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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

JOI

Food Tech News: Compostable Milk Packaging, Vegan Fast Food Goes Public

Happy weekend, and welcome to the Food Tech News round-up this week. This week we have news on JOI’s new compostable packaging, Sunbasket’s single-serving prepared meals, and a vegan fast-food company that’s gone public.

If you haven’t heard, The Spoon is on Clubhouse! “Food Tech Live” is the name of the room, and every Friday The Spoon team discusses news in food tech.

JOI launches zero waste oat milk

JOI produces nut paste concentrates that can be blended at home to make fresh plant-based milk, and the company just released a new product, an oat powder concentrate in fully compostable packaging. The powder contains only one ingredient, oats, and the 12 oz container produces a gallon of oat milk when blended with water. Once used, the packaging can be composted at home or at a commercial composting center. Many other plant-based milk packagings cannot be recycled, nor composted, According to the company, this is the first fully compostable plant-based milk product on the market.

Sunbasket launches single-serving prepared meals

Sunbasket, a subscription-based meal delivery service, just released single portion sizes of its Fresh & Ready prepared meals. The Fresh & Ready meals do not require any prep like the company’s meal kits, and can be heated up in a microwave or oven within a few minutes. The prepared meals are delivered fresh, not frozen, and start at $8.99. Starting April 25th, the single portion meals will be available for purchase on the company’s website. Throughout 2021, 65+ new meals will be released.

The first vegan fast-food company to go public

Globally Locally, a vegan fast-food chain based in Canada, began publicly trading TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GBLY yesterday, April 16th. Rather than IPO, the company entered an agreement with Black Lion Capital Corp to consolidate as Globally Local‎ Technologies Inc. Globally Locally manufactures and distributes its own plant-based protein and dairy alternatives, and can therefore offer prices comparable to other fast-food chains at its restaurants. Menu items include traditional fast-food fare made vegan, including burgers, wings, fries, shakes, and breakfast sandwiches. The eight restaurant locations primarily operate as smart kitchens offering pick-up and delivery. Within the next 12 months, the company aims to open at least 20 locations across North America. A few other vegan companies trade on the Canadian stock exchange, including The Very Good Food Company, Eat Beyond, and Modern Meat.

JOI Provides Plant-Based Milk Without the Carton

If you’ve been to the alternative milk section of your grocery store recently, then you aware that there is an almost overwhelming number of options. The fact that alternative milk now has its own robust section is significant, and according to the Good Food Institute, 41% of all households in the U.S. purchase plant-based milk. This is a crowded space, but JOI is diversifying this space with its nut pastes that can be blended into fresh plant-based milk at home.

I spoke with the CEO of JOI, Hector Gutierrez, by phone this week to hear more about the company and its products. JOI was founded by three students attempting to solve the issues they found with almond milk, namely that almond milk they found in stores tasted watery, had little nutritional value, and the cartons could not be reused or recycled. To address these issues, the founders created a shelf-stable, smooth paste (called Plant Bases) from different nuts that could be blended with water to create fresh plant-based milk at home. Gutierrez said he could not disclose the exact details of the process behind JOI’s pastes, but essentially unroasted, organic nuts are broken down into particles that are smaller than what you would find in nut butter to create a smooth, creamy paste.

None of the pastes contain gums or other additives, which are typically added to prevent separation in plant-based milk. Therefore the JOI milk must be shaken prior to each use. The Plant Bases are just made from one to three ingredients and come in varieties like almond, cashew, and cashew hazelnut oat. Besides plant-based milk, the pastes can also be used in smoothies, soups, drinks, and desserts.

Gutierrez said that shipping JOI’s Plant Bases in a small container saves a significant amount of shipping energy and space. Other plant-based milk is shipped as a liquid and typically comes in tetra-pack cartons, which makes these products heavier and requires a greater number of shipping pallets than JOI’s products. Additionally, JOI’s plastic containers are reusable and recyclable, while tetra-pack cartons typically are not.

Although there are many plant-based milk options on the market, plant-based milk pastes are not as common. Daily Harvest sells almond paste cubes that can be blended into fresh almond milk. Modern Mylk also produces nut and coconut pastes, and uses a variety of different nuts like macadamia, cashew, and almond.

JOI’s products are currently available for purchase on its website, and a single container has 27 servings (which equates to seven quarts of milk) and retails for $24.99. The Plant Bases are being used at 300+ coffee shops, cafes, and smoothie bars across the U.S., and several undisclosed companies use JOI’s products as an ingredient for their own products.