Meati Foods, a Boulder maker of mushroom-based meat alternatives, informed the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment that it will lay off 150 employees at its Thornton manufacturing plant effective May 6.
“We are taking this action because our lenders unexpectedly removed cash from our accounts and took control of remaining cash reserves on Friday, February 28, 2025, and the action was not reasonably foreseeable. Based on this action, we do not have sufficient funding to continue operating,” the company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, letter.
Under WARN rules, companies with 100 or more employees must provide 60 days’ notice of a mass layoff at a worksite. The plant at 14831 Washington St. covers 120,000 square feet and opened two years ago on the heels of a decision by JBS USA to shutter its plant-based protein business.
The letter did not discuss the fate of the employees at the company’s Boulder headquarters, which is at 6880 Winchester Circle, Unit D. An email sent to the company was not returned.
“We are notifying you of this decision as soon as it was practicable to do so, taking into account the great difficulties we face in projecting staffing needs under these unprecedented circumstances,” the company said.
Meati CEO Phil Graves told employees that the company is working with its board, investors and stakeholders to pursue multiple funding opportunities and keep the company afloat, according to an internal email obtained by AgFunderNews.
“Today, we find ourselves in a completely unforeseeable and uncertain situation. Despite nearly doubling revenue from 2023 to 2024, Meati missed a 2024 revenue and gross margin financial covenant with the bank. On January 31, the bank assured Meati’s management and board that it would not sweep cash or accelerate payments. However, without notice, the bank swept approximately two-thirds of Meati’s available cash on February 28, putting the company in a precarious financial position,” Graves said in the email.
“Since learning of this reversal, we have been working tirelessly with our board, investors, and key stakeholders to explore a path forward. We will continue doing so,” he added.
Meati has expanded its distribution network in recent years and its products were available at King Soopers, Safeway, Ralph’s, Albertsons, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer, Fresh Thyme, Super Target, and Whole Foods Market, according to the company’s website.
AgriFunderNews reported that the company had been close to securing an investment round that would have carried its operations into 2026 when the bank pulled two-thirds of the cash available in its accounts. Meati has reduced staff at its Thornton plant four times in the past two years in moves to improve its efficiency, but none of the earlier reductions came close to the current round.
Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley founded Meati in 2016, working with Venture Partners at the University of Colorado. The two doctoral students discovered a way of growing and fermenting mushroom root as an alternative protein source, allowing a teaspoon of spores to be converted into the protein equivalent of hundreds of cows in just a few days.
