Vancouver

Planted Expo

© Planted Expo
Fairs & Events

Planted Expo, North America’s Largest Plant-Based Event, Celebrates 10th Consecutive Year

Planted Expo, North America’s largest plant-based event, is set to return to Vancouver this summer for its 10th consecutive year. Scheduled to take place from June 1st to June 2nd at the Vancouver Convention Centre, the expo aims to celebrate and promote plant-based living and sustainability. With over 200 exhibitors, Planted Expo offers attendees the opportunity to explore a wide array of plant-based, vegan, and sustainable products. Among the notable exhibitors are bettermoo(d), OmniFoods, Save Da Sea, The Better Butchers, WOOP4, and Azuma Foods. Insights from industry experts The event will feature informative talks from leading experts in the plant-based movement on various topics, including the health benefits of plant-based diets, culinary demonstrations, and emerging trends in sustainable living. Dr. Michael Greger, American physician and …

more

Organisations and brands:

Girl drinking milk in school

© Lightfield Studios - stock.adobe.com
Fermentation

Canada’s Renaissance BioScience Receives Government Funding to Develop Yeast Solution for the Off-Flavors of Plant Proteins

The Vancouver-based yeast bioengineering company Renaissance BioScience has been awarded CAD $232,000 in funding from the Canadian Food Innovation Network to develop a revolutionary product for plant-based protein products.  Renaissance is working on a pioneering project with food industry partners to develop and commercialize a non-GMO solution to neutralize compounds that lead to off-flavors and undesirable aromas in plant-based flours and proteins. In addition to enhancing taste, the yeast aims to eliminate the need for commonly used “flavor masking” ingredients by providing a clean-label solution for manufacturers; on a product’s ingredient list, the yeast solution will be simply identified as “yeast.” Better flavor for a growing market Despite the health and sustainability benefits that plant-based alternatives to animal products offer, widespread consumer acceptance is hindered …

more

Organisations and brands:

Komo Plant-Based Meal Line

©Komo Plant-Based Foods
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Komo Partners with Natural Distributor Koyo Foods to Expand in Eastern Canada

Canada’s Komo Plant-Based Foods (CSE: YUM) announces it has partnered with Koyo Foods Inc., one of the largest distributors of health foods in Eastern Canada.  Through the partnership, Komo’s line of plant-based comfort foods, including Mac ‘n Greens, lasagna, and shepherd’s pie, will be added to Koyo’s distribution portfolio to reach more Eastern Canada consumers. Based in Vancouver, Komo Foods develops, manufactures and sells a variety of plant-based frozen meals based on classic meaty and cheesy dishes. Along with Mac and Greens, the company’s flagship products include chickenless pot pie and a line of Plant-Based Meal Helpers. The company states its mission is to help make healthy meals a staple on every dinner, and that its products are free from preservatives and frozen for freshness. Whole …

more

Organisations and brands:

Big Mountain Foods

©Big Mountain Foods
Investments & Finance

Big Mountain Foods Receives $1.4M From Canadian Gov’t to Expand, Launch New Chickpea Tofu

Big Mountain Foods, a plant-based foods manufacturer, has received over $1.4M in Canadian federal funding to increase production capacity of its locally-sourced, whole-food alternative proteins. The company says the funds will also help commercialize a new soy-free, chickpea-based tofu.  The investment is part of the AgriInnovate Program, an initiative to support increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of Canadian agri-business. With the new funding, Big Mountain plans to add custom, automated robotic equipment to improve production volume and efficiency. The brand will also begin to commercialize a new tofu product made from 100% Canada-grown and milled chickpeas. Towards that end, the company reveals it is commissioning a Vancouver plant capable of producing up to 2 million pounds of tofu every year.  Using whole foods Based in …

more

Organisations and brands:

komo launches on skipthedishes

© Komo Foods
Food & Beverage

Canada’s Komo Launches on SkipTheDishes With Gourmet Mac & Cheeze and Wraps

Komo launches on SkipTheDishes in Vancouver, will offer a range of premium plant-based comfort foods. Canadian company Komo Plant Based Foods has launched on SkipTheDishes, one of the country’s leading food delivery services. The news comes just a few weeks after Komo began offering its gourmet plant-based mac and cheeze on Uber Eats. For the SkipTheDishes launch, Komo is expanding the menu to include a range of wraps — Ranch Chick’n, Bacon Ranch Chick’n, Buffalo Ranch Chick’n, and Buffalo Bacon Ranch Chick’n. The “chick’n” is made from jackfruit tenders, while the “bacon” is made from tofu. Initially, the meal deliveries will only be available in Vancouver, British Columbia. They will be prepared at Komo’s ghost kitchen in the city, which has no front-of-house for customers. …

more

Organisations and brands:

Feel Foods Plant-Based Scramble

©Feel Foods
Food & Beverage

Feel Foods Enters Vegan Breakfast Segment With Bacon & Eggs Launches

Feel Foods, a Canadian agri-foods holding company, announces it will launch plant-based bacon and eggs in a drive to enter the vegan breakfast segment. Feel Foods recently acquired the British Columbia-based Plantastic Foods, which specializes in plant-based cheesecakes and burgers, and wholly owns Black Sheep Vegan Cheeze, producers of almond and soy-based cheese. Details about the upcoming breakfast products are limited, except for photos of a Plant-Based Scramble displaying the Black Sheep logo, suggesting that Black Sheep will play a key role in developing the new line. In November, Feel Foods expanded its portfolio by acquiring Plantastic, which sells a variety of cheesecakes and veggie burgers in 22 British Columbia locations and e-commerce. Feel Foods signed the deal to help Plantastic grow sales, increase market …

more

Organisations and brands:

Fresh Factory listed

©The Fresh Factory
Food & Beverage

Plant-Based Accelerator Backed by Kimbal Musk Debuts on Canadian Stock Exchange

The Fresh Factory, a vertically integrated platform for launching clean-label plant-based foods, announced it has joined the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE symbol: FRSH) in a bid to attract that country’s venture capitalists. Headquartered just outside of Chicago, The Fresh Factory was created to accelerate the growth of healthier plant-based products. Led by a team of food and marketing veterans, including good food advocate Kimbal Musk, it operates a fully-equipped manufacturing facility that can quickly launch and scale innovative new brands. Such speed is invaluable, according to the company, because most current food and beverage infrastructure is designed for large brands with huge production runs, and is thus often limited and inefficient. In contrast, Fresh Factory’s flexibility and smaller run sizes allow it to meet the …

more

Organisations and brands:

TMRW Foods sausage

©TMRW Foods
Investments & Finance

Canada’s TMRW Foods Raises $2.6M For US Expansion With High Profile Investors From Daiya and Disney

Vancouver-based TMRW Foods announced this week a seed round investment of $2.6 million from investors including Greg Blake, Co-founder of Daiya, and Richard Cooperstein, CEO & Senior Managing Partner of Media Investment Group, former Senior Executive at Disney‘s Worldwide Television Group, Paramount Pictures & Facebook.   Other investors in the seed round included Eric Patel, Director at Fresh Prep, former Director at Smart Sweets, former Board Chairman at Daiya, and the Milne Group, owners of Virtuous Pie, Mila and Harken Coffee. The fresh funds will be used to further product innovation, North American expansion, and increased efficiency of current production lines. TMRW Foods portfolio currently includes TMRW Burgers, TMRW Breakfast Patties, TMRW Ground, 4 flavours of TMRW Sausages, and four flavours of the newly-launched TMRW …

more

Organisations and brands:

Very Good Butchers products

©The Very Good Butchers
Company News

The Very Good Butchers Butcher Their First Bean at Brand New Vancouver Facility

The Very Good Food Company Inc., operating as The Very Good Butchers, has commissioned its first production line at an upgraded, retooled manufacturing facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. The new facility can produce up to 37 million pounds of annualized products, ultimately increasing capacity by nearly 2,690%.

more

Organisations and brands:

Eat Beyond Don Robinson

Don Robinson ©Eat Beyond Global Holdings
Interviews

Eat Beyond Global Holdings: “Laser-Focused on Driving Innovation in the Food Sector”

Don Robinson, former CEO of Mars Inc., was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Eat Beyond Global Holdings this Thursday. Eat Beyond is a Vancouver-based global investment fund that is seeking to invest in startups and businesses in the area of plant-based and alternative foods.

more

Organisations and brands:

© Virtuous Pie
Gastronomy & Food Service

Virtuous Pie Sells Homemade Vegan Cheese

The Canadian restaurant chain Virtuous Pie has recently started selling vegan homemade cheese for in-house use, in addition to its vegan ice cream. It will be available in Vancouver from Friday to Sunday at Virtuous Pie’s Wesbrook Village outlet. The pizza chain was founded in 2016 in Vancouver, and since then has offered its customers a variety of purely plant-based ice cream creations. With the new vegan cheeses, customers will be encouraged to prepare vegan dishes with a cheesy taste. The home-made plant-based cheese is available in a range of nut and tofu varieties. Customers can choose between feta or chèvre with cashew-mozzarella flavour, and much more. However, the vegan cheese is not intended to be a replica of dairy cheese; rather, the plant-based cheeses …

more