Celebrities

Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio Joins Mind Blown Seafood as New Investor

Alt-seafood company Mind Blown Plant-Based Seafood announces TV host and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio is the company’s newest investor. An eight-time James Beard award recipient, restaurateur and host of Bravo’s Top Chef, Colicchio joins Chef Spike Mendelsohn in backing the fast-growing plant-based brand. 

“Plant Based Seafood Co. blew it out of the water, no pun intended”

Founded and operated by women, Mind Blown is reinventing favorite seafood classics like shrimp, scallops, oysters, lobster and crab using natural ingredients without GMOs, soy, gluten, or palm oil. Its products are currently available in retail and foodservice across the US, including Publix Greenwise Markets. 

In February, restaurateur and PLNT Burger co-founder Spike Mendelsohn made an investment in Mind Blown following a collaboration at a New Orleans pop-up, stating that the brand’s strong “focus on flavor” convinced him to become an investor. 

Mind Blown Seafood Shrimp Burger
©Mind Blown Seafood Co

Bringing a sea change

Mind Blown has also garnered numerous industry awards, most recently being named a 2022 Top 500 Food Tech company. With Chef Colicchio’s support, the brand feels it is especially empowered to bring change to the seafood industry.

“Having ‘pack your knives and go’ Tom Colicchio invest in plant-based seafood speaks volumes as to where changes are occurring in consumers and chef’s acceptance,” said Talbert. “No one sets the bar of excellence higher than Tom Colicchio, so the fact that he not only believes in us, but invested in us and our plant-based seafood products, is the highest honor…our minds are blown!”

Mind Blown Seafood Co Shrimp
©Mind Blown Seafood Co

Top Chef-approved

“I’ve worked with and tasted a lot of seafood in my career. I’ve been fishing my whole life. I was a little dubious when it came to alternative seafoods, but Plant Based Seafood Co. blew it out of the water, no pun intended. Their plant based scallops tasted like scallops. The shrimp were delicious. The texture was spot on. And with their background, I was confident that Monica and Shelly really knew how to make good seafood,” said Tom Colicchio, Chef & Owner of Craft Hospitality.

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