The 'Green' Burger Billionaires Are Loving

Feast your eyes on “THE BEAST.” It’s not a beef burger, or another veggie burger—it’s a whole ‘nother animal as its slogan puts it. The “green” –not in color–burger created by Beyond Meat is 100% plant-based and it is in line to be the future of meat. And, big investors like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) co-founder Biz Stone are chowing down on the juicy patties.

“We believe this is the future of protein, fulfilling a growing global population’s taste for meat but without the health or environment downsides.” says Ethan Brown, CEO and Founder of Beyond Meat.

Meat eaters are on the rise, by 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow to more than 9 billion a 29% jump from today’s level. Doubling the demand for meat since 2000.

“This is happening in larger part because economies are growing and people can afford more meat. That’s all good news.” says Bill Gates in his blog, “Future of Food.”

Gates, who is the first to admit that hamburgers are one of his favorite foods became an investor in the company because he says “we need more options for producing meat without depleting our resources.”

And that’s also why Biz Stone jumped on board as well.

“I became an advisor very early and later an investor because Ethan and his team think on a global scale and truly care about making a positive impact for the world in their lifetime,” says Stone in an email to FOXBusiness.com.

Brown started Beyond Meat because he was convinced that he could create meat directly from plants without the need to use an animal.

“We've evolved, and innovated so much throughout human history, yet continue to rely on animals for meat.  The costs of continued reliance are increasingly clear, whether measured in terms of major health epidemics of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, climate change, natural resource use, and animal welfare,” says Brown.

He says while a typical veggie burger is loaded down with wheat, his “Beast” burger—which is known as a protein shake on a bun—is packed with 23 grams of pea protein then infused with a nice smokey taste.

“If you think about meat in terms of its physical composition, at a high level it is amino acids, lipids, and water, with trace amounts of minerals and carbs.  None of those are exclusive to the animal.”

Beyond Meat has a team of scientists that then use food technology to take these elements and arrange them in the architecture of meat.

Gates says when he first tasted one of their products he “wasn’t the only one fooled by how real it tasted.”

Brown says while many Americans are reducing their meat consumption, especially with red meat, he hopes his company can provide a safe, healthy alternative for people who want to continue to eat what they love.