Vegan Food Group is pumping £5m into bringing the US’ bestselling vegan egg product to Europe as part of a new partnership with food tech unicorn, Eat Just.
‘Just Egg’ currently dominates the US plant-based egg market but until now has not ventured across the Atlantic.
To aid the launch, Vegan Food Group (VFG) will spend £5m on a fully automated production line dedicated to making Just Egg at its factory in Lüneburg, Germany.
Under the deal, VFG will hold exclusive rights to manufacture and supply the product made from mung beans. Manufacturing is expected to start in the second half of the year, with the product to be available across Europe.
“Our partnership with Eat Just marks a significant milestone, aligning perfectly with our ambition to transform plant-based food across Europe,” said VFG group CEO Dave Sparrow.
Just Egg will be competing with Crackd, the UK’s current leading vegan egg provider, which is made from pea protein.
“There are other egg replacements on the market, but quality-wise, there’s nothing that can stack up against Eat Just,” said Sparrow.
VFG, which owns brands including Meatless Farm and VFC, is set to invest a further £6.25m in enhancing its automation and efficiency at sites in the UK and Germany.
After picking up Meatless Farm and vegan piemaker Clive’s in 2023, it said it was on the hunt for more deals to help it become “a vegan Unilever”.
Eat Just is one the best-funded startups in the food industry, having raised around $850m since launching in 2011. In 2020, it became the first company in the world to sell cultivated meat after receiving approval in Singapore.
Its vegan eggs are sold in tens of thousands of stores across the US, though a 450ml bottle costs around $7.50 (£5.70), making it much more expensive than most liquid egg products. In the UK, by comparison, an equivalent sized bottle of Two Chicks liquid egg costs about £3.50.
“European consumers clearly desire innovative, sustainable food options, and collaborating with VFG is key to meeting that demand effectively,” said Josh Tetrick, Eat Just founder and CEO.
“This investment in the Lüneburg facility represents a crucial step towards making high-quality plant-based egg alternatives widely accessible to our global audience.”
Eat Just has previously come under scrutiny for poor financial management, with multiple former employees telling Wired in 2023 that delaying or withholding payment was “entrenched” and “endemic” at the company.
This led to two separate legal disputes, Wired reported. One from an engineering firm for over $4.2m for alleged unpaid work and another from a food processing firm alleging more than $450,000 in unpaid invoices for ingredients.
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