鈥� Boulder-headquartered Meati Foods, a mushroom-based whole-food proteins producer, plans to lay off 150 workers and close its massive production facility in Thornton.
鈥淲e are taking this action because our lender unexpectedly removed cash from our accounts and took control of the remaining cash reserves on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, and the action was not reasonably foreseeable,鈥� Meati wrote in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed Friday with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. 鈥淏ased on this action, we do not have sufficient funding to continue operating. The result of the lender鈥檚 unexpected action is that we have to shut down a manufacturing facility.鈥�
The WARN Act requires advance notice of layoffs for companies that meet certain criteria.
Meati, a trade name used by Emergy Inc., creates high-protein, high-fiber and nutrient-dense meats using mycelium 鈥� the muscular root structure of fungi 鈥� as its single main ingredient. Unlike traditional meat alternatives, which typically attempt to mimic products such as chicken nuggets or ground beef, Meati鈥檚 products replicate whole cuts of meat such as chicken breasts, steak, jerky and pork tenderloin.
鈥淲e firmly believe in our mission and that mycelium will change the protein paradigm,鈥� a Meati spokesperson told BizWest in an email Saturday. 鈥淲hile we鈥檙e unclear on the future, we hope for the sake of consumers and the planet that Meati鈥檚 mission will endure.鈥�
Meati鈥檚 100,000-square-foot production facility in Thornton, dubbed the was expected to have production capacity in the tens of millions of pounds, the company said when the factory opened in 2023.
At the mega-ranch, Meati was 鈥渁ble to grow a teaspoon of spores into hundreds of cows鈥� equivalent of whole-food protein in just a few days,鈥� the company said in 2023.
The company鈥檚 products began being in July 2022, the same month that Meati . haul totals nearly $375 million, according to Crunchbase data.
Meati has attracted a number of high-profile investors, including Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, celebrity chef Rachael Ray; chef and founder of Momofuku and Majordomo Media, David Chang; the co-founders of restaurant chain sweetgreen, Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman; and former White House senior policy adviser for nutrition Sam Kass.
In early 2024, with Phil Graves, who had been recently hired as the company鈥檚 chief financial officer. The company also laid off an undisclosed number of employees in at least three over the past few years.
Under the previous leadership regime, Meati officials made bold revenue predictions. In 2023, soon after the mega-ranch in Thornton opened, company leaders said Meati could record $1 billion in annual sales by 2025.
Instead 鈥� with sales of meat alternatives in steady decline industrywide for the past few years 鈥� Meati鈥檚 viability appears to be in jeopardy.
