ReGrained is now Upcycled Foods Inc.
The company, which announced the new name as well as a variety of new partners and product announcements at the IFT First trade show taking place this week in Chicago, explained the name change made sense for a startup that had evolved from being a maker of consumer packaged food products utilizing spent brewer’s grain to a platform company that develops upcycled food ingredients for partners and its own group of brands.
Upcycled Foods Inc. “reflects the strategic change we began implementing in 2020, moving from a CPG brand, under the ReGrained name, to a trusted innovation and ingredient platform,” the company wrote in an announcement sent to The Spoon. “We power the food B2B upcycled economy by leading the way for food maker partners with our proven expertise in upcycled product development; deploying cutting-edge technology to create novel ingredient solutions; and building a consumer market for upcycled foods.”
According to the announcement, ReGrained will become a portfolio brand for the company’s grain-based upcycled ingredients. The company also announced two new “ingredient platforms” (aka brands) under which it plans to develop new products: Cacao Fruity Syrup and Coffee Leaf Tea.
Under ReGrained, the company announced a new product development partnership with Irish food and ingredient conglomerate Kerry. The two companies are codeveloping a new upcycled protein crisp product utilizing the ReGrained SuperGrain+ as the foundational ingredient. The new crisp will be designed into food products to add texture and nutrition to products. This partnership is the second of what the company calls ‘value-added’ product collaborations, following a January 2022 partnership with baking ingredients company Puratos.
The company’s new name is not that far removed from the trade association among which it counts itself as a founding member. The company, along with other upcycled startups such as Renewal Mill, launched the Upcycled Foods Association in 2019 to define, create awareness and certify upcycled food products. The association, which launched its certification program for upcycled products one year ago, has already certified 300 products with the UFA-certified logo.
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