I assume the process is a guarded trade secret, and if so, you might not have a forthcoming explanation.

Sometimes, economies of scale don't just come automatically with scale. You actually have to make economies of scale happen when you invent new processes - this often means creating new machines or new methods that can be done by untrained people.

The process for creating these fake meats is complicated and long, so there are certainly a few novel steps in there. I'm guessing that a few key steps do not scale well today and have significant technological barriers to scaling. I have no idea what they could possibly be.

Let’s see what we know:

1. Raw materials are cheap 2. Expensive end product 3. Company is losing money

The most straightforward explanation is that the processing is expensive in some way, unless I’m missing something here. I feel like the burden of proof should be on you to establish that the straightforward explanation is not accurate beyond just a claim.

R&D is not a total black box. Management sets a budget, "Scientists you are allocated $XXX this year for reagents + equipment." Sure there are plenty of unexpected gotchas (equipment X broke, unexpectedly announced equipment Y is a must-buy, etc), but more or less there should be some ability to forecast expenses. If the company is in the red, cut that number down.

All conjecture, but as a former bench scientist (spending money, not making budgets), it felt like our burn rate was reasonably constant.