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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Green Monday

OmniFoods Plans to Launch Its Plant-Based OmniPork Products in the U.S. This Year

OmniPork, the plant-based meat line from Green Monday subsidiary OmniFoods, will launch in the U.S. later this year, according to an article from Food Navigator. 

OmniFoods launched its OmniPork line in 2018 in Hong Kong, where the company is also headquartered. As its name suggests, the line features various plant-based replacements for pork, which is the most widely consumed meat in the world. As of now, the OmniPork line includes grounds, lunch meats, and strips as well as OmniPork buns and dumplings. 

Products are made from a proprietary blend of pea and soy protein along with shiitake mushroom and rice. 

The OmniPork line debuted on mainland China in 2019. For its U.S. expansion, OmniFoods will maintain its Asian-inspired focus for its products, rather than creating meat analogues of American staples (e.g., bacon). That said, OmniPork products are, in the company’s own words, “a relatively bland flavor,” which ensures a certain amount of versatility in the products.

Speaking to Food Navigator, OmniFoods founder David Yeung, said its ready meals (dumplings, stir fry, dim sum) are also “extremely well received,” and that down the line, the company may work with U.S.-based food manufacturers to develop meals in addition to the protein products. 

OmniFood debuted products in the U.S. at eight different restaurants across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Honolulu. The company used this same strategy — launching in restaurants before expanding across retail outlets — with its U.K. launch earlier this year. 

The U.S. retail launch doesn’t yet have a specific date applied to it, but will happen at some point later in 2021.

Green Monday Brings Its Plant-Based Pork to U.K. Restaurants for the First Time

Plant-based food company Green Monday will expand its global reach beyond Asia starting with its first-ever restaurant partnerships in the U.K. The Hong Kong-based company’s OmniPork product, a plant-based version of minced pork, arrived in the U.K. this week as part of several restaurants’ Veganuary menus, according to an article from Green Queen Media.

Nine restaurants will carry OmniPork on their menus as part of their participation in Veganuary. Green Monday described these restaurant partnerships as the company’s “soft launch” into the U.K. The company will officially launch in both foodservice and retail in the U.K. later this year.

Participating restaurants this month include Plant Hustler in Bournemouth and Eat Chay in Shoreditch, as well as online delivery services Alta Foods, Viet Vegan, and Kay Kay Foods.

OmniPork already enjoys a sizable presence across Asia, including China, Singapore, Macau, and Thailand. Notably, Green Monday struck a covetable partnership with McDonald’s in 2020 to bring OmniPork to the mega-QSR’s restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau. Green Monday also raised $70 million last year, part of which will go towards further expansion of OmniPork’s geographical reach. Green Monday’s expansion comes the same week Discos, one of China’s leading QSR chains, completely swapped out chicken-based eggs for a plant-based alternative on its menu, highlighting the increasing demand from consumers for alternative proteins. By some accounts, demand for alternative protein is expected to increase 200 percent over the next five years in certain parts of Asia.

Over in Europe, the market for plant-based meat and dairy alternatives is expected to reach €7.5 billion (~$9.1 billion USD) by 2025. As in Asia, shifting consumer eating habits are the major force driving this growth.   

The U.S. remains the largest market for alternative protein, though others are catching up fast. This week’s news from Green Monday and the company’s forthcoming expansion to the U.K. and beyond is further proof of that.

Green Monday Launches a Plant-Based Menu Across McDonald’s Hong Kong Locations

Hong Kong-based Green Monday announced today it has struck a longterm partnership with McDonald’s to launch a plant-based menu across all McDonald’s and McCafé locations in Hong Kong and Macau. The menu will incorporate Green Monday subsidiary OmniFood’s alt-pork products into the meals. Green Queen was first to break the news.

The new menu features six dishes developed around OmniPork Luncheon, a plant-based alternative to the processed meat product that’s popular in Asia. Meals include OmniPork Luncheon & Scrambled Egg Burger,  OmniPork Luncheon N’ Egg Twisty Pasta, OmniPork Luncheon Deluxe Breakfast and OmniPork Luncheon Jumbo Breakfast, as well as OmniPork Luncheon & Egg Cheesy Toast and OmniPork Luncheon & Egg Mayo Ciabatta. All items are vegetarian, though not vegan, since meals include egg.

David Yeung, cofounder and CEO of Green Monday, told Green Queen that the partnership is “the most monumental and game-changing breakthrough for the plant-based movement in Asia, and one of the biggest milestones globally.”

Currently, partnerships between McDonald’s and plant-based protein companies are few and far between. The mega-chain struck a partnership with Beyond Meat in Canada last year, though the chain ended that trial in April of this year and has no plans to renew it. In the past, McDonald’s has publicly said it will wait to see if plant-based protein is a longterm trend before aligning itself with any one brand. 

But thanks to the pandemic highlighting the perils of the meat supply chain, demand for and investment in plant-based protein products has grown so much that the sector is less a trend nowadays than it is a mainstay on retail shelves and restaurant menus. With other QSR brands already featuring plant-based items across their menus (see KFC’s Beyond Meat partnership), McDonald’s can hardly wait much longer to make plant-based items available among its own offerings.

Green Monday itself just raised $70 million. The OmniPork Luncheon menu launches tomorrow across more than 400 McDonald’s and McCafé locations combined. 

There is no official word on whether this partnership will expand, though Green Queen points out that Citic Group and the Carlyle Group, which operate the McDonald’s franchise business in Hong Kong, also run the QSR’s franchise business in Mainland China. OmniFoods debuted OmniPork there last year. Clinching the QSR segment market would be an enormous feat for both Green Monday and plant-based protein in general.

OmniPork Parent Green Monday Raises $70M to Expand Its Plant-Based Food Enterprise

Plant-based food company Green Monday Holdings has raised $70 million in new funding led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and Swire Pacific, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The round also includes participation from CPT Capital, Jefferies Group, Sino Group’s NG Family Trust, artist Wang Leehom, and Room to Read founder John Wood. Existing investors, including Lee Kum Kee Health Products Group’s Happiness Capital and individual investorsJames Cameron, Mary McCartney, and Susan Rockefeller, also participated.

The Hong Kong-based Green Monday enterprise has multiple branches. It operates OmniFoods, which makes plant-based meat alternative OmniPork, as well as Green Common, a retailer and restaurant for plant-based foods. The Green Monday Foundation, meanwhile, is a charitable organization that aims to raise awareness about the importance of living more sustainable lifestyles. The enterprise as a whole reaches multiple countries, including Japan, China, the U.S., the U.K., and Thailand. 

OmniFoods debuted OmniPork on mainland China a little less than one year ago. Since then, the company has expanded across that market, landing in both retailers and QSR chains like Taco Bell and Starbucks. 

This new funding round comes at a time when both investment and interest in plant-based meat is up worldwide. In a recent report, investor network FAIRR said that while the U.S. is still the largest market for alternative proteins, China, along with the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, is catching up. 

Not surprisingly, that means Green Monday is not the only company expanding its alt-protein business in that region. Beyond Meat just announced it will build production facilities in China. Starfield, which recently raised $10 million and launched in 20 restaurant chains across China, is another established player to contend with.

Green Monday said this funding round is the largest of its kind to date in Asia. It will use this new capital to expand research and development as well as its retail networks, and boost its production, distribution, and supply chain capabilities. It plans to increase global operations to over 20 markets across Asia, EMEA and North America, as well as open Green Common flagship stores in China and Singapore.