2023 was a troublesome 12 months for plant-based meat. With Past Meat, one in every of its greatest manufacturers, seeing a falling share worth, and a spread of companies going into administration, the marketplace for plant-based meat analogues isn’t an unqualified success story.
Nevertheless, UK-based plant-based model VFC is just not shrinking, however rising. Utilizing its acquisitions to bolster its measurement, it hopes to broaden its attain within the business.
A rising community
VFC, or ‘Vegan Fried Chick*n’, is now not only a plant-based hen model. The corporate is now Vegan Meals Group, or VFG, and goals to broaden with additional plant-based acquisitions.
“VFG shall be centered on enterprise; rising organically and thru acquisition,” VFC co-founder Matthew Glover informed FoodNavigator. “We’ll solely be investing in start-ups as a part of our M&A technique, however not within the typical VC sense.”
Thus far, the Vegan Meals Group consists of Meatless Farm, which sells plant-based merchandise together with vegan mince, vegan burgers and vegan steak and which VFC rescued from administration final 12 months; and Clive’s Purely Crops, which produces plant-based pastry merchandise corresponding to pies, ‘sausagey rolls,’ and quiches.
The corporate’s new rebranding suggests a need to broaden. This might, ought to success enable, imply going world. “We’ll be primarily based within the UK and EU within the brief time period, in order that’s the place our predominant focus shall be. However, a few of our manufacturers already export to areas just like the Center East and Australia so we’ll preserve an open thoughts usually about worldwide enlargement ought to it make monetary and strategic sense,” Glover informed us.
Glover, who additionally heads up Veg Capital and is the co-founder of the Veganuary marketing campaign, will tackle the position of ‘Chief Mission Officer’ for the newly rebranded firm. “I’ll be concerned extra in a strategic position as Group Chair of the Board, supporting the CEO Dave Sparrow, and dealing with head of promoting Alison Reilly to plan the general model course for the Group and particular person manufacturers beneath the VFG umbrella.
“With the necessity for consolidation I’ll even be closely concerned in discussions with corporations, and analysing which alternatives make most sense for VFG.”
Glover has excessive goals for the corporate, saying that he hopes it can someday turn out to be a ‘vegan Unilever.’ We requested him if such a comparability might ever imply an enlargement past the meals sector fully.
“We’ll be specializing in meals in the intervening time, as 99% of animals exploited on the earth are within the meals sector. In the long run, there might be alternatives in cosmetics (or) supplies, for instance vegan leather-based, however that’s not in our speedy ideas,” he informed us.
