Moving Mountains is a ground-breaking British brand who launched the UK’s first ever meatless ‘bleeding’ burger into restaurants in early 2018. On Friday it was announced that their 100% plant-based B12 burger will be available across UK’s Marston’s pubs from this Wednesday, as part of part of Marston’s recognition of flexitarianism.
Marston’s, one of Britain’s leading pub chains, has secured a deal with Moving Mountains®, the ground-breaking British brand, to supply its B12 Burger™ – the UK’s answer to the Impossible burger. It will be the first pub chain to offer the B12, a 100 percent plant-based ‘bleeding’ burger, which sizzles, smells, tastes and bleeds like meat.
The new deal is expected to increase Moving Mountains’ revenue by over £1m, and will see 413 Marston’s venues offer the bleeding burger to the menu. We spoke with Moving Mountains CEO Simeon van der Molen, regarding the latest news.
Please tell us about the expansion across Marston’s pubs.
We are delighted that Marston’s has chosen us to supply our B12 Burger across the whole of the UK. It has become the fastest listed food product in Marston’s history after tasting the B12 Burger and recognising that they had to be the first major chain to roll out this revolutionary food item.
Moving Mountains is a British business building an exciting brand at a time of great change in how and what we eat. This marks a huge leap in innovation for humanity and will allow consumers to bite into a future that is better for their health and the health of our planet. We can’t wait to hear feedback on the B12 Burger from Brits across the country.
What is the story behind the metaphor of Moving Mountains?
Moving Mountains is a bold and powerful metaphor for the brand’s massive goal of living in harmony on a sustainable planet, as well as a daily affirmation in the form of cruelty-free, plant-based food and human health. Driven by a long-standing passion to make a positive difference to the planet, we launched Moving Mountains with a mission to bring real, radical change to people’s everyday diet by giving a plant-based alternative that is genuinely competitive in taste, texture and satisfaction to animal meat products.
Where are your products currently available and do you have plans to expand?
Meat-free is a great and growing opportunity in food retail and represents part of a larger movement for the future of food, our health and the planet. The environmental impact of the animal agriculture industry is becoming so catastrophic that it is essential that technological innovation keeps progressing. We want to continue growing Moving Mountains and continue to develop more products that smell and taste as indulgent as regular meat so it can be enjoyed 100% guilt-free by Brits! Watch this space…
Please tell us about the B12 Burger and why it’s such a hit
The Moving Mountains B12 burger is 100 percent raw plant meat, 0 percent cow and looks just like a regular patty. When cooked in the pan or BBQ, it sizzles, smells and browns just like the real thing. And just like the very best juicy burger, when perfectly cooked, the Moving Mountains B12 burger bleeds through the middle – with beetroot juice instead of animal blood.
Compared to a conventional beef burger, the Moving Mountains B12 Burger contains:
- ZERO Cholesterol – this lowers the risk of heart disease
- 20g of PURE plant protein – you can get nearly half of your daily recommended amount of protein from this meaty-tasting treat
- 100% Plant-based – no animals were harmed in the making of this burger
- Free from anti-biotics and hormones
- 150 calories per patty (compared to 250 in the average beef quarter pounder patty)
Why do you think 2018 is the “year of the vegan” – and there is currently so much interest in vegan products?
2018 has seen a plant-based revolution happening in the food and drink market with sustainability at the heart of people adopting a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. Driven by a growing awareness of the environmental and health benefits reaped from eating less meat – largely made popular from Netflix and YouTube documentaries such as “What the Health” and “Cowspiracy” and celebrity-led vegan trends – people want to feel good by choosing food that requires less land, less water and is more sustainable than animal meat products.
However, as the trend goes mainstream, consumers are no longer satisfied with blank “Free-from” options and are demanding products that are innovative, exciting and use ground-breaking techniques to provide the best possible taste. Even food brands traditionally associated with mass-meat consumption like McDonald’s are capitalising on the change in consumer appetite with NPD like the McVegan burger.
What is the target group of your company?
What makes Moving Mountains different from other plant-based food brands is that as well as appealing to the vegetarian and vegan community, the brand is targeted at the ever-growing flexitarian market – people looking for quality meat-free products that taste good enough to convert even the most committed carnivores. By creating the B12 Burger, we wanted to provide a plant-based product that enticed traditional meat eaters and flexitarians, as well as appealing to vegans and vegetarians.
What is your company’s mission, or what are you striving for?
Driven by a long-standing passion to make a positive difference to the planet, we launched Moving Mountains with a mission to bring real, radical change to people’s everyday diet by giving a plant-based alternative that is genuinely competitive in taste, texture and satisfaction to animal meat products.
In your opinion, why should the fast food industry continue to rely on vegan products?
Meat-free is a great and growing opportunity in food retail and represents part of a larger movement for the future of food, our health and the planet. The global meat industry cannot sustain itself at the current rate and convenience food brands that provide a viable alternative to meat have huge opportunity to expand into new products – ready meals are a huge growth area for this.
Where do you see your company in 5 years?
We want to continue innovating new products and developing Moving Mountains as a brand. We were the first British brand to create a ‘bleeding’ plant-based meat burger, and this has marked a huge leap in innovation for humanity. Moving Mountains will continue to grow as appetite for great tasting plant-based meat products expands, so we can build a future where consumers can eat better for their health and the health of our planet.
Anything further or of interest that you would like to add?
Yes – about the health and opportunity here for us.
Expanding on a large scale provides an exciting opportunity to succeed in our overriding ambition at Moving Mountains: to provide a real solution for food that is sustainable but doesn’t compromise on taste. Supplying via food service is a key avenue for us to reach more people nationwide than ever before, and growing awareness of our ‘zero cholesterol’ burger offering will be important to achieving this.
We hope to grow national and international brand awareness, and drive demand for great tasting plant based products that can compete on taste, but provide a healthier and more sustainable alternative to meat.
Moving Mountains B12 Burger will be available from Wednesday 5th September, nearest stockists can we found on www.nomeat.marstons.co.uk and https://movingmountainsfoods.com/moving-mountains-locations/.
