up a dead but recognizable trademark on the cheap, then bleed off revenue from struggling plant-based meat companies before, if successful enough, eventually enshittifying the industry whose income to you is tertiary at best. The vegans/vegetarians will still buy it because they “have” to, while everyone else will be driven back into the arms of meat which is at least marginally subsized by your small but overpriced plant-based market segment. Also helps to keep it around not as an active pivot but in case the animal market goes belly-up and you need a foothold in the plant-based one.
I think that’s increasingly extrapolated, but generally, “controlled opposition” seems like the most obvious reason to me.
Possibly, but this all reads to me more as a pivot. If it’s controlled opposition they’re after, they’re taking a very long term look at it since they started expanding plant-based meat things they do in 2017. They also more prominently tout in on their website than a side mention. From their website:
This is also coinciding at a time that they spun off their pork production into a separate company and shuffling things around. They’re also talking (publicly at least) to investors like they very much believe in plant-based meats as the future instead of just a hedge