Longtime beef player Jensen Meat Company is tightening its grip on the plant-based game, folding its alt-protein labels Before the Butcher and Cool Beans into a single unit now branded as Jensen Plant-Based Brands. The move formally pulls its 2019 Before the Butcher acquisition into the core business and signals that alternative proteins are no side hustle, with the company pointing to brand-building wrapped around co-manufacturing capacity already humming in Otay Mesa.
The company detailed the shakeup in a news release carried by Perishable News. In that statement, Executive Vice President Patricia Lavigne said, "Bringing these brands together allows us to serve an even broader range of customers," casting the consolidation as a growth play rather than a simple bookkeeping exercise. The release describes the integration as pulling Before the Butcher, Cool Beans and Jensen’s plant-based co-manufacturing operations under one coordinated umbrella.
Industry reports peg Jensen’s plant-based production muscle at around 25 million pounds a year and note that the company is pitching that volume to both retail and foodservice buyers. Meat+Poultry cites the output figure, while Jensen’s website describes its Otay Mesa facility as roughly 150,000 square feet and says the company manufactures hundreds of SKUs for distribution across retail and foodservice channels.
Why Jensen Is Doubling Down On Scale
Jensen’s owners first took a controlling stake in Before the Butcher in 2019, according to coverage by Food Business News, and the brand largely ran on its own track until this latest reshuffle. Industry reporting suggests the new structure turns that relatively passive holding into a focused business unit that can bundle co-packing and private-label services for up-and-coming alt-protein players. Food Processing highlighted those co-manufacturing capabilities as a key growth lever for the company.
Food-Safety Separation And Market Reach
Jensen emphasizes food-safety protocols and says it operates two fully separated production facilities to reduce the risk of cross-contamination between conventional meat and plant-based lines. The company also points to national reach through retail, foodservice and club channels, a detail included in its announcement. For press and partnership inquiries, Jensen lists Patricia Lavigne and its San Diego contact information on Jensen’s website, while the initial announcement was released through PR Newswire.
The consolidation tracks with a broader industry pattern of legacy meat processors expanding into the alternative protein space, a trend covered by outlets such as Vegconomist and Food Engineering. Jensen says the unified division is intended to speed product development and move more plant-based SKUs into home and commercial kitchens, a goal laid out on its plant-based site. Local buyers and foodservice operators in San Diego will be watching to see whether the reorganization shows up on menus and store shelves as a noticeable wave of new plant-based products this year.
