The Canadian plant-based firm, whose mission is to put vegetables center-stage in frozen plant-based meals, not too long ago launched three new merchandise in its appetizers vary: vegan Mozzarella sticks and Cheddar sticks, each with a crispy cauliflower panko coating, and candy potato popcorn, its plant-based model of hen popcorn produced from chunks of cooked candy potato coated in a crispy chickpea crumb.
Based on the co-founders, John Bonnell and David Orr Gaucher, these snacks are in-line with altering consuming habits, notably an increase in demand for each frozen merchandise and merchandise that may be ready in air fryers.
“We noticed over the course of COVID and even earlier than, the affect that air fryers have had on the elevated adoption of frozen snacking, but in addition a normal client need to discover outdoors of pretend or fake plant-based burgers and sausages,” Bonnell stated.
Based on a survey commissioned by the American Frozen Meals Institute (AFFI), 70% of shoppers have been buying extra frozen meals than earlier than the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
firm prides itself on making greens the hero components of its merchandise however the cheese sticks mark Wholly Veggie’s first foray into non-dairy. It labored with a accomplice within the Mid-West to develop a vegan cheese that had the proper performance – meltable however with ‘maintain’ – whereas being clear label.
Upcycled components
Nevertheless, its focus continues to be on making more healthy variations of ‘responsible favorites’ that are typically excessive in salt, sugar and fats, in keeping with the co-founders.
“We don’t take offense on the phrase ‘junk meals’ as a result of we try to supply a greater model of that,” Orr Gaucher stated. “If individuals wish to watch Netflix and eat cauliflower wings on a Friday night time then so be it; it’s higher than what they have been consuming earlier than. If they’re consuming greens and shifting their food plan, however nonetheless getting that consolation they present in meals, it’s a nice place for us to supply that.”
The corporate additionally goals to make merchandise which can be suitable with individuals’s expectations of plant-based merchandise relating to sustainability. For its new merchandise, it partnered with Outcast Meals, a Canadian firm that takes unsellable or rejected produce and upcycles it into added-value components for meals producers. The cauliflower crumb on Wholly Veggie’s vegan cheese sticks is made with upcycled cauliflowers that might in any other case have gone to waste.
In the meantime, Wholly Veggie not too long ago underwent a rebranding, giving extra prominence to the model title and free-from claims, and breaking away from the business customary of devoting as much as 60% of the front-of-pack to a product picture.
Nitrogen enrobing know-how
Subsequent 12 months, Wholly Veggie plans to launch three further SKUs in its frozen entrée (major meal) vary: Thai curry, cauliflower mac & cheese, and southwest chili.
“They’ve a consolation really feel however are nutritionally dense and an excellent supply of plant-based protein and greens,” stated Bonnell.
The greens utilized in Wholly Veggie’s upcoming entrée vary will likely be sourced from Europe the place the corporate works with a provider that makes use of a nitrogen enrobing know-how. This permits it to lock within the greens’ vitamins and prolong the shelf-life with out using preservatives – a novel know-how that the corporate struggled to seek out in North America, Orr Gaucher stated.
“The greens we supply get harvested and flash frozen inside 90 minutes of being picked within the discipline, and the way in which the blanching and freezing takes place, will get the enzymes activated simply to the purpose the place it’s completely good for consumption however doesn’t begin to decay. It’s the optimum time to eat the vegetable and since it’s all frozen, there isn’t a waste. That’s the wonder by way of tackling waste,” stated Orr Gaucher.
However would sourcing greens domestically, moderately than from throughout the Atlantic, not make extra sense for a model that positions itself on sustainable consuming?
Not essentially, in keeping with Wholly Veggie. The carbon emissions related to transporting cargo overland from California to New York are higher than shipping-related emissions from, for instance, China to California, stated Orr Gaucher.
“When you find yourself delivery enormous volumes on extremely environment friendly vessels, it’s probably the most sustainable manner of shifting freight round from a carbon emissions standpoint,” he stated. “Frozen storage does eat vitality […] however the affect of losing meals is greater than the price of sustaining meals in a frozen state.”
“The direct-to-consumer supply enterprise is a manner greater problem since you are delivery small packing containers in vehicles to individuals’s houses,” he added.
