Ethan Brown : I think to a lesser extent, I mean there are the folks that I mentioned that would be susceptible to some of the kind of more, let’s say, I don’t know, the foodies that would compare us to a salad or something of that nature. And we always resist that, right? I mean our really, our point of relevance is the health benefits relative to animal protein, where those are extremely strong. So we continue to see the consuming family be a mix of basic flexitarians essentially. And that’s where we want to be. I think the main issue with the categories is not bringing in enough new consumers. That’s the number one issue. It’s not necessarily the characteristics of the consumer. It’s that overall pie is not growing, and that’s what we need to fix together, and we’re working on the other companies.
Ken Goldman : Great. Thank you.
Operator: And our next question will come from Robert Moskow with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.
Robert Moskow: Hi, Ethan, hi Lubi. I was wondering as you start to look ahead to 2024 and beyond. In your like long-term scenario planning, do you ever consider the possibility of that this business may be a $300 million business instead of $350 million plus or a $250 million business, shrinking into wind is always a tough strategy. But given what you’re up against here in terms of consumer perception and what I’m sure are some very good core consumers who care about the environmental impact of what you’re doing — is that a possible strategy? And would you consider rightsizing the company in that direction ever?
Ethan Brown : Yeah. I mean disagree pretty rigorously with that future. If you look at where we’re operating, if you look at some of the positive trends that we’re seeing, including the fact that we’re assuming growth quarter-over-quarter and been through, I think, what is the most difficult period for the business, but take care, for example, and look at our strategics over there. And the progress we’re making now in Germany, we’re selling both burgers and nuggets and doing so with high acceptance among consumers. Just I think we’ve had another launch with McDonald’s on Malta. You look at — and I think I don’t think I mentioned this in my prepared remarks, but interestingly enough, and I’ll let McDonald’s comment on their own outcomes, but a competitor shared that a very large global burger chain that one in five of their signature burgers in Germany is now plant-based.
And so if you look at whether it’s those trends or universities or just overall consumption of animal protein in certain European countries, you can see a very, very strong trend in the right direction. Then you come to the U.S. and while older people aren’t necessarily wrapping their minds around these younger people are. And so if you look at how institutions are responding to that, for example, take some of the biggest food providers in the country, Aramark I think it was Aramark committed to increasing their plant-based menus to 50% by 2025. I think Sodexo was something like 4% across more than 250 universities in the country. So the trend is really — is here. There’s some distortion in it like many early disruptions. But sort of I mentioned many times at kind of the history is very much on the side of what we’re trying to accomplish.
And so even if all of these other things don’t get cleared up, which they will, around health, et cetera. You have a common crisis, which is now becoming more and more real for the consumer. And there is really no way to get at that without fixing food. And so our job as a company is to continue to get much more efficient, continue to drive cost out of our products and be here. So when folks are ready to make this transition on their terms, we sort of been doing that. But I do not see it going backwards in any shape or form in the direction you just noted.
