vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

New data from consumer research platform Attest surveyed 500 respondents in the US and another 500 in the UK about their attitudes to buying plant-based products. The results were striking — out of all the key supermarket sections, the vegan aisle was the one consumers were most likely never to visit; 18% of UK consumers and 22% of UK consumers reported that they never shopped in this section. Meat should be where shoppers expect to find it: in the meat department Last June, vegconomist published a report on the subject of an inclusive protein aisle where all animal and vegetable protein would be stocked together. The following month, results were released of a trial carried out by the PBFA and Kroger across three states in the USA, analysing consumer reactions to the stocking of vegan meat in the animal meat case. The results showed that, following the placement of plant meats with animal products, average sales were up 23% for plant-based, demonstrating that meat-eaters are actively choosing to decrease their meat consumption when made easy for them. The PBFA concluded at the time that “it is important for retailers to place plant-based meat where shoppers expect to find it: in the meat department.” Vegan products could see more interest if spread outside of a dedicated aisle The new study finds there are still a considerable number of people who do visit the vegan aisle regularly (40% of Brits and 38% of Americans). But many respondents said they would be more ...

As part of World Vegan Month, the vegan restaurant chain formerly known as byChloe which rebranded as Beatnic this July, is partnering with Australia’s  Fable Food Co, to bring its mushroom-based meat products to the US for the first time. Headquartered in New York City, Beatnic operates ten restaurants in NY, Providence, and Boston.  “It’s incredibly exciting for us to bring our meaty mushrooms to the US market and be a part of Beatnic’s story as they continue to push the envelope and reimagine deliciously creative vegan food as we know it.” Fable products are made with Shiitake mushrooms and are created by fine-dining chef and mushroom scientist Jim Fuller, leveraging their nutritional benefits and natural umami flavors. The company closed a $6.5 million AUD seed round this August led by Blackbird Ventures to expand growth and announced its plans to launch into the US by the end of 2021. In addition to the Fable x Beatnic collaboration, Beatnic will also launch a ‘​​Plant Pass’ to encourage guests to eat more plant-based items for World Vegan Month. With the ‘Plant Pass’, guests can buy 4 entrees over the course of the month and get the 5th entree for free. Available for the first time in the United States, Fable’s mushroom meat will be featured in two new menu items developed by the Beatnic team and available at all of Beatnic’s locations:  Loaded Shroom Nachos ($6.95): Tortilla Chips, Fable Meaty Mushrooms, Black Beans, Queso Cheeze Sauce, Pickled Jalapeños, Cilantro, Tofu Crema (Contains: ...

Plant-based chef Scott Findlay, who trained under Gordon Ramsay and has worked as a private chef for Paul McCartney, Rihanna, Beyonce, Madonna, and Elton John, has sung the praises of LUPREME®, a lupin-based protein developed by Eighth Day Foods. “I’ve yet to come across anything that is as versatile, delicious, and easy to work with” Findlay enthuses: “I’ve been specializing in plant-based recipes since 2004, when I first started cooking for Paul McCartney,” he said. “I’ve travelled all over the world using different plant-based products and I’ve yet to come across anything that is as versatile, delicious, and easy to work with as LUPREME. It’s amazing and I can’t wait to be working more with it.” Eighth Day Foods uses fermentation to lupin beans into a block with a meaty texture, which can then be moulded into any shape and flavoured to produce a variety of plant-based meats. LUPREME is said to be nutritious, highly sustainable, and much cheaper to produce than meat. According to Eighth Day Foods, the product has a mild flavour that makes it suitable for a range of applications. The company was featured at this year’s Future Food Tech Summit in February, and it was also one of the finalists of Unilever’s Innovation Challenge. “We are regularly being told that no other protein tastes as good and it’s proven that no other protein is as kind to the planet,” said Roger Drew, Inventor of LUPREME and Co-founder of Eighth Day Foods. “Its unique versatility provides food ...

SYDNEY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–California-based Impossible Foods has arrived in Australia and New Zealand, marking the company’s third and fourth international market launches in 14 months. Impossible Foods’ flagship product, Impossible™ Beef Made From Plants (known as Impossible™ Burger in other markets), is now available on the menus of top chefs in Auckland, New Zealand, the greater Sydney area, and nationwide across Australia at Grill’d — Australia’s leading national burger brand. Earlier this year, Australia and New Zealand’s regulatory body, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), approved Impossible Foods’ key ingredient, heme (soy leghemoglobin), for use in plant-based meat products, paving the way for Impossible Foods’ commercial launch in both markets. To date, the ingredient has been approved for sale in every market that has completed its regulatory review. “Our launches in Australia and New Zealand are another huge step towards bringing delicious, sustainable options to every market in the world,” said Dennis Woodside, president of Impossible Foods. “Both countries are home to some of the most devoted meat-eaters on earth, and we know consumers there are going to love Impossible Beef.” Australia and New Zealand are two of the highest meat-consuming countries in the world per capita, alongside the U.S. and Argentina. Both countries are known for their meat-centric culinary scenes and cultural pastimes centered around meat-based dishes — like barbecues, roasts and festivals. In addition to Australia and New Zealand, Impossible Foods’ products are available in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and were recently launched in the United Arab ...

Following the Brazilian food tech startup’s launch into the US, Future Farm has now closed a $58 million Series C funding round. The alt meat player is preparing for rapid growth as it continues its expansion in the US and Europe, with alt dairy products also in the pipeline. With the company now valued at $400 million, the latest funding brings Future Farm’s total investment raised to $89 million. The Series C funding will be used to expand Future Farm’s range of plant-based meat substitutes into more retail outlets internationally, as well as develop its entire range. This will include the future addition of plant-based dairy products, including a butter alternative.  Founded in 2019 – and known as Fazenda Futuro in its home country of Brazil – Future Farm has seen rapid growth after launching products in the US and UK this year. The brand claims to be seeing incredible growth in Europe, with an annual rate of 960%. The winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2020, the brand recently announced former head of Red Bull North America Alexandre Ruberti as CEO of its US business. “We’re incredibly proud of this investment and those behind it, not only to validate the immense opportunity that exists within the category, but also to mark a new chapter for Future Farm, as we work towards innovating more plant-based offerings to create a portfolio inclusive of meat, seafood, poultry and dairy,” stated Marcos Leta, Founder of Future Farm.  “In order to change the ...

Leading chocolate manufacturer expands its plant-based range by adding new dairy-free solutions to its product portfolio CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, announced today the launch of its latest new dairy-free and plant-based solution, Dairy-Free Compounds under its namesake brand. This new chocolate product innovation joins Barry Callebaut’s North American existing Plantcraft range of dairy-free chocolates, nuts, cocoa powders, and cacaofruit experience ingredients. Offering a wide selection of sustainable, dairy-free and plant-based ingredients, Barry Callebaut has product solutions that satisfy the growing demand for plant-based solutions, particularly among millennials and centennials. The Barry Callebaut Brand’s new Dairy-Free Compound introduces a versatile, new solution set that’s 100% plant-based and 100% dairy-free. Made in fully segregated production facilities that do not handle dairy, the portfolio offers a range of shelf-stable dark compound suitable for the confection, snack and bakery segments, with a dark low melt chunks offerings for the ice cream market. The full range includes: Dark Dairy-free EZ Melt Compound – easy workability and a higher melt-point for a variety of applications including molding, enrobing, drizzling, bottoming or even panning. Dark Dairy-free Compound Chip / Chunk – ideal for baked goodies such as cookies and are also a decadent addition to trail mixes or other snacks. Dark Dairy-free Compound Soft Chunk – ideal for plant-based or allergen-free ice cream & frozen dairy applications for added texture. Dark Dairy-free Compound Soft Shaped Chunks –ideal for brands desiring a customized inclusion to relay a theme or ...

Singapore’s Next Gen Foods has spoken with vegconomist previously about its plant-based TiNDLE chicken and plans for widespread expansion. Since our last chat, the brand has appointed Rachel Konrad, previously of Impossible Foods and Tesla, so it was time to catch up again and find out more from Andre Menezes about Next Gen’s plans in the US market. What is your strategy for the US market? We’ve been a global company since day one and our strategy has fundamentally incorporated the USA market since the beginning. We’re targeting top cities, the best chefs, and the hottest restaurants consumers love to visit. Because of our versatile product line and connections with world-renowned culinary talent, we’re confident we’ll stand out from other plant-based protein competitors during our first phase of entry.  “We’re positive that TiNDLE will be a game changer” The reception from chefs and from early consumer tests here in the U.S. has been outstanding. Americans want food that’s nutritious, delicious, and sustainable, and we’re positive that TiNDLE will be a game-changer. Tell us about your launch product Our flagship TiNDLE product, TiNDLE Thy, will be the first one selling in the U.S. Made with only nine simple ingredients, we developed a product that emulates what people love about chicken without any hormones, antibiotics and cholesterol from avian-based meat. TiNDLE was created by chefs, for chefs. Unlike other pre-packaged plant-based products, TiNDLE is designed to be malleable – like Play Doh – allowing chefs to imagine and create endless culinary possibilities, ...

A survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), reveals some interesting findings about American consumers. When presented with an image that resembled a chicken tender, consumers preferred descriptors including the word “chicken”, despite knowing that the product did not contain any animal meat. In terms of preferred name for the vegan product: 45% ranked “plant-based chicken” in their top-three terms, followed by “meatless chicken” (42%), “vegan chicken” (32%), “plant-based strips” (29%) and “vegetarian chicken” (29%). The study, “Consumption Trends, Preferred Names and Perceptions of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives”, was carried out between August 2020 and August 2021, amongst 1,001 US adults between the ages of 18-80 that have a role in the food decision-making and/or food shopping in their household. Encouragingly, the study found that amongst the respondents, two-thirds (65%) reported that they have eaten plant meat alternatives in the time period, 20% consume such products at least weekly, and 22% consume them every day. A burger is a burger, unless it’s made from soy Survey respondents were also shown an image of a plant-based product that resembled a burger and were told it was made without animal meat. When presented with a list of possible descriptors, the preferred name was “plant-based burger,” (39%)  followed by “veggie burger” and “meatless burger” (35% each), “plant-based meat” (29%), “vegetarian burger” (25%) and “meat alternative” (24%). However, when informed that the burger was made primarily from soy protein, the importance shifted to the transparency of the ingredient and became soy-specific—with “soy burger” now ...

Online retailer GTFO It’s Vegan announces its own line of vegan tuna, salmon, sailfish, and calamari sashimi products under its private-label — Great Foods, It’s Vegan — which it claims means GTFO now offers the biggest range of vegan sashimi in the US market. “This launch is another key step in our efforts to realize our mission of becoming one of the most important companies in this century to ensure the sustainability of our people and our planet!”  The platform, which says it is pioneering the “New Age Vegan” movement, launched in the US on May 15th 2020 and in just over a month it fulfilled over 1000 orders, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. A year and a half later, GTFO has fulfilled nearly 30,000 orders and carries over 2,800 vegan and plant-based products across 700+ brands.  Tanya Pierce, GTFO It’s Vegan’s President and Co-Founder states, “This launch represents an incredible milestone in our efforts to introduce our own private label line of products under the Great Foods, It’s Vegan brand.  The launch showcases one of many planned private-label launches of vegan offerings in rapidly growing, yet undeserved vegan and plant-based categories.” Marc Pierce, GTFO’s CEO and Co-Founder: “The vegan seafood market is the fastest-growing category in the market.”  This is based on GTFO’s own proprietary purchase data.  Says Pierce, “By mining our data, coupled with our own proprietary consumer market research, we have developed the best and most comprehensive information on consumer trends in plant-based purchases than any other source.”  ...

Cajú Love introduces the first ever cashew fruit meat, created by upcycling the millions of fruits discarded by the cashew nut and cashew juice industries every year. The Hawaiian startup says that the highly nutritious fruit is naturally meaty cooks just like chicken, pork, tuna or ground meat. Founders Alana and Felipe, first generation immigrants from Brazil and Colombia, began to explore the idea of diverting biowaste, using cashew fruit fibers to create a plant-based meat, and found the fruit to be an incredibly sustainable resource; since it is a by-product, cashew fruit meat does not require additional water or land for production. Additionally, the cashew “apple” offers huge health benefits: it is rich in fat, fiber, minerals, protein, tannins, and vitamin C. Cashew apples fight inflammation, protect brain health, and support healthy blood sugar levels. The founders say that, as well as being simple to prepare and made from one nutritious ingredient, Cajú Love’s organic cashew meat is also GMO, gluten, preservative, and soy-free. “When I found out that cashew nuts grew on a fruit that was considered waste in the nut industry, I knew we had to do something to change that. The fruit is full of health benefits and cooks just like chicken, pork, tuna and ground meat—it is delicious. My mission is to share with the world a quality whole food plant-based meat alternative that is good for you and sustainable,” said Felipe Barreneche. “Our goal is to make it easy for people to make a ...