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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Gathered Foods

Food Tech News: The Science of Chewing, Food Personality Platform, and Cell-Based Rainbow Trout

Welcome to the first Food Tech News round-up of August! To kick off this month, we have pieces on Bluu Biosciences, a new platform called Foodqu!rk, Motif partnering with dental experts, and Good Catch’s new distribution partner.

Bluu Biosciences ramps up the production of various cell-based fish species

Berlin-based Bluu Biosciences produces cell-based seafood, and this week the company announced that it would be increasing production of three popular fish species: Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, and carp. According to the article on Food Ingredients First, the company is currently working on optimizing its cell lines for ideal nutrition, fat content, and Omega 3s. Bluu Biosciences aims to offer its cell-based seafood at a price comparable to conventional seafood, with a future product range that will likely include fish balls, sticks, and fillets.

Foodqu!rk launches “food personality” platform

With so many people living with dietary restrictions or having specific food preferences, a new platform called Foodqu!rk has been launched to help people identify what their food personality is. To sign up, users take a quiz about their eating habits, food preferences, and relationship to certain foods. The quiz result is generated through an algorithm that determines your FQ, or what Foodqu!rk calls your food personality. There are five categories that define your food personality: Naturalist, Striver, Creator, Enthusiast, and Guardian. After signing up and taking the quiz, users can access the platform to share quiz results, swap recipes, recommend restaurants, and connect with other community members. The platform is currently accepting users for early access on fooqu!rk.com.

Motif partners with dental scientists to understand the science of chewing

Plant-based meat and dairy products typically have a different mouthfeel than their traditional counterparts and can be challenging to create both realistic and appealing textures for alternatives. Motif Foodworks is a biotechnology company that develops alternative ingredients with the intention of mimicking properties of dairy, eggs, and meat. To understand the importance of texture in different foods, Motif is partnering with King’s College London and Imperial College London to study the mechanics of eating. The study will specifically focus on how chewing impacts the sensory perception of food. Mechanical engineers, oral biology, and dental experts will be working together with the company for this food science research.

Gathered Foods partners with Dot Foods to expand distribution

Gathered Foods, the parent company of alternative seafood brand Good Catch, announced Dot Foods as its new distribution partner. Dot Foods is the largest food distributor in North America, with 12 distribution centers and access to all 50 U.S. states. The partnership will enable Good Catch to expand its products to new businesses and food service accounts throughout the country. Good Catch products that will be available through Dot Foods include plant-based fish burgers, tuna flakes, breaded crab cakes, breaded fish fillets, as well as other appetizers and entrées.

Gathered Foods is Bringing Plant-Based Options to Long John Silver’s

Gathered Foods, the parent company of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, is now supplying plant-based seafood products to select Long John Silver’s location. The new menu items launched today in five locations in California and Georgia.

Good Catch’s Crab-Free Cakes and Fish-Free Fillets are the two alternative products being featured at Long John Silver’s. The restaurant chain will incorporate these products into several new menu items, including the Plant-Based Platter, two meal options, and à la carte.

Good Catch uses a proprietary blend of six legumes to create its high-protein seafood alternatives. The plant-based fish fillets aim to mimic a flaky white fish and include a breaded coating. The plant-based crab cakes are also breaded and have a lump crabmeat-like texture. The crab cakes have 15 grams of protein per serving, while the fillets have 12 grams.

Gathered Foods is not the only company to bring its plant-based products to nationwide chains as of late. Beyond Meat recently launched its new plant-based chicken tenders products in around 400 restaurants nationwide. Impossible Foods has plans to unveil plant-based chicken nuggets this week, with the intention of launching the new product in restaurants this fall. Greenleaf Foods’ Field Roast brand partnered with Little Caesars to launch its alternative pepperoni (called “Planteroni”) in five U.S. markets last week. These partnerships signal that the demand for plant-based options is still going strong, and nationwide chains must respond.

Long John Silver’s will be serving up Good Catch’s plant-based seafood in Georgia cities of Newnan and Albany, and in California cities Bakersfield, Sacramento, and Clovis. The alternative seafood options will be available at the select locations until supplies last.

Gathered Foods, Maker of Good Catch Secures $26.35M for Plant-Based Seafood

Gathered Foods, which makes the Good Catch brand of plant-based seafood, announced today that it has secured $26.35 million in a B-2 bridge funding round from investors including Louis Dreyfus Company, Unovis Asset Management and Big Idea Ventures.

This new financing follows the $36.8 million Series B round the company raised in January 2020. With the B-2 round, Gathered Foods has raised more than $75 million to date.

The Good Catch brand currently offers lines of plant-based fish products, including tuna, frozen fish burgers, fish cakes and crab cakes. Good Catch has a distribution partnership with Bumble Bee Foods and its products are currently available in the U.S. and Canada as well as in various European countries.

While plant-based burgers from the likes of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat grab most of the headlines, we’re starting to see more plant-based seafood products enter the marketplace. Revo Foods (formerly Legendary Vish) is launching plant-based salmon strips and salmon spread, and is developing a 3D-printed plant-based salmon filet. Tyson-backed New Wave Foods launched a plant-based shrimp product last month. And Ocean Hugger is back, making its plant-based eel and tuna after ceasing operations because of the pandemic.

All of this activity is buoyed by the fact that the entire plant-based food sector has seen rapid sales growth over the past couple of years. According to recent data from the Good Food Institute and the Plant-Based Food Association, retail sales of plant-based foods hit $7 billion in 2020, growing 27 percent over the past year, nearly two times faster than total U.S. retail food sales.

In its funding announcement today, Gathered Foods said it will use the new funding to ramp up product innovation, increase the number of products it offers and fuel international retail expansion.