vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

No Evil Foods…a plant-based classic!  Usually, on The Plantbased Business Hour, Elysabeth Alfano talks about the great strides made by plant-based companies and the huge amounts of monies raised.  Today, however, she pulls back the curtain to discuss the difficulty and daily struggles of being an entrepreneur. Ultimately, entrepreneurs are just everyday people trying to accomplish big dreams, sometimes unrealistically big dreams.  If successful, they create great products,  lots of jobs, and consumer and investor value.  But it isn’t always a straight line to the top.  It is often one step up and two steps back, to then hopefully jump three steps up. Mike Woliansky and Sadrah Schadel of No Evil Foods join Elysabeth on The Plantbased Busines Hour for a special one-off episode.  Known for their delicious plant-based products and iconic packaging, offering products like Colonel Cluck,  Mike and Sadrah have grown No Evil Foods against crazy odds -oh, and Covid – and persevered. They even have new products coming out.   However,  growing quickly is a tricky thing and maintaining company culture is also a delicate balance. Pivoting is the name of game, and after a difficult year of some unfavorable press and a public debate about whether or not to unionize, Mike and Sadrah reveal their newest game plan to keep moving forward. This episode is for every entrepreneur who has ever struggled, wondered if they could still keep going and have had to dig deep to find the courage to take the next steps.  Mike and Sadrah drop breaking ...

British egg producer Noble Foods has improved the recipe for its vegan egg alternative Crackd. The product, previously intended mostly for use in baking, can now also be used to make vegan scrambled eggs and omelettes. To accomplish this, the company has added several new ingredients to make the product creamier with a more eggy taste. The reformulation has also reduced the cooking time, meaning Crackd can now be microwaved to make scrambled eggs in just two minutes instead of seven. Since its introduction in October 2020, Crackd has launched at several major retailers such as Morrisons, M&S, Whole Foods, and TheVeganKind. At the beginning of the month, the product launched at Dutch retailer Jumbo, and Crackd has other European partnerships in the pipeline. Earlier this year, the brand also partnered with alt-meat company Squeaky Bean to launch what was described as the world’s first vegan scotch egg. Crackd sales continue to increase, and GM Rik Roberts recently told The Grocer that the brand is selling about one bottle every three minutes.  The new formula will be promoted with a TV advertising campaign, beginning on December 27. Crackd’s previous campaign broke Sky TV records with an increase of 17.4% in prompted brand awareness. “Veganuary is a massive opportunity to highlight how easy it is to use Crackd, especially now with the new recipe, which allows you to do scrambled in the microwave in minutes. This improved recipe is suitable for everyone, especially for flexitarians,” said Mirta Antonini, Brand Marketing Manager ...

UK chain Honest Burgers is to launch V Honest, its first all-vegan restaurant. The menu will feature vegan versions of some of the chain’s existing burgers, as well as a selection of new ones — including mushroom-based options developed by Fable Food. New for Veganuary is the Teriyaki Plant, featuring a plant-based patty with Fable pulled shiitake mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, Applewood Vegan cheese, grilled peppers, spring onions, umami mayo, and lettuce with homemade rosemary chips. This burger will be available at all locations for the month of January. Exclusive to V Honest are the Pulled Shiitake Nuggets, consisting of Fable pulled shiitake fritters with spring onions and umami mayo. The new restaurant will also offer more brand-new options such as the Buffalo, Pesto, and Chilli burgers, alongside plant-based versions of the much-loved Honest and Tribute. Honest Burgers already offers some meatless options at all its locations. These are a southern-fried courgette and onion fritter, a plant-based cheeseburger, and a vegan Christmas burger for the festive season. The latter consists of a plant-based patty topped with vegan bacon, smoky cheese, cranberry sauce, and rocket. International expansion for Fable Food Fable Food is an Australian brand making highly realistic meat alternatives out of mushrooms. Last year, the company told vegconomist that many people had tried its products without even realising they weren’t beef. Fable has had a successful year in 2021. In August, the company raised $6.5 million in funding and announced a partnership with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to create a ...

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer maker and parent company of Budweiser, has doubled down on its commitment to recycling barley protein from its brewing process that can be used in plant-based products.  “We are the largest buyer and fermenter of malt globally” In a new interview with Yahoo! Finance, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris explains the latest on the venture, including millions of dollars in new investment to repurpose the protein for the plant-based sector.  Doukeris details how through biotech technology, the company is able to separate fiber and protein, creating a high-quality end product without carbohydrates and a low carbon footprint. EverGrain, an Anheuser-Busch InBev company, has begun work on a $100 million protein in St. Louis, Missouri, and a second such facility will also be opened in Belgium.  Upcycled barley grains One use for the upcycled barley grains is in the rapidly growing plant-based milk sector, with Portland-based company Take Two already upcycling at least 500,000 pounds of spent grain this year. Take Two is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EverGrain and recently added its Barista Barley Milk to the product line.  “We are the largest buyer and fermenter of malt globally,” commented Doukeris. “Up until a few years ago, what we did was take this barley malt, ferment, and produce beer. In the fermentation process, the yeast takes all the starch or the carbohydrates from the barley and leaves the grain that is very rich in protein and fibers.”  ...

GreenCoin (GRNC) is launching on the Liquid Exchange following last month’s listing on the Bittrex TEL AVIV, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#vegan–SIPUP (OTCPINK: SPUP) announced today that its U.K. based subsidiary, VeganNation Finance Services Ltd. (https://vegannation.io/), is listing its digital coin on the Liquid exchange. Following the listing earlier in the month on the Bittrex, GRNC, one of the first vegan global crypto currencies, is scheduled to launch on the Liquid Exchange as of December 15, 2021. The GRNC has been designed by VeganNation to serve as a green global loyalty program, incentivizing sustainable user behavior to positively impact our society and the planet. By integrating GRNC within the VeganNation app recently released in the U.S. and soon to be released in other global markets, VeganNation seeks to deliver a tangible form of digital tender for the global vegan community (merchants and patrons, alike), through which plant-based commerce can be transacted. GRNC will initially only be usable for transactions consummated within the app. As part of the GRNC initiative, the VeganNation loyalty program is intended to give users of the app a shared sense of community and positive impact by knowing that GRNC will be utilized in connection with vegan-centric businesses and commercial undertakings. The actual issuance of GRNC to app users will be calculated based upon a proprietary algorithm that assigns values to various activities that occur within the app, such as making purchases, becoming an influencer, using GRNC for B2B transactions, and the like. Moreover, app users will have the ability ...

Yumi, a direct-to-consumer company specializing in organic infant and toddler foods, successfully closed a $67 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $79 million, according to Forbes.  The Los Angeles-based brand initially launched in California in 2017, before expanding nationwide in 2019. Since then, the company has experienced phenomenal growth, reportedly now feeding 3% of all babies in the US and anticipating nearly  $100 million in sales next year. Yumi offers a completely plant-based product line designed to nourish babies and toddlers in the most critical growth stage of life, the company says. Its subscription-based model delivers weekly, highly customizable meals and snacks directly to families’ doorsteps. Since the start of the pandemic, Yumi has delivered more than 10 million meals. Sutherland, Yumi’s CEO, says the brand was created to provide a convenient, wholesome alternative to the common but tedious task of making homemade baby food.  In the past five years, the $71 billion baby food industry has seen massive increased demand for fresh, clean-label products free from synthetic chemicals and heavy metals. While several startups now offer healthy baby food options, Sutherland told Forbes that Yumi’s use of algorithms to help parents choose customized meal plans gives the brand a major technological advantage.  Shaping new generations Yumi sells baby and toddler foods in both simple and elaborate formulas, made for different stages of a child’s development, ranging from single-flavor zucchini, raspberry and pumpkin to dragonfruit and pear, adzuki mushroom soup, and sweet potato cheesecake. The ...

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Plant-based Protein Market Research Report – Global Industry Analysis and Growth Forecast to 2030” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. The global plant-based protein market value is predicted to rise to $26,721.3 million by 2030, at a 9.2% CAGR between 2020 and 2030. Companies Mentioned Archer Daniels Midland Company Cargill Incorporated Wilmar International Ltd. Roquette Freres Glanbia PLC Kerry Group plc Koninklijke DSM N.V. BENEO GmbH Emsland Group Ingredion Inc. AGT Food and Ingredients The key factor behind the rising demand for such products is the increasing shift away from animal proteins, both on ethical and biological grounds. For instance, lactose intolerance is a common health issue affecting millions of people around the world, which is why they do not consume milk or anything made from it. Then, there is the question of ‘animal rights’, which has made many people shun meat and go for plant-based alternatives. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this shift, as people are now more concerned for their health. For instance, the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA) and the Good Food Institute (GFI) recorded a 27% increase in the retail sales of plant-based food products in the U.S. in 2020. This has been aided by the increasing production of such goods by established food and beverage companies, as well as startups, backed by significant investments. Most plant-based protein products are made from soybean due to its excellent percentage of proteins, fats, and fiber. Food will continue being the larger application area in ...

In the latest political milestone for alternative proteins, US House Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) led 10 members of Congress in asking the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand funding for alternative protein research.  In a December 17 letter, Rep. Khanna and additional members of the House Agriculture Committee asked USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to include alternative proteins research in the Fiscal Year 2023 USDA Budget Request. The letter also requested $50 million of coronavirus relief funding be allocated to alternative protein research in order to “improve the sustainability and resiliency of our food systems” and “create new economic opportunities for American farmers, new benefits for consumers, and help reduce agricultural emissions.” A pivotal year The latest show of Congressional support for protein research caps off a historic year for the Good Food Institute, whose efforts to promote favorable policies for plant-based and cultivated meat in Washington resulted in a stunning string of political successes in 2021:  In March, 15 House members and 3 Senators asked John Kerry, Presidential Envoy for Climate, to prioritize alternative proteins as a top solution to climate change.  In April, U.S. Rep.Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Chris Van Hollen both cited alternative proteins as an agricultural research priority.  In a letter sent in August, House Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern, House Education Committee Chair Julia Brownley, and 44 other members of Congress asked the House Agriculture Committee to include funding for alternative protein research in the budget reconciliation bill.  The most significant development of all ...

In October 2021, the organic farm Bioboer Mark, managed by Mark Van Hove in Bekkevoort, was the first organic farm in Belgium to be awarded the international Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal for his herb and vegetable cultivation. This means that growers work according to an organic, plant-based farming method that does not use production animals or any animal inputs. The Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal covers organic farmers in many countries such as Germany, Greece, France, Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and recently Canada. Although the movement in Belgium is currently small, Mark Van Hove has been working with plant-based fertilization for many years. Working purely plant-based seemed logical to him and the needs for his farm. The extraction of goods each season impoverishes the soil, therefore it is necessary to add nutrients. Using animal manure risks having remnants of harmful bacteria (E. Coli, etc.) on herbs during harvest. This is one reason why Mark worked with plant-based fertilizer. As a result, no pathogenic residues were found during checks and each time the soil was found to improve further. Increasing the humus content of the soil enhances CO2 binding capacity. This way, biocyclic vegan agriculture makes an effective contribution to climate protection. The company now grows sweet potatoes, fresh herbs and edible flowers in this way. Mark is particularly proud of the first successful cultivation of organic ginger and turmeric on Belgium soil, with harvest weights that exceed the wildest expectations. Choosing the right vegetable compost played a key role. ...

Vegan pizza pioneer One Planet Pizza is undeniably the king of the collab in the UK’s plant-based business space. In recent times the father and son duo has worked alongside industry names for new product launches such as Derek Sarno, THIS, and VFC to name just a few. We caught up with Co-founder Joe Hill to find out OPP’s highlights of 2021 and thoughts on the year ahead in vegan pizza. “Let’ support each other to help fix the broken food system and shape the future we want to live in” What were your personal highlights of 2021? Firstly, I think we all deserve a pat on the back for simply surviving this year! But for us at One Planet HQ, we have been hugely fortunate to be able to continue growing and developing this year with some incredible and life-changing events. Our personal highlights have to be: Mike and I were on national television in front of millions of viewers! We appeared on BBC2 and Channel 4 in the same week. One Planet Pizza featured on Mary Berry’s new show ‘Love to Cook’ where we showed Mary how easy and tasty vegan food can be. clips were also shown on the hugely popular ‘Gogglebox’ the following evening to millions of viewers. We’re now working on securing that spin-off cookery show ‘love to cook vegan’ with Mike and Joe. Launching our epic NEW ‘Thin & Crispy’ range with our new brand (logo and all!). We recognised that our consumers’ preferences ...