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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

JUST

Peet’s, Eat Just, and Beyond Meat Debut a Fully Plant-Based Breakfast Sandwich

Peet’s Coffee, Beyond Meat, and Eat Just have joined forces to launch a fully plant-based breakfast offering dubbed the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich. The item is available as part of Peet’s Spring 2021 menu.

The product launch makes for one of the first breakfast offerings on a QSR menu to be made entirely of plant-based foods. Up to now, meat, cheese, and egg analogues have been been paired with their  traditional counterparts for these meals. See examples like Impossible’s sausage sandwich at BK and Starbucks or Beyond’s sausage breakfast sandwich at Dunkin’.

This new breakfast sandwich iteration is, by comparison, fully vegan. The sandwich includes a Beyond Sausage patty, a folded egg from Eat Just, and a plant-based cheddar cheese on an everything bagel. According to the press release, the item contains 21 grams of protein.

The product is good news for the vegan crowd or those wanting to replace more of their traditional meat diet with plant-based options. More importantly, it’s another shift in the larger movement towards the plant-based QSR.

Consumer demand for plant-based meat alternatives is only going to get bigger. Restaurants have been incorporating plant-based meat analogues into their products for the last couple years. Now, we appear to be at a point where it’s no longer enough to have one element of a food item plant-based; the whole thing needs to be vegan. Starbucks, for example, hinted at this sort of future with its recent test of a fully plant-based breakfast sandwich with Impossible meat, a JUST egg, and a plant-based cheese from an unnamed manufacturer. Starbucks is also testing a fully plant-based menu at a location in Seattle.

And it’s not only coffeeshops getting onboard. In China, fast-food chain Discos outright replaced their traditional eggs with plant-based counterparts from Eat Just. Meanwhile, last week, Beyond announced deals with both McDonald’s and Yum Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell). which will majorly boost plant-based meat’s visibility in QSRs.

Peet’s may be headed in that direction. The company also announced some new beverages made with oat milk to go along with the vegan breakfast sandwich. It seems like only a matter of time before it and other quick-serve coffees chains roll out full menus for plant-based wares.

For now, the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich is available nationwide at Peet’s locations.

Food Tech News: Virtual Derby Fare Is Upon Us

The Kentucky Derby is around the corner! Not that I or many other folks will be physically present for the famed event this year. We will, however, be cooking up some classic Derby fare, courtesy of the internet. Read on for more on that as well as other food tech news bits from the last week.

Virtual Derby Menu 2020

Churchill Downs Racetrack, home of the Kentucky Derby, is once again offering an at-home Derby menu for couch-bound attendees of the famous event — of which there will be many more this year, given the venue’s reduced capacity requirements. For the event, taking place September 5, Churchill Downs has created an at-home menu fans can access online and create in their own home kitchens. 

Africa’s First High-Tech Greenhouse

Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects has started construction on the first fully automated glass lettuce greenhouse in Africa. The greenhouse, outside Cairo, Egypt and roughly 2.5 hectares in size, will grow herbs and lettuce, while automation technology will regulate climate and plant density for more optimal growing in desert conditions.

The Profitability of Plant-Based Eggs

Eat Just, maker of the famed JUST plant-based egg, is on track to profitability, according to a report this week from Reuters. The company aims to turn an operating profit before the end of next year is also considering and initial public offering.

Target All-In on Online Grocery

Target announced this week that its grocery pickup service is now available across the U.S. The service is now available in about 85 percent of its stores. For now, only Target’s most popular items (about 750 of them) are available for pickup, though the ongoing popularity of online grocery could change that in the future.

Video: 50 Million Plant-Based Eggs Later, Eat Just Keeps Innovating

Between massive disruptions to the supply chain and growing evidence of COVID-19’s zoonotic origins, it’s little wonder that both demand for and investment in plant-based protein choices has escalated to previously unseen heights in the last several months.

Helping lead the charge and change in the way we humans get our proteins is Eat Just, a San Francisco-based company whose plant-based egg product is on store shelves everywhere between Whole Foods and Costco. The company now has its sights set on international expansion and, more importantly, on further helping us humans understand the negative impacts of our over-reliance on animal proteins. Those impacts include (and are definitely not limited to) further harm to the planet and the likelihood that COVID-19 won’t be the last pandemic we see.  

“There’s a collision that’s happening between human beings and animals and that collision is causing a spillover that is increasing the risk profile of our food systems,” Eat Just founder and CEO Josh Tetrick explained to me over a Zoom chat recently.

Eat Just was one of the early innovators in the new generation of plant-based food and one of the only companies with plans for both plant-based and cultured protein products. Given all that, I wanted to get Tetrick’s take on the current state of the market and how things are changing as the pandemic situation plays out.

Watch the video below to see our full conversation, where we discuss:

  • The versatility of the egg and how we can replicate it using plant-based alternatives
  • How the pandemic is changing the way consumers think about not just the foods they eat but where those foods come from
  • The recent United Nations report that outlines how our increasing demand for animal protein is the number one driver of zoonotic diseases
  • How plant-based protein companies can work alongside — not replace — established CPGs and other food industry players to spark change in the way we eat

Food Tech News: Cell-Based Seafood and a New Documentary on Urban Farming

Whether your weekend plans involve golf, Instagram listening parties, or baking yet-another loaf of quarantine bread, add a side dish of food tech news to your agenda to get things started. Here are a final few bits from this past week. 

Call It Cell-Based Seafood

A consumer study by Rutgers University professor William Hallman has found that “cell-based” is the preferred term for describing seafood made from cells grown in a lab. Other labels up for consideration were “cultivated,” “cell-cultured,” “cultured,” and “produced using cellular aquaculture.” The final text of the study, which was funded by BlueNalu, a company in the cell-based fish game, will be published in the near future.

Stop & Shop Launches a Digital Nutrition Program

Joining in the trend of offering nutritionists for grocery shoppers, Stop & Shop this week announced its Nutrition Partners program. The free program will be 100 percent digital at first, connecting shoppers with registered dietitians. It will also offer webinars, recipes, cooking demos, and other nutritional education online. In the event we ever make it out of the pandemic, the program will eventually be available in-person.

JUST Heads to Canada

JUST, makers of the plant-based egg that uses mung bean as its main protein, announced its expansion into Canadian grocery stores. According to an email sent to The Spoon, the company will launch its frozen folded egg product in Whole Foods and Walmart stores in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Ottawa. JUST is also working with regulators to bring its pourable egg product into Canada, too.

2-Min Trailer for "Hearts of Glass – A Vertical Farm Takes Root in Wyoming"

Watch: New Documentary Follows Urban Farm Workers With Disabilities

A new documentary, “Heart of Glass,” will air on over 200 TV stations this month to coincide the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (July 26). The film details the story behind the creation of Wyoming indoor vertical farm Vertical Harvest, which provides employment for persons with disabilities. Check the trailer above and mark your calendars.

JUST Partners with Michael Foods to Grow Foodservice Sales of Plant-based Egg

JUST announced today that it is is expanding the sales footprint of its vegan egg substitute by teaming up with Michael Foods. Michael Foods is a subsidiary of CPG giant Post Holdings and one of the largest processors of value-added eggs in the world.

With the new partnership, Michael Foods will be the sole manufacturer, supplier and distributor of JUST Egg to its existing foodservice and B2B customers — those who already buy Michael Foods’ egg brands, such as Abbotsford Farms and Papetti’s. It will begin to roll out JUST Egg starting this fall in select locations.

Made from mung beans, JUST Egg currently comes in two iterations: a liquid for scrambles, and a pre-cooked folded egg patty. Both are meant to cook up just like a chicken egg and contain comparable protein, with no cholesterol.

According to FoodDive, roughly 90 percent of JUST Egg’s sales in the U.S. come from grocery stores. The Michael Foods partnership will allow JUST to massively expand the foodservice footprint of its plant-based eggs in the U.S. In addition to restaurants, Michael Foods also caters to large venues like cafeterias, hospitals and stadiums.

Photo: JUST Egg

It’s an… interesting time for JUST to juice up its foodservice business, to say the least. Most crowded venues — like concert halls and stadiums — are shut down for the forseeable future and restaurants are operating at reduced capacity, if they’re open at all.

The point of the Michael Foods news is that JUST is putting fuel in its engine to expand rapidly across multiple channels — and geographic regions. Last year the company acquired a factory in Minnesota to increase production. In March they announced a group of new global manufacturing and distributions partners, from South Korea to Colombia. And just last week, the company announced that it was working with Emsland Group, a German leader in plant-based protein ingredients, to help them scale in Europe.

By partnering with Michael Foods, JUST is clearly thinking (far) ahead to pave the way for more sales when major venues and foodservice establishments open again. Some states are slowly opening up restaurants, but large-scale reopenings, especially for big venues like stadiums, seems far on the horizon.

We’ll have to wait and see if JUST’s partnership with Michael Foods pays off post-pandemic.

JUST’s New Plant-based Egg Patties Taste Like Fast Food (and That’s a Good Thing)

What with the COVID-19 outbreak shuttering restaurants and encouraging social distancing, I’ve suddenly found myself spending a lot more time in my kitchen. I’ve also been on the lookout for protein-packed meals that will store well in case, you know, the worst happens.

So it comes as no surprise that I was excited to sample the JUST’s new plant-based “folded egg” product this week. The eggs — which are made of mung beans — resemble a small square omelet. I received a shipment of them in a refrigerated insulated box (such packaging waste!), and were packaged two-together in shrinkwrapped plastic (more packaging waste!). These were pre-production samples that were shipped directly from the company, so there will presumably be far less packaging once the eggs are available at the grocery store this April.

Taken out of the package, the eggs really do look like, well, eggs. They have a spongy texture and light yellow hue of countless BEC (bacon, egg and cheeses) I bought from corner bodegas in New York, or the filling of fast-food breakfast sandwiches. So far, so good.

JUST folded eggs in packaging. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

The eggs came with a guide which outlined three options for cooking. I could heat the omelet in a toaster for 6. 5 minutes, toast in a toaster oven for 15 minutes at 350 F (or presumably a conventional oven), or microwave it while wrapped in a paper towel. I don’t have a toaster oven that has an option to cook something for 6.5 minutes, so I went with the microwave. The grocery store having been out of paper towels for days, I had to microwave mine without — for 30 seconds per side — and it turned out perfectly fine; warm throughout and pliable.

I first took a bite of the heated omelet by itself. While the texture definitely reminded me of dry omelets (that’s not a bad thing, per se), the taste was distinctly beany — almost chemical-y. In short, not like eggs at all. I thought that the JUST Egg scramble I’d tried in the past did a far better job of approximating the almost sulfuric flavor.

JUST Egg sandwich [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

However, when I made the omelet into a breakfast sandwich featuring toast, (vegan) butter, kale, and hot sauce, I would definitely not have known it wasn’t the real thing from a chicken egg. The patty had the same texture as a reheated omelet, and the beany flavor didn’t come through against all the other ingredients. I gave half of the sandwich to my roommate who devoured it and was shocked to learn that the egg inside was not, in fact, an egg at all.

The JUST omelet won’t fool anyone when eaten on its own, but it’s clearly not meant to be. The folded egg is the perfect shape and size to go into sandwiches, burritos, etc, to add a plant-based layer of protein that can be ready in mere minutes (and doesn’t require the cooking skills of a perfect egg omelet).

The JUST folded egg will be sold in boxes of four starting this April. According to the company, it’ll debut in the freezer section of 5,000 retailers nationally and will sell for the MSRP of $4.99. That’s pricey compared to a dozen regular eggs, but I think the convenience factor of the JUST omelets make them a worthy buy — especially if you’re trying to eat more plant-based products.

We don’t know what the quarantine situation will look like come April, but if you’re able to safely make it to your grocery store to pick up a pack of JUST folded egg omelets, I’d say they’re worth adding to your shopping cart.

My Family Tried JUST’s Plant-based Egg. Reviews were Mixed

While grocery shopping in an Ohio Kroger with my extended family this week, my eyes set upon something intriguing in the egg aisle. It was a container of JUST Egg, a plant-based substitute made from mung beans meant to scramble just like the real thing.

Since last holiday break my family did a White Castle Impossible slider taste test, I thought that this year we should keep the tradition going and try out a new alternative protein product. So I added a container JUST Egg to my cart.

I scrambled up a couple of regular eggs in some neutral oil to compare to the JUST Eggs, and kept the salt amount the same on both. The JUST Egg took a bit longer to coagulate than the regular egg but once it did, the textural cooking experience was quite similar. Almost undistinguishable.

JUST Egg on the left, traditional eggs on the right. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

In fact, texture was the number one thing my family commented on. While almost everyone sniffed out the real egg, they still commented that the JUST Egg had a creamy texture almost eerily similar to the real thing.

The flavor, however, was not quite as successful. While everyone enjoyed the JUST Egg — one even preferred it — no one said that it would have fooled them. “Put some cheese on it, and I might not know the difference,” said my dad.

Clearly our family isn’t the only one to like JUST Egg. The plant-based substitute is now available at Costco, Whole Foods and Kroger, plus over 500 foodservice spots. It’s even on menus at Le Pain Quotidien as part of an eggless frittata. To keep up with the growth, JUST just (lol) acquired a 30,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Minnesota to amp up production.

JUST Egg may not have fooled my family, and at its price — $7.99 for a 12-ounce container — I doubt it’ll become a regular fixture in our fridge. However, the crew still liked JUST Egg well enough to finish the whole thing. And we’re a crew that really loves our eggs.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll scramble the rest of the JUST Egg into breakfast burritos and see if it’s more popular.

JUST Acquires Facility to Expand Protein Manufacturing for Plant-based Egg

Alternative protein company JUST today announced it has acquired a new 30,000-square-foot facility in Appleton, Minnesota to expand its manufacturing capacity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The plant, previously operating as Del Dee Foods, had already been working with JUST to manufacture proteins used as the building block of its JUST Egg, a plant-based liquid that scrambles just like real eggs. With the acquisition, JUST will be able to hire more workers, staff more shifts, and build out the facility to increase manufacturing capacity.

According to JUST’s Head of Communications Andrew Noyes, the startup had already invested millions of dollars in the factory. After the acquisition, they will be able to create an infrastructure for JUST Egg protein production that is “dependable, efficient and expandable as we plan for future growth.”

In and of itself, this isn’t especially remarkable news. But it does speak to the need for plant-based food companies to ensure that they have reliable, scalable sources for protein manufacturing — especially as consumer demand for flexitarian alternatives continues to skyrocket.

Players like Beyond Meat, Oatly and Impossible Foods have all experienced product shortages over the past few years. And consumers were not happy. For now, JUST Egg’s footprint is still relatively small, at least compared to plant-based giants like Beyond Meat and Oatly. It’s available in U.S. retailers like Kroger, Whole Foods, and Safeway, as well as over 500 foodservice locations. It’s also sold in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and parts of China.

However, the company is smart to start investing heavily in manufacturing infrastructure — before the demand outpaces their supply. Especially as it prepares to enter the European market.

SKS 2019: Plant-Based Foods Aren’t Going Anywhere, But Taste is Key

Ask almost anyone in the food space about the biggest trends they’re seeing, and odds are they’ll mention one thing: plant-based. From meat to dairy to eggs, plant-based alternatives to traditional animal products are becoming more and more commonplace — and tasting better and better.

Considering the ubiquity of plant-based dining, we invited a few experts to come speak about the trend at SKS 2019 earlier this month. Author and scientist Dr. PK Newby, Bjorn Oste, co-founder of Oatly, and Daniel Scharff Director of Strategy & Analytics for JUST,  took the SKS 2019 stage to unpack the plant-based dining trend: who’s catalyzing it, what products they want, and why is it gaining so much popularity right now?

If you’re curious about why ‘plant-based’ has suddenly become the buzzword du jour, it’s worth watching the whole video below. Here are a few high-level takeaways from the conversation:

Health is a big driver
There are many reasons that people shift towards a plant-based or flexitarian diet: ethical concerns, environmental motivations, etc. But according to Scharff, health is another big driver. “The number one reason for dietary change isn’t weight loss,” he said. “It’s health.”

Dr. Newby echoed this idea, siting studies which showed that plant-based diets are key to longevity and chronic disease prevention — as well as the health of our planet. Since millennials are motivated by health and sustainability, she said, they’re a primary driver for the adoption of plant-based food.

Mission matters
It may seem like new companies (of Big Food corporations) are popping up every day promising a unique twist on plant-based foods. But according to Oste, companies can’t just slap the term “plant-based” on their products and expect to see a loyal customer base spring up overnight. “Consumers care about companies on a mission that are authentic, transparent, and value-driven,” he said. In short: You can’t just talk the talk. You have to walk the walk, too.

Taste is king
All of our panelists agreed that, while mission and health are key, taste is still king. “Taste will always be first,” said Dr. Newby. “It’s the primary driver.” The others? Cost, followed by convenience. But the overall conclusion was no matter how sustainable, healthy, or affordable a plant-based product is, if it doesn’t taste amazing — it doesn’t have a chance.

Scarff went one step further. He said that animal product alternatives don’t only have to taste great, but also has to look, cook, and eat like the original product. “It has to replicate the experience that they’re used to,” he said, referencing consumers. That’s one of the reasons that JUST is so adamant that they sell their plant-based egg next to actual egg cartons in the grocery store.

Dr. Newby finished her talk with a bold claim. “The future is absolutely meatless,” she said. It’s too early to say if her prediction is correct, but there’s one thing we can be sure of: the plant-based revolution is here now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon.

If you want to hear the full conversation, check out the video below.

SKS 2019: The Plant-based Revolution

I Tried the JUST Egg Frittata at Le Pain Quotidien. It’s Another Win for Plant-Based Foods.

Quick service and fast food restaurants, from Burger King to Dunkin’, are clamoring to add plant-based options to their menus. You can now count Le Pain Quotidien among them, which teamed up with JUST for a chicken egg-free frittata that is now available at U.S. locations as of Wednesday.

The “Plant-Based ‘Egg’ Frittata” is made of the mung-bean derived egg substitute, roasted butternut squash, broccoli, caramelized onions and almond milk. Le Pain Quotidien feels so strongly about the plant-based version that it will replace its previous frittata.

I had the chance to try the JUST Egg frittata a week before it launched, and it’s clear why Le Pain put it on the menu: it’s delicious, and if I wasn’t told it was egg free, I wouldn’t have known. The way my fork slid into it felt natural, and nothing about the look and texture of the frittata would tell you that it was made with an egg substitute. It’s amazing how mundane, and I mean that in a good way, plant-based foods have become.

Many of other people who got a preview, which included nutritionists and influencers, came away with the same impression.

JUST says in a press release that the liquid version of its egg “has nearly as much protein as conventional chicken eggs, is free of cholesterol, saturated fat and artificial flavoring and its ingredients require considerably less water and emit fewer carbon emissions than chicken eggs.”

The company, which is also working on cultivated meat, has seen other restaurant partnerships hatch: restaurant chain Silver Diner and burger chain Bareburger (where you can also order an Impossible or Beyond Burger) will include JUST Egg on their menus. The company also announced that the liquid egg replacement will be available at Walmart and Kroger stores.

It’s been an impressive run for a product that only launched last year.

Restaurant Chains Embrace JUST Egg, Vegan Chorizo as Hunger for Plant-Based Protein Grows

Animal-free meat and dairy alternatives have been on quite a roll this week. First Beyond Meat announced it would be in all locations of Del Taco. Two days later, Impossible shot back with the news that its plant-based meat would be available at all Qdobas nationwide.

Now several more national chains are embracing plant-based alternatives with open arms. JUST Inc. (formerly Hampton Creek) announced that its vegan JUST Egg product will be available at the restaurant chain Silver Diner and the upmarket burger chain Bareburger, both of which are chiefly in the Mid-Atlantic area.

JUST Egg is available on two Bareburger menu items. In the “Wake-Up Call,” an eggless patty is served with a Beyond Meat quarter pounder, cheese, and mayo, while the “Get On Up” is essentially a breakfast burrito. The JUST menu items will be available at all 34 U.S. Bareburger locations by the end of May. The diner chain Silver Diner will offer a “JUST Egg Benedict” starting today all 15 of its locations.

JUST Egg is already available at a number of grocery stores and restaurants, including the vegan chain Veggie Grill. They’ve been edging into more sales channels in the U.S. and internationally, though so far it seems they’ve been targeting retailers. These two partnerships show that the company is also laser-focused on getting JUST into as many restaurant menus — and onto as many flexitarian plates — as possible.

Blaze Pizza with its new vegan chorizo.

It might not have a buzzed-about startup name attached to it, but this week fast-casual pizza chain Blaze also rolled out new plant-based options on its menus. The national chain, which has over 300 locations, now offers a vegan spicy chorizo developed in-house by Blaze’s executive chef. While the restaurant has meat and dairy on its menus, its dough is vegan and customers can opt for Daiya plant-based cheese.

The vegan chorizo is available at no extra cost. This is pretty rare: most plant-based alternatives come with an upcharge of at least a few bucks, which is a barrier to capturing the flexitarian market. Though thanks to economies of scale, growing meat alternative companies like Beyond and Impossible will hopefully able to reach price parity with meat pretty soon.

Fast-food and fast-casual restaurants are becoming quite the innovation space for plant-based alternatives. In addition to all the above news,  Burger King recently announced a pilot program to make Impossible Whoppers in the St. Louis area. Impossible’s “bleeding” burgers are also at White Castles and Red Robins, and Beyond Meat is available at Carl’s Jr. and the Canadian A&W chain.

Restaurant chains would be dumb not to put meat and dairy alternatives on their menus. According to the NPD Group, demand for plant-based protein in foodservice grew by 20 percent in 2018. And I don’t see that trend slowing down anytime soon. Down the road, I’m betting it will be unheard of for a fast-casual or QSR restaurant to not have plant-based burgers, scrambled eggs, etc. In fact, it might not be that far from now.

JUST Rolls Out Plant-Based Egg in Whole Foods

If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs — unless you use JUST Egg.

Today JUST, makers of plant-based food products that include mayo and cookie dough, announced it will launch its vegan JUST Egg in Sprouts nationally this month and Whole Foods nationally in April. JUST Egg first debuted in retailers in the Midwest, expanded to Albertsons nationwide last month and is currently available at a number of local grocery chains and natural grocers.

The pale yellow liquid, made of mung beans, comes in a bottle and scrambles pretty darn similarly to eggs. The suggested retail price is $7.99, which is a lot pricier than a carton of eggs, even free range/organic ones.

But JUST Egg can likely get away with its higher price since it’s the first product of its kind. For vegans, there’s an obvious draw: nothing else out there scrambles like eggs. For flexitarians, there’s the appeal of the new.

While JUST may be continuing its march into retail, I think its real potential could be in QSRs and large-scale food operations, like corporate cafeterias, hospitals, airlines, and sports stadiums. So far, JUST Egg is available in the fast-casual chain Veggie Grill, and here and there at individual restaurants. But there’s room for a lot more growth, especially in places like school cafeterias.

Consumers are looking for more convenient flexitarian options — as we’ve seen from the success of Impossible’s sliders at White Castle and Beyond’s burgers at Carl’s Jr. — and JUST Egg would fit the bill nicely. Their eggless patties (not available in retail) are practically begging to be slipped into a breakfast sandwich that college kids (because you know millennials/Gen Z love to eat flexitarian) could grab at the cafeteria on their way to History 101, for example. [Update: JUST Egg is currrently available at UIUC, UC Berkeley, Michigan State and a few other universities.]

In addition to the U.S., JUST’s eggless scramble is now available in Hong Kong and China, and has partnered with Eurovo to bring the product to Europe. I have no doubt we’ll hear a lot more news about JUST expanding the availablility of its vegan egg in the months to come, in retail and out.