On Friday alternative protein startup JUST announced that it would be selling JUST Egg at 2,100 Kroger-owned grocery stores around the U.S.
JUST Egg is a plant-based liquid egg substitute made of mung beans and contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. Over the next few weeks, the product will be sold in the egg aisle of Kroger, as well as Kroger grocery banners like Fred Meyer, and QFC. It’s currently available at Kroger-owned Harris Teeter and Roundy’s brands.
This news is just the latest in JUST Egg’s latest expansion efforts. The plant-based scramble is already pretty widely available in retail: you can find it at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and even Costco, where it’s sold in a 2-pack for $9.99 (at other stores it typically costs almost that much for one 12-ounce bottle).
JUST Egg is also amping up its restaurant presence, and just forged its first fast-food partnership with Tim Horton’s in Canada. And that’s just in North America. Internationally, JUST Egg is also available at both retailers and restaurants in Hong Kong, China, and Europe.
But the fact that JUST is expanding the footprint of its Egg product so quickly indicates that there’s significant consumer demand for a tasty plant-based egg alternative — from both vegans and flexitarians. In fact, in an email to The Spoon JUST reported that a whopping 77 percent of those who buy JUST Egg also eat meat. The fact that JUST will be selling its plant-based scramble in the egg section means that the company has an even better chance of capturing flexitarians who are either curious to try a new product or want to reduce their environmental footprint.
As of now, JUST Egg doesn’t have any significant competition. But given its popularity, I doubt that will be the case for very long. It’s smart to snap up as much retail shelf space and build brand recognition while it’s still the #1 player — before the grocery egg section gets crowded with more alternatives.
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