honey

Darko Mandich, CEO Melibio

Darko Mandich ©Melibio
veg+ Opinion

Op Ed: Darko Mandich, CEO of MeliBio, Discusses the Dark Side of the Honey Industry

Darko Mandich, as many of our readers will know, is the CEO of MeliBio, the Californian pioneer of bee-free honey. Founded in 2020, MeliBio replaces honeybees with microorganisms to create an award-winning B2B solution for restaurants and food companies looking to offer a more ethical and sustainable alternative to honey made by bees. We reached out to Darko following some recent anti-vegan publicity in the mainstream media and after seeing some negative comments on LinkedIn. We felt MeliBio should have the chance to express its (and the bees’) side of the story. Here is what Darko had to say. Unveiling the Dark Side of Honey: Pollinator Gentrification Threatens Biodiversity By Darko Mandich, CEO of MeliBio In an era of increasing environmental awareness, the honey industry …

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BAIA Honey Panna Cotta

©BAIA/ MeliBio
Company News

Bee-Free Honey MeliBio Wins Food Replacement Innovation Of The Year at AgTech Breakthrough Awards

MeliBio, the pioneer in bee-free honey, announces it has been awarded the Food Replacement Innovation Of The Year award in the 4th annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by AgTech Breakthrough, The Oakland, California-based company was founded in 2020 and secured pre-seed funding in 2021 for its innovative product, going on to receive $5.7 million in a seed round in 2022 followed by an additional $2.2 million in investments later that year. Several partnerships have ensued: foodservice expansions include those with Eleven Madison, San Francisco’s BAIA restaurant as well as with Colorado’s leading plant-based burger chain Meta Burger. The product, according to Founder Darko Mandich, features plant-based ingredients that are naturally found in honey, making it the closest match to traditional bee-made honey on the …

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Eleven Madison Home Mellody

© Eleven Madison Home
Products & Launches

Mellody Bee-Free Honey Now Available for Retail at Eleven Madison Home

Mellody, a plant-based product molecularly identical to conventional honey, is now available to consumers through a partnership with New York’s Eleven Madison Home. Eleven Madison Home is a store offering pantry staples and kitchen essentials, and was born out of Eleven Madison Park — the world’s first three-Michelin-starred vegan restaurant. The honey alternative will be available as part of a new collection called the Tea & Honey Box, which features one jar of Mellody, honey oat shortbread cookies (made with Mellody), a honey dipper, and three single-origin teas from In Pursuit of Tea in the varieties Himalayan Black, Thunderdragon Green, and Elderflower. “We were blown away by the quality of Mellody and were excited at the possibilities of how we can incorporate it into our …

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Future Farm Plant-Based Burger

©Future Farm

Products & Launches

Future Farm to Launch Oat Milk in Brazil, Reveals Plans for Plant-Based Cheese and Honey

Brazil’s Future Farm, also known as Fazendo Futuro, says it will launch its first-ever plant-based milk, Future Oat, to Brazilian consumers starting in May. The company also revealed it plans to enter several new CPG categories, including plant-based honey, cheese and Brazilian-style meat snacks, reports Food Dive.   According to CEO Alexandre Ruberti, Future Oat will be available in chocolate, vanilla, barista, oat and cooking varieties. He states the company will use lower prices and its familiar branding to help the product stand out against competition.  In addition to Brazil, Ruberti reports the company is currently focused on marketing the product in the US, UK, and Germany. Noting Future Farm as a “huge innovation pipeline” and strong manufacturing capabilities, Ruberti states the company is now looking …

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Vegan honey

©Mellody
Products & Launches

MeliBio Launches Mellody, the ‘World’s First’ Realistic Plant-Based Honey

Honey innovator MeliBio announces it is launching Mellody, the “world’s first” plant-based honey brand to taste just like honey from bees. Created to provide restaurants and consumers with a sustainable alternative to bee-made honey,  Mellody is said to perform just like the original while improving the health of the planet.  Mellody recently debuted at Natural Products Expo West, and will be launching exclusively at US food service locations, including Baia (San Francisco), Little Choc Apothecary (NYC) and Motel Fried Chicken (Philadelphia), as well as Eleven Madison Park for World Bee Day. MeliBio states its plant-based honey addresses urgent issues facing both the commercial honey industry and natural ecosystems. Native bees are critical to food production and biodiversity conservation, but are under increased pressure due to …

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Meta Burger with MeliBio Honey

©Meta Burger
Gastronomy & Food Service

Colorado: Meta Burger Partners with MeliBio to Debut Bee-Free Honey on Special Menu

Meta Burger, Colorado’s leading plant-based burger chain, announces it is partnering with MeliBio to debut the world’s first bee-free honey on its menu.  Beginning in February, Meta Burger will offer a specially crafted dish made with MeliBio’s plant-based honey.  This month, customers have the chance to vote for which MeliBio honey-inspired dish they would like to see on the chain’s menu in February: Hot Honey Garlic Tender Basket, a Honey Sesame Burger, or a Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich. According to Meta Burger, which operates three locations in Denver and Boulder, this is the first time MeliBio’s bee-free honey will be available in the state of Colorado. “Meta Burger is making delicious, sustainable food more accessible,” said Michael Reeves, co-founder of Meta Burger. “Partnering with a …

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MeliBio Naryan Plant-Based Honey

©MeliBio/ Naryan Foods
Investments & Finance

MeliBio Raises $2.2M and Partners with Narayan Foods to Bring Plant-Based Honey to European Market

MeliBio, the world’s first company creating real honey without bees, announces it has raised an additional $2.2M in investments and is partnering with Narayan Foods, an organic foods leader, to launch its products in 75,000 European stores. Through the first-of-its-kind partnership, Narayan will sell MeliBio’s plant-based honey under the Better Foodie brand, with the first products shipping out in early 2023.  According to MeliBio, retailers throughout Europe have shown strong demand for the honey, which will also be available for private label opportunities, using MeliBio’s technology and Narayan Foods’ operational capabilities. “As a food innovation platform, Narayan Foods is constantly on the lookout for novel sustainable products that would revolutionize the market,” said Mario Brumat, founder and CEO of Narayan Foods. “Just by tasting MeliBio’s …

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Darko Mandich

Darko Mandich © MeliBio

Interviews

MeliBio: “I Dream of MeliBio Becoming One of the Most Influential Food Companies Driving Innovation”

MeliBio is giving bees a break from honey production. This Oakland, California company, headed by Serbian CEO Darko Mandich, has been in the vegconomist news feed regularly since early 2021 and is busy with its mission to provide a 1:1 replacement for bee-made honey. After MeliBio’s initial raise, the company revealed what it claims to be the world’s first real honey made without bees as a plant-based ingredient for B2B customers and food service, in October of last year. In March of 2022, MeliBio secured a further $5.7 million to commercialize its first line of bee-free honey. Since then it has begun partnering with fine dining restaurants, including the world-famous Eleven Madison Park. We were overdue a chat with Darko to find out more about …

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Fooditive develops bee-free honey

© Fooditive
Ingredients

Fooditive Develops Bee-Free Honey Using Precision Fermentation

Plant-based ingredient manufacturer Fooditive has revealed it is working on bee-free honey. The company has found a way of copying the DNA of honey and using fermentation enzymes to create a product that exactly mimics the conventional variety. The vegan honey is said to have the same texture, colour, properties, and health benefits as honey made by bees. First trials of the product are set to take place at the beginning of next year. According to Fooditive, the sequence modification process used to develop the honey could potentially be used to make alternatives to any animal product — something the company describes as a “revolutionary advancement”. LowSalt Another new innovation by Fooditive is LowSalt, an alternative to table salt which is lower in sodium and …

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BAIA Honey Panna Cotta

©BAIA/ MeliBio
Gastronomy & Food Service

MeliBio Partners with San Francisco’s BAIA to Debut Exclusive Bee-Free Honey Menu

MeliBio, a startup making real honey without bees, announces its groundbreaking honey is now available at San Francisco’s BAIA restaurant for a limited time. From July to September, guests at BAIA can order the startup’s award-winning honey in two exclusive summertime dishes. The new collaboration comes ahead of MeliBio’s official launch at select US restaurants later this year.  BAIA will feature the honey, which MeliBio says is indistinguishable in taste and texture from conventional honey, in two plant-based menu items – a bruschetta appetizer with tomato, chili and basil and bee-free honeycomb panna cotta.  Filling a “critical gap” in flavor According to BAIA Executive Chef Joshua Yap, the brand’s honey helps to fill a critical gap in flavor. “Many times while developing a new plant-based …

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MeliBio Darko Mandich

MeliBio CEO Darko Mandich ©MeliBio
Society

MeliBio and Eleven Madison Park Showcase Bee-Free Honey for World Bee Day

In celebration of World Bee Day on May 20, MeliBio, the world’s first startup making real honey without bees, partnered with 3-Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park to serve bee-free honey to a distinguished crowd of investors, creators, and leaders in conservation and government.  A high-level luncheon The exclusive event took place at Eleven Madison Park’s world-renowned NYC restaurant, where two dozen invited guests were treated to an intimate cocktail reception and four-course lunch featuring MeliBio’s award-winning bee-free honey. Guests also received commemorative Eleven Madison Park gift bags with MeliBio honey samples. Founded in 2020 by Darko Mandich and Aaron Schaller, PhD., MeliBio combines precision fermentation with plant science to create a product identical in taste and consistency to honey derived from bees. In March, the …

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Bee-io honey CEO Ofir Dvash

CEO Ofir Dvash ©Bee-io

Company News

Bee-io: Israel’s Bee-Free Vegan Honey Set for Commercialization

As more consumers learn the truth about the destructive honey industry, various startups are offering vegan honey alternatives in the emerging space. One such company is Bee-io, an Israeli food tech company set to start cultured honey production on an industrial scale.  Honey alternatives such as agave or rice syrup have seen considerable growth over recent years, but the vegan honey segment is about offering consumers real honey without the bees. Bee-io is producing proteins in microorganisms using bioreactors and fermentation to mimic the processes used by bees in honey production.  Bee-io has been traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol BHNY since May 2021 and recently merged with shell company Whitestone group. The company is set for rapid international growth and …

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©MeliBio
Investments & Finance

MeliBio Secures $5.7 Million in Seed Funding to Disrupt Global Honey Industry

MeliBio, the world’s first company making real honey without bees, announces a $5.7 million seed funding raise to commercialize its first line of bee-free honey. The seed round, led by Astanor Ventures, brings the startup’s total funding to $7.2 million to date. The raise follows a successful test launch of MeliBio’s honey in four New York City restaurants and at one CPG company, and the startup will now begin scaling its operations and manufacturing. More than 30 companies around the world have already signed on to try its novel honey, MelioBio says. Giving bees a break Founded in 2020 by Darko Mandich and Aaron Schaller, PhD., MeliBio uses precision fermentation and plant science to create its proprietary honey products. The brand conducted a blind industry …

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