The meat substitute manufacturer Planted is growing and growing. In addition to sliced meat, chicken breasts in one piece will soon be on the market. However, the four founders want to avoid a mistake by the competitor Beyond Meat.
Planted’s plant-based chicken breast is said to be better than the original.
Even the founders of Planted get dizzy looking back at times. The young Swiss company has grown at breathtaking speed. Founded in 2019, it has become the market leader for chicken meat substitute products in Switzerland and already has over 200 employees.
And now comes the next step: Planted receives 70 million Swiss francs in a new round of financing. The investors include numerous names from the international venture capital scene, but also the Swiss national soccer goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Planted wants to use the fresh money to drive growth: build a second factory, expand further abroad, launch new products.
Christoph Jenny, co-founder of Planted.
With new products in the mass market
“Looking ahead, things can’t go fast enough for us,” says Christoph Jenny, one of the four Planted founders, during a conversation in Kemptthal. In the former Maggi area near Winterthur – today called “The Valley” – the company produces its meat substitutes based on peas, oats and sunflowers and is researching new variants. “We want to push the boundaries of what is possible. Currently, meat substitutes make up only 1 to 3 percent of the total meat market. But we want to conquer the mass market.»
“Whole cuts” should make this possible. Planted is currently working on a plant-based whole chicken breast. The fresh funds are also needed to bring such large pieces to market maturity for the first time. So far, the company has only made smaller offers in the form of sliced meat.
“Technologically, we’re making a leap forward with it,” says Jenny. The first prototypes will soon be on the plates of top restaurateurs in Berlin. And indeed: in terms of the cutting experience, the texture and the taste, the vegan chicken breast is surprisingly close to the original, as a tasting shows.
«Better than meat»
But close is not enough for the Planted founders. “We claim that our products are better than animal meat,” explains Jenny.
Planted produces and researches on the former Maggi site in Kemptthal.
Better, meaning that vegan chicken breast is juicier than its conventional counterpart, which often ends up being too dry. In any case, the meat substitutes are said to be superior in other respects: no animals have to die for them, the environmental balance is advantageous, and they should also be healthier. Unlike many competing products, Planted products contain no additives and only natural ingredients.
No more expensive than real chicken – at least in Switzerland
However, perhaps the biggest hurdle on the way to the mass market is the price. Especially in the foreign markets of Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Great Britain, where Planted is already present, the company’s products are still comparatively expensive.
On the other hand, in Switzerland, where meat prices are high, Planted has already reached price parity. At Coop and Migros, the standard product Planted Chicken Nature currently costs 3 francs 40 per 100 grams. That is the same as conventional Swiss chicken slices – and around half the price of an organic product.
However, the Planted founders are convinced that they will be able to significantly reduce production costs and prices in the coming years. “It’s part of our business plan to break into the mass market,” says Jenny.
Traditional meat production has basically worked the same way for decades, says the 36-year-old. In addition, with the current inflation, raising and fattening animals is becoming more expensive. “On the other hand, major technological advances are still possible with plant-based meat substitutes. And with larger production volumes, prices will fall.”
New factory probably abroad
Planted will use the fresh money from the financing round to drive growth abroad and to penetrate new European markets. They also want to build a second factory. The founders can well imagine that it will be in a neighboring country.
Yellow peas are a raw material in short supply in Switzerland. That’s because the local subsidy system often makes it more attractive for farmers to add peas to animal feed than to sell them to Planted. In addition, shorter transport routes speak in favor of producing closer to customers abroad.
The basic mass for the Planted «chicken» consists of pea protein, pea fibre, sunflower oil and water.
No quick IPO in sight
The Planted founders therefore want to keep the pace high. There’s just one thing they’re not in a hurry for: “It’s not our goal to go public as quickly as possible,” explains Jenny.
The example of meat substitute pioneer Beyond Meat from the USA has a deterrent effect. The Californians strove for a quick IPO, neglected product development, are now no longer growing and are in serious business difficulties.
The Planted founders want to do things differently: build the business on a solid footing, take controlled risks, and don’t overstretch. There is still a long way to go on the way to the mass market.