La Vie Foods

La Vie exceeds crowdfunding target

© La Vie
Fundraising

La Vie Hits €1M Crowdfunding Target in Just Over an Hour

La Vie, the French producer of plant-based pork products, has exceeded its €1 million crowdfunding target within just over an hour of launching the campaign. The company is now overfunding, with the general public able to participate alongside expert investors. The news is the latest in a long line of successes for La Vie, which has achieved 379% year-on-year growth and sold 2.5 million products over the past 18 months. The campaign will run until October 3. “We are so thrilled to have hit our target of raising €1 million in just over one hour since we went live with our crowdfunding campaign,” said Nicolas Schweitzer, CEO and co-founder of La Vie. “It reinforces the promising future for the plant-based category and it is brilliant …

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Land&Monkeys has launched 'le Parisien,' a vegan version of one of the most popular snacks in France: ham-and-butter sandwich.

© Land&Monkeys
Products & Launches

Land&Monkeys Unveils Vegan Version of France’s Favorite Sandwich ‘Jambon Beurre’ with La Vie’s New Ham

French plant-based bakery Land&Monkeys has launched ‘le Parisien’, a vegan version of one of the most popular snacks in France: the ham-and-butter sandwich. Known in the country as jambon beurre, the two-ingredient sandwich became a symbol in Paris in the 1950s, and it is “indisputably” France’s favorite sandwich, explains Land&Monkeys. To replace this bakery classic with ethical and sustainable alternatives, Land&Monkeys partnered with two food tech companies.  Zero pig, zero cow The zero pork ham is the latest development of the French startup La Vie. The vegan ham is said to have the same taste and texture as traditional charcuterie without using texturizing agents and is a source of protein (19 grams of protein per 100). La Vie will launch a virtual restaurant next month in collaboration with Taster. …

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La Vie crowdfunding campaign billboard

© La Vie
Fundraising

La Vie Announces €1M Crowdfunding Campaign, Launches Vegan Ham & Virtual Restaurant

La Vie, a French producer of plant-based pork products, has announced a new crowdfunding campaign and product launch as it continues to see rapid growth across Europe. The campaign will take place on Crowdcube from September 7 to 28, with the aim of raising €1 million. It follows a period of considerable success for the company, with 2.5 million products sold in the past 18 months — equivalent to one every 12 seconds. Despite challenging market conditions, La Vie has seen 379% year-on-year growth, and can now be found at 4,600 retail stores and 3,000 restaurants across Europe. In the UK, the brand has seen 144% growth since its launch last year, and is present at major retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Ocado. Through …

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La Vie VLT launches as part of Sainsbury's meal deal

© La Vie
Products & Launches

Sainsbury’s Partners With La Vie to Add Vegan BLT to Stellar Vegan Meal Deal Offer

British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has added a new vegan sandwich to its lunchtime meal deal in partnership with French plant-based bacon producer La Vie. Sold under Sainsbury’s Plant Pioneers brand, the VLT contains La Vie bacon with lettuce, tomato, and vegan baconnaise. As part of the meal deal, customers can get the sandwich along with a snack and a drink for a total of £3.50. The VLT is now available at over 800 Sainsbury’s stores UK-wide. The launch comes after Sainsbury’s became one of the first UK retailers to stock La Vie bacon and lardons, following a successful marketing campaign by the French brand last year. La Vie has since seen considerable success in the UK, becoming permanently available at Burger King stores and Breakfast …

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La Vie bacon close up

© La Vie
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

The Technology Behind the Success of Carnivore-Fooling Vegan Bacon

By channeling cutting-edge technology, food tech companies make vegan bacon that looks, tastes and feels like pork bacon, convincing flexitarians and carnivores alike. Crispiness, moisture, bite, and flavor are the top challenges R&D and scientific teams must overcome to win over consumers. According to Coherent Market Insights, vegan bacon is becoming increasingly popular because companies have developed healthier alternatives. The global vegan bacon market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% between 2022 and 2032, totaling around US$ 2,425.4 million by 2032. Let’s look at the technology behind some of the most popular brands of vegan bacon. Hooray Foods — emulsion tech San Francisco-based Hooray Foods launched its first plant-based bacon in 2020, claiming that it rivaled the taste and texture of pork …

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Romain Jolivet, La Vie

Romain Jolivet,Chief Marketing and Creative Officer © La Vie

Interviews

La Vie: “We See La Vie Becoming the Largest Pork Brand in the World, Without Touching a Single Pig”

After 17 years at Danone, Romain Jolivet landed at what was then called 77 Foods, and went on to become the marketing extraordinaire behind the pioneering French vegan pork brand we now know as La Vie. Less than two years later, La Vie’s bright and bold advertising campaigns have brought the game-changing bacon onto shelves around Europe and onto mainstream menus in several food service locations, famously including Burger King amongst many others. We were excited to finally catch up with Romain, who says of the disruptive advertising: “…our “competitor”, the meat industry, is a giant against whom we cannot fight without being bold and accepting taking some risks.” First of all congratulations on a phenomenal first year or so of business – what an …

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Bakon King

© Burger King
Fast Food

Burger King UK Partners With Violife & La Vie for Plant-Based Bakon King Range

Burger King UK is celebrating Veganuary with a new plant-based Bakon King range, featuring La Vie’s bacon alternative and Violife’s vegan cheese. From January 4, customers will be able to enjoy vegan versions of all three of the chain’s meat-based Bacon King options. These are the original Bacon King (available in both single and double varieties) and the Chicken Royale Bacon King. The vegan burgers are made with patties produced by The Vegetarian Butcher. They are topped with egg-free mayo and ketchup, along with the plant-based bacon and cheese. “Diverse and innovative range” French plant-based bacon producer La Vie is fast becoming an established partner of Burger King. In 2022, the brand successfully campaigned to be included in Burger King France’s Veggie Steakhouse burger, and …

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The Breakfast Club

© The Breakfast Club
Food Service

The Breakfast Club Partners With Redefine Meat & La Vie to Make London Location Meat-Free

UK cafe chain The Breakfast Club has announced that its location on London’s Berwick Street will serve a fully meatless menu in January 2023. To mark Veganuary, the chain is also launching two new vegan options in collaboration with plant-based brands La Vie and Redefine Meat. The first, called The Works, is a plant-based fry-up featuring Redefine Meat sausages, La Vie bacon, tattie scones (Scottish-style potato pancakes), homemade baked beans, scrambled tofu, mushrooms, and roasted tomatoes. The other new option, the Posh Sausage Sandwich, contains Redefine Meat sausages, Applewood’s smoky vegan cheese, and tomato chutney, all served in ciabatta bread. Both dishes will roll out at all 13 Breakfast Club locations nationwide. Additionally, the chain has developed its own vegan chorizo, made from sun-dried tomatoes, …

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La Vie Burger King

© La Vie

Fast Food

La Vie’s Vegan Bacon to Become Permanent Option in Burger King Across the UK

La Vie™ announces it has sealed an exclusive partnership with Burger King UK. The award-winning vegan bacon will roll out across the country from 4th January, to coincide with Veganuary, following massive success at BK’s meat-free popups in Bristol and London this year. The announcement concludes a phenomenal year for the French company, having been named ‘Best Plant-Based Bacon in the UK’ at the Plant Based World Expo last month for the second consecutive year as well as ‘Best Vegan Bacon’ at the PETA UK Vegan Food Awards. La Vie states today that the partnership is part of an ongoing deal to support the chain’s plans to become 50% plant-based by 2030 in the UK. Rollout to help accelerate shift from animal meat Chief Marketing …

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PBWE London

Image courtesy PBWE
Fairs & Events

We Asked PBWE Europe: What Are You Most Excited About Right Now?

Plant Based World Expo Europe took place at London’s Olympia last week, hosting the most exciting names, both established and emerging, in the plant-based industry. Incredibly, the organisers have informed us that the event almost doubled in size, with a 94% increase in visitors compared to 2021. vegconomist was present at the event and took the opportunity to ask some of your favourite brands about what’s currently exciting them, at the end of this eventful year. In alphabetical order: Future Farm Future Farm is excited to have launched in the UK with food service distributor Brakes. The Brazilian alt meat producer has had a successful year across international markets, including expanded retail distribution in the US. Grupo Planta Also of Brazil, Grupo Planta operates its …

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La Vie anniversary

© La Vie
Company News

La Vie Celebrates 12 Months of Incredible Success in France and Beyond

French startup La Vie, well known for its next generation plant-based pork products, this week celebrates a year of successful operations, from record fundraising, multiple awards and successful partnerships with restaurant chains in France and throughout Europe. Yesterday La Vie announced the launch of celebrations on its social networks, reaffirming its mission: to bring together all consumers with its healthier, more sustainable and pleasure-filled alternatives to intensive farming. Here we list the startup’s incredible achievements over the past year. October 4, 2021: Official launch of La Vie™ at the SIRHA in Lyon, after 3 years of R&D and more than 5,000 recipe trials. October 2021: Plant-based lardons climb to the top of the podium at the Plant Food Trophies. Prior to this victory, La Vie …

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© La Vie

Marketing & Media

La Vie Bacon Arrives in UK After Yet Another Successful Marketing Ploy

UK consumers can now purchase La Vie‘s veggie lardons and bacon in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, as well as a vegan La Vie bacon burger at Honest Burgers. The news follows a bold OOH campaign by Paris-based creative agency Buzzman where the French brand erected billboards around London saying, “How stupid would it be to advertise the best plant-based bacon in the UK when you can’t find it anywhere in the UK?” and “The best plant-based bacon in town isn’t available in town. French nonsense.” Just like its previous bold campaigns, La Vie’s clever marketing strategies have succeeded. The brand says today on its social channels: “Once again, running a campaign in a place where we are not stocked worked. We can wipe the big drop …

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Umaro Foods Vegan BLT

©Umaro Foods
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Vegan Bacon Market to Soar to Almost $2.5Bn: Which Brands Are Helping Drive Demand?

Following a new FMI report which finds that the global vegan bacon market is projected to grow from US$1,280 Mn in 2022 to US$2,425.4 Mn by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 6.6%, we look at the most exciting producers in the current market and detail their current and most recent developments. Prime Roots – California Prime Roots creates plant-based bacon and a range of cold cuts based on the Japanese superprotein, koji fungus. When the product debuted in 2020 it sold out almost immediately, according to the founders. In 2021 Prime Roots introduced a full range of flavoured bacon products consisting of thick-cut strips in Black Pepper, Sriracha, Maple, and Hickory flavors, stating these were the first in the world of this kind. The …

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Matthias Neuner, La Vie

© La Vie
Company News

La Vie Hires Matthias Neuner, the Man Behind Nestlé’s Garden Gourmet, as COO

La Vie, the French startup leading the way with plant-based alternatives to traditional pork products (and political campaigning), has appointed Matthias Neuner, who worked for more than 20 years at Nestlé, as its new COO. “During his last assignment in Switzerland, his love for plant-based food slowly started to grow: together with his commercial colleagues, he launched Nestlé’s plant-based brand Garden Gourmet in the out-of-home channel in 2019 by building and orchestrating the value chain for this new product category,” explained La Vie. “He has successfully industrialised Nestlé’s vegan products in a very short timeframe to put them on the menu of leading fast food restaurants such as Subway in the UK, Autogrill in Italy, including the very first vegan burger at McDonald’s Germany in …

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la Vie newspaper ad pork lobby

© La Vie
Company News

La Vie is Attacked by French Meat Lobby, Fights Back

Just weeks after being hit by the new French laws banning the use of meat-like terminology, thus preventing the startup from using terms such as ‘bacon’ or ‘lardon’ on its labelling, French vegan bacon specialist La Vie has been attacked by INAPORC, the pork lobby, as its plant-based lardons are too similar to animal-based lardons. “The pork lobby has put us on notice for ‘unfair competition’, because our vegetable lardons perfectly reproduce the ‘authentic’ pork lardons. Yes, they do. The nicest compliment in the world, with an acknowledgement of receipt as a bonus,” said La Vie on social networks. “The love letter states that our plant-based lardons “merely reproduce the shape, colour, texture, (…) and taste of pork lardons”. To achieve this with plants, in …

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France Flag

© Björn Wylezich - stock.adobe.com
Politics & Law

“Delusional”: France Becomes First Country to Ban Plant-Based Meat Terms 

France will ban the use of meat names such as “steak” and “sausage” on plant-based foods from October, according to a new decree published yesterday. The ruling claims to avoid confusion for consumers, however, the law was heavily backed by the French meat industry and the country’s largest farming lobby.  France becomes the first country in the European Union to impose such restrictions on sustainable meat alternatives, which have surged in popularity around the globe. Commonly used product descriptions like “bacon” or “chicken” will now be banned for plant-based items, although the word “burger” would still be allowed as it apparently does not specifically refer to meat. Strangely, the law will only apply to French producers for now and not imports, placing a stranglehold on …

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alt protien manufacturer La Vie's vegan bacon burger

©La Vie Foods
Fast Food

La Vie Partners With Burger King France For Veggie Cheese and Bacon Burger

Burger King France has launched a new meat-free burger, the Veggie Cheese and Bacon, featuring vegan bacon made by French company La Vie. It comes a month after the fast-food chain added La Vie’s bacon to its Veggie Steakhouse burger, following a sustained campaign by the plant-based brand via social media, newspaper ads, and other channels. The menu item now permanently contains La Vie’s vegan bacon, which was also featured on the menu at Burger King’s plant-based popup location in London to huge success. While La Vie’s bacon is entirely plant-based, the new Veggie Cheese and Bacon burger contains dairy cheese, making it unfortunately unsuitable for vegans. Potentially it could be ordered without the cheese to make it vegan friendly. Rapid growth After announcing multiple …

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La Vie accepts Carrefour award

La Vie accepts award, ©Carrefour
Fairs & Events

The Ten Winners of the Carrefour Plant-Based Contest!

Carrefour announced the final of its Plant-Based Contest last night, deciding between the 15 finalists. The aim of this contest was to find the most successful plant-based innovations that the retail giant will then offer to its customers. More than 250 start-ups from all over the world took part, of which 15 were selected for the final and 10 winners were chosen by the jury. Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard was present at the results announcement ceremony to hand out the jury’s “Coup de Coeur” award to La Vie for its ham — a new product due to be launched in September. Here are the 10 winning startups (in alphabetical order, there was no ranking): La Vie Lapp Libre Foods Novish Pink Albatross Rebl Eats Oy …

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alt protien manufacturer La Vie's vegan bacon burger

©La Vie Foods
Fairs & Events

Announcing the 15 Finalists of the Carrefour Plant-Based Contest

French supermarket chain Carrefour created a contest this March called the Plant-Based Contest, designed to help innovative startups advance to market. The contest has three categories: plant-based protein products, strong concept, and service offering. More than 250 startups from all over the world participated, of which 15 have been selected for the final that will be held on June 9 in the heart of Paris. On this occasion, 10 winners will be selected as well as the “coup de coeur” of the jury. Here are the 15 finalist startups: Cocoriton Cocoriton is a French company created by farmers. The company has created vegetable patties based on legumes rich in fibre and grown in the fields of French farmers. EATIC The French startup EATIC, created in …

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Veggie Steakhouse with La Vie bacon

Image: @lavie_foods, Instagram
Fast Food

VICTORY! La Vie Asks Burger King France to Add Vegan Bacon to Veggie Steakhouse Burger and Succeeds

Last week, French vegan bacon specialist La Vie launched a campaign appealing for Burger King France to add vegan bacon to its Veggie Steakhouse burger, after discovering that the conventional Steakhouse contains bacon while the vegan version does not. The Paris-based vegan brand backed by high profile investors including Natalie Portman, began with a social media campaign, including a photoshopped image showing the Veggie Steakhouse containing La Vie bacon. When it received no response, the company launched a petition, which quickly garnered hundreds of signatures. Next, La Vie took out a full-page ad in the newspaper Le Parisien. The ad shows an image of a tweet sent to Burger King by a customer, saying “Sorry guys, I’m waiting for the Veggie Steakhouse with La Vie’s …

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