ISRAEL – Israeli food-tech startup More Foods has announced a new partnership with Tivall, a vegetarian frozen food brand owned by food giant Osem-Nestlé.
The collaboration which marks Tivall’s first time working with a food-tech startup, is aiming to allow More Foods to expand its distribution to meet the growing demand for clean, plant-based products.
“This collaboration represents an important milestone in our journey to broaden our market presence, reach a larger customer base, and further our mission to make nutritious meaty centre-plate plant-based products more accessible to consumers worldwide,” said Leonardo Marcovitz, founder of More Foods.
“We are proud to partner with the Osem-Nestlé Group and combine our unique product offering with their market accessibility.”
In the statement, the companies noted they were targeting the growing demand for healthy and sustainable food options and plan to use More Foods’ expertise in plant-based technology and Nestlé’s extensive market reach.
More Foods makes high-protein, high-fibre meat alternatives from pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Its products are served in over 100 Israeli restaurants as well as restaurants in the UK and France.
“Our high-protein product uses the seeds in a way that allows for textures and flavours that are not usually found in meat substitutes, mimicking the variety available for meat eaters,” the start-up said.
According to the CEO, distribution is now beginning in the UK and Europe, and entry into retail is on the horizon.
“We have just partnered with a third-party logistics company that will allow us to serve the UK market. Across Europe, we already can distribute large order volumes and are now in conversations with regional distributors to expand our reach,” he revealed.
He added that the collaboration with Osem-Nestlé for Israeli will add more to More Foods’ efforts to transform how consumers perceive and consume food, in a country where 13% of the population identify as vegetarian or vegan, and an additional 45% say they are actively reducing their meat consumption.
Nestlé markets meat-free products under the Garden Gourmet brand in Europe. In March, the company announced it would pull the Garden Gourmet meat-free and Wunda alt-dairy brands from retail in the UK and Ireland.
According to the Global Food Institute, the plant-based meat market has expanded significantly in the past several years, as companies produce plant-based burgers and other products that are virtually indistinguishable from conventional meat.
It noted that the biomimicry approach began in 2012 with the launch of Beyond Meat’s chicken strips, and it took off with the 2016 launch of the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger, both of which have succeeded in mainstream fast-food outlets.
For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
