Plant & Bean is a collaborative venture between Brecks Foods’ Meat-Free Division in the UK and NR Instant plc, a stock exchange-listed specialty food producer based in Thailand. The company now announces it has acquired a large scale R&D facility at York Biotech Campus with the purpose of reducing costs of plant-based production on an international level.
As we reported in December, Plant & Bean established a new 65 acre / 263,000 m2 factory in the UK which signifies the largest-scale manufacture and distribution of plant-based meat across Europe to date and will achieve significant breakthroughs in cost and quality of plant-based meat. The company has plans to replicate this initial plant internationally, initially into the USA and Asia.
The company received Series A investment of £9 million from NR Instant Produce PCL (NRF) in 2020 – which as we reported is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and raised $51.4M in the country’s biggest IPO since the pandemic.
The York facility involves three laboratories, two kitchens, a ‘pilot plant’ for analysis, and office space. CEO James Hirst said to Yorkpress: “We’re delighted with our new space onsite at York Biotech Campus. Moving to York Biotech Campus offered us a great opportunity to continue to build our local networks in Yorkshire, working amongst some of the brightest companies in biotechnology.
“The Campus is going to provide a great base for us moving forward, as we look to continue to grow. We know there is room for us to scale our operations where needed and a great onsite team to help us when we do so. We’re looking forward to making the most of the conference centre, when meeting in groups is safe, as we’d love to bring our stakeholders together on this beautiful campus.”
