Greetings from the Good Food Conference in sunny Berkeley, California! While here I’ve bathed in the intoxicating enthusiasm and creativity of companies forging the future of meat. I’ve also eaten my weight in plant-based meats — and loved it.
I may be hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of the plant-based and clean meat space, but I’d never leave you hanging with your weekly dose of food tech news! You know: all the stories that we didn’t quite have the bandwidth to write a full story on, but still think are worthy of a shout-out. This week’s theme: expansion.
Kroger teams up with Apeel for longer-life avocados
Following in Costco’s footsteps, Kroger announced this week that it will partner with Apeel, the California-based startup which makes an edible coating to keep produce fresher, longer. Starting next month, the Horton Food Company will be supplying Apeel avocados to 109 of the grocery chain’s locations in the Cincinnati, OH area. Apeel avocados purportedly last twice as long normal ones, and will support Kroger’s Zero Hunger Zero Waste initiative which is working to eliminate in-store food waste by 2025.
PepsiCo brings food & beverage accelerator to North America
PepsiCo is bringing Nutrition Greenhouse, its accelerator program focused on emerging healthy and sustainable food and beverage brands, to the U.S. and Canada this fall. All 10 companies which make the cut will participate in a 6-month mentorship program and receive $20,000 in grant funding; at the end of the cycle one startup will receive an additional $100,000 and an offer to continue partnering with PepsiCo. Interested? Applications are open now until October 12th.
Photo: JUST
JUST’s plant-based eggs are coming to grocery shelves
This week JUST announced that their plant-based “egg” product, which scrambles and tastes like the real thing (I tried it!), will be available in grocery stores starting this fall. This will be JUST Egg’s retail debut; the product has been gradually rolling out in restaurants, cafeterias, and fast-casual chains. JUST will also be joining the Amazon Launchpad program, which provides resources to help newer companies sell on the e-commerce giants’ marketplace.
Carlsberg unveils new packaging to cut plastic waste
Danish beer company Carlsberg is hopping on the “less plastic” bandwagon with their new 6-pack packaging. (h/t CNN Money.) The “Snap Pack” uses glue to bond cans together, doing away with the plastic rings which can end up in the ocean and have detrimental effects on sea life. The Snap Pack will be available in Tesco supermarkets in the U.K. starting next week, and will roll out in other European markets throughout the rest of the year and into 2019.
Did we miss any cool food tech news? Give us a shout on Twitter @TheSpoonTech.
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