Dave's Hot Chicken Not Chicken

© Dave's Hot Chicken

Fast Food

Dave’s Hot Chicken Embraces Plant-Forward Trend With Cauliflower ‘NOT Chicken’

Amended January 15th: It has come to light since publication that Dave’s Not Chicken is not vegan-friendly, as the batter and bun contain dairy and egg ingredients.  Los Angeles-based fast-food chain Dave’s Hot Chicken has introduced a plant-based menu option for the first time in its seven-year history. Named “Dave’s NOT Chicken,” the new offering consists of Cauliflower Sliders and Bites, available at all 180 locations across the United States and Canada. The Cauliflower Sliders and Bites are crafted from a fresh, whole head of cauliflower that is hand-sliced, breaded, seasoned, and fried to order, featuring the signature spices that have made Dave’s Hot Chicken a favorite among customers. The menu item allows guests to choose from seven spice levels, ranging from No Spice to …

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EatKinda cauliflower ice cream

© EatKinda

Milk- and Dairy Alternatives

“World’s First” Cauliflower Ice Cream Launches at 90+ Woolworths Stores in New Zealand

EatKinda, maker of what is said to be the world’s first cauliflower ice cream, has announced its first supermarket listing at over 90 Woolworths stores across New Zealand. Woolworths is New Zealand’s second-largest supermarket group, owning the chains Countdown, SuperValu, and FreshChoice. EatKinda has launched at Countdown stores, which are currently in the process of being rebranded to Woolworths; the transition is expected to be completed early next year. EatKinda’s vegan ice cream is made from cauliflower that would otherwise be wasted because it is cosmetically imperfect — 40% of New Zealand-grown vegetables do not make it to stores for this reason. The cauliflower is combined with ingredients such as coconut oil and pea protein to make three flavours of ice cream — Strawberry Swirl, …

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actual veggies vegan breakfast burger

© Andrew D Ive - LinkedIn

Products & Launches

Actual Veggies Develops Vegan Breakfast Burger With Banana, Blueberries, and Acai

US company Actual Veggies produces plant-based burgers made with vegetables instead of processed ingredients. Now, the brand has created a sweet vegan breakfast burger, offering consumers a healthier way to start the day. The new Morning Burger is made with blueberries, banana, acai, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, dates, and blue spirulina. It is free from nuts, gluten, preservatives, soy, and added oils and sugars, while also being certified kosher and non-GMO. The vegan breakfast burger will be sold frozen in packs of four. It can be served pan-fried, or blended up and added to a smoothie. Actual Veggies recently showcased the burger at Plant Based World Expo, an event that is not open to the public. The product has not yet been officially launched, and the …

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©Grounded

Products & Launches

The Wait is Finally Over as Grounded’s Cheese-Free Cheese Rolls Out Into More Than 160 US Retailers

Grounded Foods, makers of the first-to-market vegan cheeses created with hemp and upcycled cauliflower, today announces its first products are now available at over 160 retail locations across the US. The innovative products with a cult following have been available through e-commerce since the end of March, and today marks the first time these long-awaited products have been available in stores, through a distribution agreement with Whole Foods.

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Shaun Quade and Veronica Fil Grounded

Shaun Quade and Veronica Fil ©Grounded

Interviews

Grounded: “We’re the People Who Make Tasty AF Cheese Out of Cauliflower and Hemp. And the Market Potential For That is Pretty Massive”

This plant-based power couple needs no introduction for our vegconomist readers. Former economic advisor to the Australian government, food writer & restaurant critic Veronica Fil, along with her husband Shaun Quade, the Australian fine dining chef renowned for his “mad scientist” methodology, created a line of cheese which the industry has been waiting for with bated breath. This week, the upcycled cauliflower and hemp cheeses finally hit the market.

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Veggiecraft Farms Pasta_Spaghetti

Image supplied by Veggiecraft Farms

Company News

Litehouse Acquires Veggiecraft Farms as Dairy Producers Continue to Realise the Future is Plant-Based

Litehouse, Inc., an employee-owned company that refers to itself as the “leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, sauces, herbs, and cheese”, announces the acquisition of Veggiecraft Farms, a Los Angeles based producer of gluten-free pasta alternatives based on cauliflower, a trending ingredient in plant products.

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citarella

Image: Citarella Facebook page

Products & Launches

Dr Praeger’s to Launch a Vegan Cauliflower Burger into “Seafood Authority” Supermarket Citarella

Dr. Praeger’s is to release a limited-edition vegan Farm Stand Cauliflower Burger, produced to support struggling farmers and local food pantries and help fight hunger during the pandemic. Intriguingly, the vegan burger is being launched into Citarella, a specialist in seafood such as fish, lobster, mussels & scallops, crabs and caviar. 

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Shaun Quade & Veronica Fil ©Grounded Foods

Interviews

Grounded Foods: “Do you Realise What You’ve Done? This Could be Huge”

For most of our readers, this vegan cheese brand needs little introduction. When Grounded launched online pre-sales for products that were not even yet made, they sold out in 3 minutes. This week, they closed an oversubscribed seed round led by Stray Dog Capital. We always said that these guys were going to be big. So, with no further ado….

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©Grounded

Startups, Accelerators & Incubators

BREAKING: Grounded Foods Co. Closes Oversubscribed Seed Round Led by Stray Dog Capital

Grounded Foods Co, producer of unique first-to-market cheeses created with cauliflower, today announces to vegconomist the closing of its first Series Seed round which was led by Stray Dog Capital.  The round brought in  $1.74M with participation from Rocana Ventures, Veg Invest Trust and members of the GlassWall Syndicate.     

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Otsuka Pharmaceutical

© Daiya Foods Inc

Food & Beverage

Daiya Foods Announces Extensive Line of Innovative Plant-Based Products

Daiya Foods is one of the founding members of The Plant Based Foods Association US and Canada and is a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical. The dairy alternative brand yesterday announced multiple new lines as well as innovative reformulations including a first-to-market pizza crust created with cauliflower, sweet potato and spinach.

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Grounded testing

©Grounded Foods

Food & Beverage

Grounded Foods Launches Pre-Sales of Highly Anticipated First-to-Market Cheese, Sells Out in 3 Minutes

Grounded Foods annouces that it has launched online pre-sales for its first range of first-to-market vegan cheeses, created with cauliflower by Australian chef Shaun Quade. The cheeses aren’t scheduled to ship until June; however the LA based startup tells us that its specialty cheeses sold out within 3 minutes of the shop going live.

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Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi

©Trader Joe's

Market & Trends

Cauliflower Continues its Rise in Popularity as Vegan Proucts Win 4 of 5 Categories in Trader Joe’s Awards

North American grocery chain Trader Joe’s, has released the results of its Customer Choice Awards, and vegan products have won 4 out of 5 categories this year. For the second year running its Cauliflower Gnocchi has won in the favourite vegan / vegetarian category, as we see a huge increase in popularity of cauliflower products globally.

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Veggiecraft Farms

©Veggiecraft Farms

Products & Launches

Veggiecraft Farms Announces Exclusive Launch of its Cauliflower Pasta into Albertsons Stores Across US

Veggiecraft Farms has announced the availability of its Italian-crafted, shelf-stable, three-ingredient cauliflower pasta exclusively at Albertsons Companies nationwide. Previously available online-only, this launch marks Veggiecraft’s first move to brick-and-mortar retailers.

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