It’s certainly an odd Memorial Day weekend, what with most of us unable to travel or gather on beaches or rooftops or invite our friends over to grill. But hopefully it’s a relaxing one for you, nonetheless.
Did you know that a proven way to make any holiday weekend better is to kick it off with some food tech news? This edition has stories on Home Chef’s data breach, Nestlé’s first plant-based meat factory in China, and some new celebrity investors for vegan tuna company Good Catch. Enjoy!
Home Chef confirms data breach
Meal delivery service Home Chef confirmed this week that it had indeed suffered a data breach (h/t Techcrunch). The company stated that the names, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses of some of its customers were hacked, along with the last four digits of their credit cards. Not all of its users were affected. The stolen information was published online, along with other hacked data from 10 other companies.
Nestlé to open plant-based meat factory in China
CPG giant Nestlé announced plans this week to build a new plant-based meat manufacturing site in Tianjin, roughly 72 miles outside of Beijing (h/t Fortune). This will be Nestlé’s first production facility for plant-based products in Asia. The company noted that the food sector has undergone a “quiet revolution” over the past few years, as consumers turn to more environmentally friendly foods — like plant-based meat.
Plant-based seafood company reveals celebrity investors
Gathered Foods, the company behind plant-based seafood company Good Catch, announced a new group of celebrity investors this week. The list includes big names like Woody Harrelson, Paris Hilton and Lance Bass. Good Catch’s vegan tuna is available at 4,500 retailers in the US and UK, and the company plans to expand to more international locations in 2020. The celebrity investment news comes four months after Good Catch announced a $36.8 million Series B financing round with investors including General Mills.
