SHANGHAI — Beyond Meat Inc. announced on July 1 that its products would be available at 50 Alibaba Group stores in mainland China.

Items like the Beyond Burger will be available in 50 Freshippo stores, a grocery chain owned by the Chinese online retailer. The Beyond Burger will be located in the frozen meat section of Freshippo stores in Shanghai.

Beyond Meat and Alibaba plan to expand to 48 more stores in September.

“We know that retail will be a critical part of our success in China, and we’re pleased to mark this early milestone within a few months of our market entry,” said Ethan Brown, chief executive officer of Beyond Meat.

Chinese consumers can also order Beyond Meat on the Alibaba app for home delivery. 

“Beyond Meat and Freshippo share a vision of bringing innovative shopping experiences and products to our customers," said Jiayu Zhao, senior director and head of merchandising at Freshippo. “Freshippo’s new retail technology will enable plant-based meat to grow in China by meeting the modern Chinese consumer’s expectations whether they are shopping online or offline. We have seen a growing interest in plant-based meat among our shoppers and look forward to offering more Beyond Meat products in the future.”                                                                                      

In April 2020, Beyond Meat introduced its product to mainland China after partnering with Starbucks. Last month, the meat alternative company started selling Beyond Burgers at select KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations in mainland China.