Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

vegan

Geltor Debuts Animal-Free Collagen For Food and Beverage Markets

Geltor, a startup that bioengineers animal-free proteins, announced today the debut of its vegan collagen product called PrimaColl. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, PrimaColl, which the company claims is the world’s first vegan collagen for food and beverage markets, is a nature-identical replica of poultry collagen derived using precision fermentation technology.

Collagen has lots of health benefits for humans and is especially important for us as we age. Because of this, animal-derived collagen, which is sourced from the bones and other byproducts of farmed animals such as chickens and cows, has become a crucial ingredient in food and beverage markets in recent decades.

But for vegans, traditionally derived collagen is obviously problematic. With no true substitutes on the market up to this point, many consumers abstaining from animal products are forced to use collagen “booster” products which claim to help increase human collagen production, but are not collagen substitutes.

Which is why Geltor sees such a potentially big opportunity (and also why the company has raised eye-popping amounts of capital). With traditional collagen being a $7.5 billion market opportunity, delivering the first-to-market natural replica of animal collagen could be a massive opportunity across a number of different products.

“As a next-generation bioactive, PrimaColl was designed for use in ‘beauty-from-within’ formulations,” Geltor CEO Alex Lorestani told The Spoon via email. “And these could take form in anything from ready-to-drink beverages or powder mixes, to collagen-infused snack foods, gummies, and more.”

One of the biggest opportunities will be nutritional supplements. According to the company, while there have been a number of supplements that claim to boost human production of collagen, there are not any widely available replicas of animal-free collagen that include the less common amino acid core of Type 21 collagen.

“Like most collagens, natural production of Type 21 decreases into adulthood,” said Geltor co-founder and CTO Nick Ouzounov in the release. “The functional collagen core of Type 21 was selected in the biodesign of PrimaColl due to its important role in interacting with other collagen types, and signaling activity for additional collagen production.”

According to the release, the company has started production of PrimaColl through a manufacturing partnership with Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza Specialty Ingredients (LSI), and is building inventory this summer with plans for wide commercial availability this fall. The company, which had interest from dozens of companies who got an early preview of the product, already has some partners who are making products with PrimaColl, Lorestani told The Spoon.

The release of PrimaColl is a big milestone for Geltor, a company that was founded in 2015 and was an early member of Indiebio. Like fellow Indiebio graduates Clara and Perfect Day, Geltor is one of a group of companies that have been building animal-identical proteins using microbial fermentation technology.

Pea, Soy, Fungi. We Break Down the Main Ingredients Used by Alt Protein Companies

Despite being bad in so many other ways, 2020 has been a huge year for alternative protein. According to the Good Food Institute, $1.5 billion has been invested in alternative protein companies in this year alone.

It can be difficult to keep track of all of the alternative protein companies and their innovations, and even more difficult to keep up with the main ingredients that are being used to create the products. So we decided to compile a list of the main ingredients being used by some of the biggest players in the alternative protein space to get a sense of what is actually coming to your plate. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it includes companies that have received a significant amount of funding this year and incorporate unique food technology into their products.

PEA PROTEIN – This legume-based protein contains nine essential amino acids, iron, and some B vitamins. Just a quarter cup of the pea protein contains 23 grams of protein.

  • Beyond Meat – Available throughout the US and now China, Beyond’s products include alternative burgers, sausages, breakfast links, patties, and ground meat.
  • Meatless Farm Co. This UK-based company launched in the US last year, and its alternative burgers, patties, links, and ground meat can be found in Whole Foods across the country.
  • Good Catch Foods – Available in grocery stores throughout the US and now Europe, Good Catch produces alternative tuna and other seafood products from pea protein and five other legumes.

FUNGI/MYCELIUM – There are a variety of fungi that can be used to produce an umami taste in alternative protein products. Mycelium is essentially the roots of mushrooms, and provide a fleshy texture similar to meat.

  • Prime Roots – Koji, a type of fungus, is the main ingredient in this company’s alternative bacon, chicken, pork, beef, and turkey products.
  • AtLast – Mycelium is the key ingredient in the company’s alternative bacon. The product’s launch will be sometime in 2021.
  • Nature’s Fynd – Fy Protein is the name of the company’s fermented fungi protein product which is derived from a Fusar­i­um strain flavolapis, a microbe found in Yellowstone National Park’s geothermal hot springs.

SOY PROTEIN – Seemingly the most common ingredient for alternative protein, soy has been used for years to create alternative protein products. Soy is high in protein with a neutral flavor, making it an easy ingredient to work with.

  • Impossible Foods – Impossible Foods uses heme iron extracted from plants to give its alternative burgers and ground meat its extremely realistic flavor and texture. The products are available in grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers throughout the US and Canada.
  • Omnipork – The company’s ground pork, luncheon meat, and strips were specifically developed for the Asian market. Although soy is the main ingredient, the products also contain a blend of mushrooms, pea protein, and rice protein.
  • daring – Available in grocery chains like Sprouts, Gelson’s, and Bristol Farms throughout the US, the company produces several varieties (lemon herb, breaded, Cajun, and original) of soy protein-based chicken pieces.
  • THIS – Based in the UK, THIS produces chicken chunks, nuggets, and bacon fortified with iron and B12.
  • V2food – This Australian-based company raised $55M this year for its alternative burgers and mince.

WHEAT PROTEIN – Wheat gluten, also called seitan, is typically extracted to use as an ingredient for alternative protein. Gluten is the protein in wheat that provides elasticity and strength in different doughs, and this helps form a diversity of meat analogs.

  • Very Good Butchers – This Canadian company makes a plethora of alternative protein products like roast beef, steaks, and ribs from vital wheat gluten and a variety of vegetables.

PEANUT PROTEIN – This is a newer ingredient in the alternative protein space, and there is only one company we know of using peanut protein as a main ingredient. Peanuts are a fatty, high protein legume that provide B vitamins, iron, and magnesium.

  • HaoFood – One of the recent finalists of the VWS Pathfinder competition, China-based HaoFood produces plant-based chicken products from peanut protein.

POTATOES – Not a major ingredient being used for alternative protein, but a potato is a versatile ingredient that contains vitamin C, potassium, iron, and fiber.

Know of another startup using a unique ingredient for its protein? Drop us a line and let us know.

Food Tech News: Food Waste For Solar Energy, DoorDash Announces New Gifting Feature

Food waste used to produce solar energy

A recent winner of the Sustainability 2020 James Dyson Award, Carvey Maigue (a student at Mapúa University in the Philippines) created a technology that converts food waste into UV light-capturing windows and walls. The system, called AuReus, traps luminescent particles from certain fruits and vegetables (which would otherwise be wasted) in a resin substrate. The particles then absorb and reflect the light, and PV cells along the side of the walls and windows absorb this light. Lastly, the captured light is converted to DC electricity.

DoorDash announces new gifting feature

This week, DoorDash announced its new gifting feature for the holiday season. Users can now send favorite food items to friends and family located anywhere in the country through the app. To send a food gift, a user simply needs to enter the recipient’s address on the app, and then customize the order with a digital card. Not sure what to send? According to DoorDash, the most popular requests include french fries, burrito bowls, and cookies.

Ikea pledges to make 50% of menu items vegan

By 2025, Ikea’s goal is to make half of its menu items and 80 percent of its packaged meals vegan. The multinational chain already carries vegan items like meatballs, soft-serve, and hot dogs. After reading scientific reports and consumer research studies, the company aims to do its part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions through providing foods with a lower carbon footprint.

UK Pizza Huts adds Christmas Pizza

Do you think that pineapple on a pizza is a weird topping? I personally think traditional Christmas dishes as pizza toppings might triumph over pineapple for being even stranger. Pizza Hut locations in the UK are now carrying a Christmas pizza, which includes shredded chicken, bacon, sage & onion stuffing, and a red wine gravy. The pizza is available now and until supplies last.

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.

Impending Global Pork Shortage Could Mean Big Things for Plant-Based Bacon

Bacon lovers, prepare to tighten your belts. According to Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, the U.S. could experience shortages of ham and pork bellies as early as 2020 (h/t Bloomberg).

The shortage is due to an epidemic of African Swine Flu, which is rampaging through China’s pork industry. It’s so severe that NPR estimates that by the end of 2019, China’s pig population could be cut in half. Since China currently cultivates roughly half of the pork in the world, the outbreak will have some serious ripple effects on global pork consumption — ones that we will feel in the U.S. in the form of rising prices in the pork section of the grocery store.

That’s bad news for people who loves their bacon, ham, and pork chops. But it could be very good news for the growing number of companies producing plant-based pork products, especially bacon.

Several companies are developing their own alternative versions of the popular breakfast meat, or making technology to help others do so. Startups Hooray Foods and Prime Roots are both in the (very) early stages of commercializing their alt-bacon, and there have been murmurs that Beyond Meat is adding bacon to its product roadmap. Ecovative makes mushroom root scaffolds for meat alternatives, which it has successfully tested to create vegan bacon. Even Big Food is getting in on it: just last week, Nestlé announced it had developed its own version of animal-free bacon to complement its plant-based Awesome burger.

When it comes to other pork products, however, there are fewer options. Beyond makes a plant-based sausage, and there are products peddling jackfruit as an alternative to pulled pork. Right Treat in Hong Kong sells Omnipork, an alternative to ground pork geared towards Asian palates. However, we could start seeing new players creating a variety of plant-based pork products if China’s shortage continues.

According to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world. That means that there’s not only a huge opportunity for companies to develop pork alternatives, but also a pressing need for them to do so if outbreaks like the one in China continue.

Bacon seems a tasty place to start.

JUST Egg Heads to Kroger Grocery Banners as Demand for Plant-Based Egg Grows

On Friday alternative protein startup JUST announced that it would be selling JUST Egg at 2,100 Kroger-owned grocery stores around the U.S.

JUST Egg is a plant-based liquid egg substitute made of mung beans and contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. Over the next few weeks, the product will be sold in the egg aisle of Kroger, as well as Kroger grocery banners like Fred Meyer, and QFC. It’s currently available at Kroger-owned Harris Teeter and Roundy’s brands.

This news is just the latest in JUST Egg’s latest expansion efforts. The plant-based scramble is already pretty widely available in retail: you can find it at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and even Costco, where it’s sold in a 2-pack for $9.99 (at other stores it typically costs almost that much for one 12-ounce bottle).

JUST Egg is also amping up its restaurant presence, and just forged its first fast-food partnership with Tim Horton’s in Canada. And that’s just in North America. Internationally, JUST Egg is also available at both retailers and restaurants in Hong Kong, China, and Europe.

But the fact that JUST is expanding the footprint of its Egg product so quickly indicates that there’s significant consumer demand for a tasty plant-based egg alternative — from both vegans and flexitarians. In fact, in an email to The Spoon JUST reported that a whopping 77 percent of those who buy JUST Egg also eat meat. The fact that JUST will be selling its plant-based scramble in the egg section means that the company has an even better chance of capturing flexitarians who are either curious to try a new product or want to reduce their environmental footprint.

As of now, JUST Egg doesn’t have any significant competition. But given its popularity, I doubt that will be the case for very long. It’s smart to snap up as much retail shelf space and build brand recognition while it’s still the #1 player — before the grocery egg section gets crowded with more alternatives.

If you want to stay up to date on all the plant-based food trends, make sure to subscribe to our weekly alternative protein newsletter Future Food! It’s fun, we promise. 

A Taste of Omnipork, The First Meat Alternative Developed Specifically for Asia

Last week I visited Kind Kitchen in Hong Kong and got to taste a special type of pork gyoza that was juicy, tender, and delicious — and also happened to be made entirely of plants.

Kind Kitchen is part of Green Common, a group of plant-based retail shops and restaurants. In addition to the physical outlets in Hong Kong, Green Common also has a wholesale operation which distributes vegan products to thousands of grocery stores and restaurants throughout Asia. Its products are also available for consumers to purchase online.

Even as the number of flexitarians in Asia begins to rise and the Chinese government calls for a cut in meat consumption, vegan products can be hard to come by in Hong Kong. Asia is the world’s largest consumer of pork, and right now, there aren’t any good alternatives on the market — especially those that would appeal to the dietary preferences of an Asian audience.

According to David Yeung, founder of Green Common and its parent company Green Monday, it can be hard for Western people to understand Asia’s relationship with pork. “Pork is a foundation ingredient in everyday cooking,” Yeung told me over milk tea (made with Oatly) at Kind Kitchen. “Almost like salt and pepper.”

To address that shortage of pork alternatives while still respecting the dish’s cultural significance, Yeung launched Omnipork under his Right Treat brand last year in Hong Kong. The minced “pork” product is made of soy, pea protein, shiitake mushrooms, and rice. It has no cholesterol and higher amounts of calcium and iron than pork, but slightly less protein.

Omnipork display at Kind Kitchen in Hong Kong. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Yeung decided to develop Omnipork with a relatively neutral flavor to optimize versatility, so it can be used to make everything from dumplings to meat sauce.

In addition to Hong Kong, Omnipork is also sold at roughly 1,000 suppliers in Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Nearly two-thirds of its distribution points are restaurants, ranging in fanciness from hawker stalls in Singapore to 3 Michelin star dining establishments.

Yeung has aggressive expansion plans in mind: He told me that by the end of the year he expects to sell Omnipork at close to 5,000 outlets. The number will rise to roughly 10,000 outlets after their anticipated entrance into the Chinese market over the next few months. By the beginning of 2020, he hopes Omnipork will be available in up to 15 countries. His team is also developing new Omnipork products, such as dumplings and ready-to-eat meals.

A 230 gram pack sells for around $40 HKD ($5 USD) at Green Common. According to Yeung, that puts it on par with regular pork. In fact in some cases it’s a lot cheaper, since the African Swine Virus has recently depleted the Chinese pig population and made pork prices skyrocket in Asia.

But no matter how cost competitive it is, people won’t buy meat alternatives unless they taste good. After my taste test experience, I think that Omnipork measures up. Sure, its texture is slightly spongier than pork, and it has a slight pea protein aftertaste. But while it doesn’t have a ton of flavor on its own, it meshes super well into a variety of dishes, from ramen to dumplings.

Ramen and gyozas made with Omnipork from Kind Kitchen. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

Realizing the unmet demand for plant-based foods, Western companies are also beginning to target Asia as an emerging market for plant-based products. JUST sells its animal-free egg scramble in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, and Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are also available in several Asian countries. Earlier this week Smithfield, the world’s largest pork producer (and interestingly owned by a Hong Kong-based company), announced the launch of its new line of plant-based protein, though hasn’t specified if it will sell its new products in Asia.

Hong Kong was actually the first area to carry Beyond Meat outside the U.S. — at Green Common. That isn’t exactly surprising, since Yeung was an early investor in Beyond through his Green Monday Ventures platform (yes, another branch of his plant-based empire).

There are also a few players beginning to make meat alternatives in Asia, mostly in the cell-based meat space. In Singapore Shiok Meats is developing cultured shrimp, and back in Hong Kong Avant Meats is developing lab-grown fish swim bladders.

When I asked Yeung if he was planning on selling Omnipork in Europe or the U.S., he seemed hesitant. He said that they were hoping to expand outside of Asia over the next year but will continue to keep their focus on that part of the world. “It’s a white space, a complete vacuum,” he said, indicating how few plant-based products are developed specifically for Asian palates and dining patterns.

The world’s meat consumption is projected to rise. Pair that with a growing population, climate change, and food safety issues, and Asia is primed to be a leading market for meat alternatives. “We built a platform a platform for the entire future food ecosystem,” Yeung said. “Now we want to catalyze it.”

Future Food: The New Wave of Protein Might Come from Air, Not Plants

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Be sure to subscribe here so you don’t miss a beat!

Konichiwa! Greetings from the muggy, beautiful city of Tokyo, where we’ve set up camp this week in preparation for SKS Japan. I’ll be leading a panel on alternative proteins with speakers from JUST and Integriculture/Shojinmeat, so keep an ear to the ground for coverage on that conversation.

Tokyo really does seem to be a city of the future — especially when it comes to food. From sushi burritos delivered in cubbies to ramen via vending machine, the dining experience here is always incredibly thoughtful and efficient.

My time here has got me thinking about what sort of simple, elegant solutions might be out there for our food system right now that are right in front of our face.

One that comes to mind is Kiverdi. The San Francisco-based startup feeds carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen to special single-celled organisms to create edible proteins.

It almost sounds too good to be true. Since neither Kiverdi nor other companies turning air into protein (yes, there’s more than one!) have a product to market, it’s too early to tell if they’ll be able to deliver on their goals of creating affordable, super-sustainable protein from the air around us. But the timeline isn’t too distant: both Kiverdi and Finnish gas fermentation startup Solar Foods are hoping to bring a product to market in two years.

At that time, we’ll be able to see if Kiverdi and others can indeed make a neutral-tasting protein from carbon dioxide in a cost-competitive manner (which they claim they can already do). If so, it could rock our food system.

It could be used as an ingredient to make high-protein pastas or breads. It could become a sustainable vegan protein powder. It could be mixed with burgers or chicken nuggets to make blended meat products, further cutting down on emissions by reducing our meat consumption.

That’s just the start. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing our society today, and one of its biggest causes is the amount of carbon trapped in the atmosphere. If there’s a technology that sucks up excess carbon and not only sequesters it, but transforms it into something that can help feed the planet, I’d call that the future of food.

Photo: the Impossible Whopper at Burger King.

Vegan… ish?

If you’re grabbing a plant-based Impossible or Beyond burger at one of the many fast-food restaurants that now serve the burgers, you probably expect that the food you receive will be vegetarian.

Except not really. While the burger itself may be 100% free of animal products the finished combo meal might still have traces of meat due to the restaurant’s cooking process.

Most fast-food joints don’t have the space to carve out a special area just to cook plant-based meat. Burger King has admitted that the patties for its Impossible Whopper are flame-grilled in the same broiler as its chicken and beef products. Likewise, when I tried the Beyond Famous Star burger at Carl’s Jr. earlier this year the manager told me that the burgers are in fact cooked on the same grill as typical beef burgers. (Interestingly, White Castle has a completely separate grill surface to cook the Impossible sliders.)

I’m guessing it’s the same story at most fast-casual restaurants that serve meatless meat. Rare is the restaurant that has the capacity to designate a completely separate area to cook vegan items, unless that place already caters specifically to vegan diners. In fact, last year I went to a Seattle burger chain to try the Impossible burger for the first time (memories!!) and was told that the chefs try to prep the burger on a separate area of the grill, but when it gets busy that doesn’t always happen.

There’s also the fact that many plant-based meat options at fast-food aren’t inherently vegan: they’re dressed up with cheese and mayonnaise and served on egg-based buns. All of which makes sense, since QSR’s aren’t targeting vegans with their newly-adopted Beyond and Impossible products. Instead, they’re hoping to capture the curiosity of flexitarian diners looking to cut down on their meat consumption without sacrificing on flavor.

In the end, I can see how vegans might be annoyed to learn that they can’t really eat plant-based burgers. But I imagine to many, the end result — more people eating meatless meat — justifies the means. Perhaps if meatless meat gains enough popularity fast-food chains will create designated vegan cook areas.

Photo: Subway

Eat Fresh (Plants)

For a limited time this September, Subway will be testing out Beyond Meatball Marinara sandwiches in 685 locations in the U.S. and Canada. That’s a relatively small fraction, as Subway is the largest and fastest-growing fast-food chain with over 25,000 locations in the U.S. alone.

Then again, Beyond has now forged a partnership with the largest and fastest-growing fast-food chain globally. Forget McDonald’s (though they definitely haven’t) — this partnership indicates, as if we didn’t already know, that plant-based meat is becoming more and more of the norm.

Interestingly, the sandwiches feature Beyond meatballs developed specifically for Subway. It looks like more and more plant-based meat companies are developing unique products specifically for their fast-food partners. Dunkin’s new sandwiches contain Beyond breakfast sausages developed specifically for the chain, and Impossible created plant-based sausage specifically for Little Caesar’s.

This move tightens the screws on other QSR’s dragging their feet on adopting meatless meats. I think we’re one step closer to seeing a plant-based McGriddles sandwich.

Photo: Tyson Foods.

Protein ’round the web

  • eat.life, a food delivery app that only has vegan dining options, will launch in London in 2020 (h/t VegNews).
  • Tyson announced it will start selling its Raised & Rooted plant-based chicken nuggets (which contain egg whites) in 4,000 stores, and roll them out in foodservice this September.
  • FoodNavigator wrote a profile on FUMI Ingredients, a Dutch starting making a vegan egg substitute from yeast.

That’s it for this week! I’m off to eat my body weight in 7-11 Egg Salad sandwiches (yes they are actually *that* good).

Eat well,
Catherine

Which Fast Food Restaurants Serve Plant-Based Meat (or Are Thinking About It)?

Thanks to fast-food chains, meatless meats are no longer a niche product meant for vegetarians or vegans — they’re the norm. They’re making plant-based meat more affordable and accessible, and democratizing the alternative protein revolution.

Adopting meat alternatives is also a smart business play for QSR’s. Case and point: Del Taco and Burger King have reported sales increases in the months after they introduced plant-based meat options.

As alternative meats spread like wildfire onto fast-food menus, it can be hard to keep track of which chains have embraced meat alternatives and which are still mulling it over. To help straighten things out we decided to make a handy-dandy list showing which QSR’s in the U.S. and Canada have plant-based meat on their menus, what products they’re serving (Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, other), and even which restaurants refuse to touch the stuff with a 10-foot pole.

Click on the photo below to enlarge.

Photo: The Spoon

But this list is just a high-level overview. If you want more context into the plant-based meat strategies behind some of the most widespread fast-food restaurants, we’ve laid that out below.

Impossible Foods

Photo: the Impossible Whopper at Burger King.

Burger King: On April 1 Burger King launched a Whopper made with plant-based Impossible Foods patties in select St. Louis locations. Just a month later, the fast-food chain announced it would begin rolling out the Impossible Whopper in all of its 7,300 locations nationwide by the end of the year. First stop(s): Miami, Florida; Columbus, Georgia; and Montgomery, Alabama.

White Castle: White Castle was kind of the trendsetter of fast-food restaurants embracing plant-based meat. In April 2018 the chain first started serving the Impossible Slider for $1.99 at select locations on the East Coast before rolling it out nationwide in September of that year.

Qdoba: The Mexican food chain began testing bowls and tacos made with ground Impossible “beef” in February of 2019. As of May 2019, the plant-based options are available at all Qdoba locations.

Little Caesar’s: The new Impossible Supreme pie — featuring Impossible Foods sausage, green peppers, mushrooms and caramelized onions — is available at select Little Caesar’s in Florida, New Mexico and Washington State. The pizza chain plans to expand it to all of their stores if it proves popular.

Red Robin: As of April 2019, diners can sub an Impossible patty for any burger at all 570 Red Robin locations.

Cheesecake Factory: The Impossible Burger hopped on select Cheesecake Factory menus in August 2018.

Umami Burger: Umami Burger currently sells four different Impossible burgers.

Hard Rock Cafe: As of January of this year, patrons can get an Impossible cheeseburger at select Hard Rock Cafe locations.

Beyond Meat

Photo: Beyond Meat x Del Taco.

Del Taco: The fast-food Mexican restaurant began offering Beyond Meat’s plant-based “beef” as a protein option on their tacos, burritos, and bowls in September 2018. As of this April, it’s available at all 580 locations across the U.S.

Tim Horton’s: The Canadian fast-food chain added Beyond Meat sausages to their menus last month. Customers can add the plant-based sausage patty to three of Tim Horton’s breakfast sandwiches.

Applebee’s: The Beyond Burger is available at select Applebee’s locations in NYC.

Carl’s Jr.: Beyond Meat’s first big play into the fast-food burger space was with Carl’s Jr. The Beyond Famous Star burger debuted on Carl’s Jr. menus in January of 2019 and quickly spread to all of its 1,000+ locations. (We did a taste test, if you’re interested.)

TGI Friday’s: The fast-casual restaurant began testing Beyond Burgers on its menus in 2017, rolling them out to all 469 locations in January of 2018.

A&W: In July of 2018 Canadian fast-food chain A&W began selling the Beyond Burger. It’s currently available at all of their 925 locations in Canada.

Dunkin’: In July of 2019 Dunkin’ locations in Manhattan began selling a Beyond Breakfast Sausage Sandwich, making it the first place in the U.S. to serve Beyond’s plant-based sausage patties.

Subway: Subway will start testing a Beyond Meatball Marinara sandwich at 685 locations in the U.S. and Canada for a limited time in September 2019. Beyond developed a meatball specifically for the partnership.

KFC: The fried chicken chain will start testing Beyond Meat chicken nuggets and wings at a location in suburban Atlanta for a limited time.

To Be Determined

Photo: Chick-Fil-A

Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Dunkin’, Papa John’s: These chains are also rumored to be in talks with Impossible Foods to develop a plant-based menu option.

Chick-fil-A: Last month Chick-fil-A announced that it was exploring new vegan entrée options, including one made with realistic plant-based meat. Exactly what type of entrée is still TBD, but according to Chick-fil-A’s executive menu director, it might be “some type of alternative meat on a sandwich.”

Taco Bell: The fast-food chain has a relatively hefty vegetarian menu but no plant-based meat options as of yet. In London Taco Bell briefly experimented with a meatless ground beef option made from pulled oats, but seems to have taken it off the menu.

Starbuck’s: Though they have plenty of alternative milk options, Starbuck’s has yet to introduce a plant-based meat option to their breakfast, lunch or snack offerings.

McDonald’s: Ah, the White Whale. Despite the fact that all its competitors seem to embracing plant-based meat, McDonald’s is hanging back. At a recent shareholder meeting the fast-food giant stated that it would introduce an alterna-meat menu item once it was sure that there was sufficient consumer demand. Over in Germany, McDonald’s serves Nestlé’s “bleeding” plant-based Incredible burger.

 

No Way

Photo: Arby’s Meat Mountain sandwich.

Arby’s: When Arby’s president Rob Lynch heard rumors that the chain was looking into a plant-based menu option featuring Impossible “meat,” he panicked — and then set the record straight. He stated categorically that Arby’s has no plans to introduce any meatless meat options to its menu, now or in the future.

Have you tried meatless meat at any fast-food chains? Let us know what you thought in the comments below!

Down Under, Australia’s Burger King is Developing a Vegan Whopper to Fool Carnivores

Hungry Jack’s, the Australian franchise of Burger King, is stepping into the meaty plant-based burger game with a whopper investment of… a million bucks?

The Australian Financial Review reported today that the founder Hungry Jack’s, Jack Cowin, has invested $1 million to develop a vegan burger made from legumes that looks, tastes, and even bleeds like real meat. It will be sold in their new vegan Whopper, which Hungry Jack’s will sell at all 400 locations across Australia by this summer. The forthcoming burger is being developed by v2food, a company founded by Cowin, in tandem with Australia’s national science agency, with the goal of developing better tasting meat alternatives.

That’s a noble mission, but I’m not sure how realistic it is with only $1 million behind it. For context, Impossible Foods has raised over $687 million and Beyond Foods had amassed $122 million before its IPO last month. Put next to those figures, $1 million looks like a drop in the bucket. There’s probably some knowledge that v2food can glean from forerunners like Beyond and Impossible, but R&D for food products is extremely expensive.

v2food is also working on a very tight timeline. Hungry Jack’s has announced it will have the plant-based Whopper out by sometime mid-year, which basically gives them three months tops to develop a new burger and start producing it at scale. The fast-food chain already can leverage its own established production facilities, but if they need any new equipment to make the plant-based burger, scaling could actually present a challenge.

It would have been easier for the company to just roll out a new Whopper made with “beef” from Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods, as Burger King is doing in the U.S. Impossible isn’t in Australia yet (possibly due to tighter restrictions on genetically modified food), though Beyond is. Maybe Hungry Jack’s is hoping it will be cheaper — at least in the long run — to develop their own patty. Though by taking that path, they won’t be able to leverage Beyond or Impossible’s brand recognition as a tool to entice new customers.

Concerns aside, Hungry Jack’s is smart to cash in on the growing demand for plant-based burgers. They just might need to invest a lot more cash in order to make it happen.

Eat Mor (Fake) Chikin: Chick-Fil-A Might Add Plant-Based Meat to Its Menus

Growing up in Atlanta, there was no treat better than a crispy Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich. These days, when I go home to visit, things are a little trickier: I’m a vegetarian now and Chick-Fil-A’s doesn’t have a single meat-free entrée.

But soon that might change. Business Insider reported today that the fried chicken chain is exploring adding vegan options to their offerings, including plant-based meat.

Amanda Norris, executive director of Chick-fil-A’s menu, didn’t tell BI exactly what type of vegan options they were looking into, but did mention that “it might be some kind of alternative protein on a sandwich.”

This news is far from surprising. Restaurant chains large and small are taking note of the rising consumer demand for plant-based proteins and adding vegan products to their menus. Del Taco, Carl’s Jr., TGIFridays and A&W have Beyond Meat options, while White Castle, Qdoba, and Burger King have embraced the Impossible Burger. In fact, at this point any QSR that isn’t exploring more alternative meat products is being foolish.

Chick-fil-A is an interesting case since it likely won’t be using plant-based ground beef or burgers. The chain’s whole shtick is that it eschews beef in favor of chicken, so adding a product from, say, Impossible Foods wouldn’t make a lot of sense from a menu cohesion standpoint. Beyond Meat does make plant-based chicken strips, so we could see something like that, or like the vegan crispy nuggets from Seattle Food Tech.

The chain is clearly open to experimentation: they’re the first fast food restaurant to experiment with meal kits and also have two off-premises units focused 100 percent on catering, delivery, and carryout, and offer delivery via Doordash from 1,000+ locations. And yet they’re only now experimenting with something as simple as a vegetarian entrée.

I chalk this up to the fact that the chain has a very small, simple, and curated menu. But even though people come to Chick-fil-A for one thing, it’s getting harder and harder for nationwide chains to ignore consumer demand for realistic plant-based meat — and the increased revenues and new customers it brings restaurants. It seems that Chick-fil-A is finally waking up to the fact that it’s losing customers (like me) who are bypassing it in favor of other QSR’s that offer filling meat-free options.

Introducing Future Food: Our Alternative Protein Newsletter

Have you checked what’s in your hamburger recently? It might be plant-based, made with “bloody” heme, or even grown in a bioreactor. (Just kidding — that last one isn’t here yet. But it will be soon.)

We’re fascinated by the fast-evolving alternative protein space. And clearly, so are you: the plant-based food industry increased by 20 percent in 2018, and is worth over $4.1 billion. In the cell-based (also called cultured) space, companies are doing everything from cheese to steak without the animal.

That’s why we decided it was timely and relevant to devote an entire newsletter to the topic of alternative protein products: meat, sure, but also eggs, dairy, bugs, seaweed, etc. It’s called Future Food, and this is the very first one!

We hope you like it. If so, you should sign up for the Future Food newsletter to get it in your inbox every Thursday. Now, to the news…

Photo: Beyond Meat.

Last week Beyond Meat, the El Segundo, California-based startup making plant-based burgers, chicken, sausage, and more, set the terms of its IPO.

The numbers were pretty eye-popping: the company could raise as much as $184 million, and might be valued at a whopping $1.2 billion. Beyond’s sales are also going through the roof, with revenues almost tripling from 2017 to 2018.
Whether Beyond Meat’s impending IPO fails or succeeds will be a be a sort of canary in the coal mine for the plant-based meat industry. It’s set to go public in early May, so keep an eye on this newsletter for ongoing analysis.

But all is not rosy in Beyond’s world right now. News broke that Tyson Foods had parted ways with the plant-based meat startup and sold its 6.5% stake, just days before Beyond goes public.

The news wasn’t shocking, since Tyson had recently announced plans of its own to get into the plant-based protein game. And we all know it’s bad practice to compete with a portfolio company. We analyzed the full reasonings behind Tyson’s exit — as well as the potential effects the move might have on Beyond’s IPO — here.

Photo: Stewart Butterfield via Flickr.

People are abuzz with excitement over cell-based meat: that is, meat that’s grown outside the animal. But we’re still not sure what it will be called, when it will come to market, or where it’ll first launch.

I have a theory, though: Asia. Specifically Hong Kong. Recently I explored the reasons why Asia is an ideal launch pad for cultured meat, from regulation to consumer interest. Feel free to @ me if you disagree.

Photo: A burger topped with a prototype of plant-based bacon grown on Ecovative’s mycelium.

A big struggle for all meat alternative companies — both plant-based and cell-based — is texture. They can do burgers, sure. But steak? That’s a lot more of a challenge.

Ecovative, a biotech company in New York, is growing scaffolds for meat alternatives out of mycelium. For all you non-mycologists out there, that basically means mushroom roots.

This method is cheap, quick, and scalable. But will it be enough to make animal-free steak that can fool even the most discerning of carnivores?

Photo: Meringues made with animal-free egg whites from Clara Foods.

But there’s a lot more going on in the protein alternatives world than just meat:

  • Clara Foods, a startup developing chicken-less egg white proteins with genetically engineered microbes, just raised an undisclosed Series B financing round led by ingredient giant Ingredion. They’re hoping to have a product to market as early as 2020.
  • Using a similar technology, New Culture is creating milk without the cow. Their end game is to make animal-free mozzarella cheese that tastes as creamy as the real thing.
  • There’s a nascent group of startups creating proteins not out of plants, sugar, or animal cells — but out of thin air. For real. Called ‘gas fermentation,’ the only inputs are electricity and air, making it a prime candidate for space travel.

Photo: Nestle.

Protein ’round the web

  • Eater L.A.: Los Angeles restaurants are using Impossible’s “bleeding” plant-based meat for a lot more than burgers. Think: taquitos, dumplings, and even tartare.
  • Beyond Meat is BBBTB: Bringing the Beyond Burger to Belgium. And the company is going Dutch with an expansion into the Netherlands.
  • Mcdonald’s Germany has chosen Nestlé’s Incredible burger for its vegan option.

    • I’m off! If you enjoyed this newsletter, be sure to subscribe here (it’s easy) and we’ll send it to you every Thursday. See you next week.

    Eat well,
    Catherine