Interviews

Sunflowers on Your Plate – Interview with Oliver Schenkmann

Soy, seitan, lupines, green spelt and the like have been on everyone’s lips for a long time as bases for meat alternatives – in the truest sense of the word. Until now, however, products based on sunflowers have been relatively unknown. Not only do they look good, but they also supply the raw material that the company “SunflowerFamily” transforms into meat alternatives. This has resulted in various products, all of which, according to the company, are ‘enjoyable, plant-based and sustainable’. We asked Mr Oliver Schenkmann – one of the founders of this new enterprise – to briefly introduce the products and the business model in more detail.

How long has SunflowerFamily been around?
We were founded in July 2016, but the sunflower mince has actually been available since September 2017.

How large is your current product range?
We currently have four types of sales packaging for our products (all organic). Our current range includes sunflower mince, sunflower bolognese, sunflower mushroom stir fry and sunflower chili-sin carne.

For restaurants and canteens, we deliver our sunflower mince in three different sizes. These include two, five and ten kg packages. We also offer five different vegetable proteins. These are: Sunflower protein, pumpkin protein, almond protein, wheat germ protein and our ‘Feel good protein blend’.

Through what channels do you sell your products?
We currently sell in organic shops and health food stores. The only exception is Tegut. Of course we are also available in different webshops.

Why should the organic sector focus on vegan nutrition?
Because vegan people now recognize that organic farming is not only the most sustainable way of producing food, but also preserves the soil and the world for our offspring. Furthermore, organic farming does not permit pesticides  and the nutritional values are  much higher than in industrially produced foods.

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