Expansion doesn’t come cheap. The presentation reveals that Hampton Creek plans to spend over $20 million on promotions this year. Manufacturing costs are expected to triple in 2016, while operating expenses will almost double. So although sales are projected to quadruple to more than $100 million this year, Hampton Creek says it will lose $63 million.
Barb Renner, who leads the U.S. consumer products team for consulting firm Deloitte, says healthy, sustainably produced food has a strong future given robust demand from consumers determined to eat better. But she says Hampton Creek and other food-tech startups ultimately will be judged on the same criterion as their deep-pocked industrial rivals: flavor.