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A plant-based chicken company has partnered a major food distributor to launch its product across the US.
Daring Foods, founded by two vegans, has announced a strategic partnership with family-run butcher and top foodservice supplier, Rastelli Foods Group. The group will be an exclusive partner, bringing the product to restaurants and retailers throughout the country. It will also support Daring’s push into direct-to-consumer product delivery in February 2020 via online retail.
Rastelli has committed $10 million to Daring Foods, in the form of cash, and support with sales, distribution, and infrastructure.
‘Not a novelty item’
“We founded Daring because we found that the current generation of plant-based meats left something to be desired. There was a taste gap and an ingredients gap, in that many alternatives were acting more like an unhealthy replacement, rather than the real thing,” Daring Foods co-founder and CEO Ross Mackay told Plant Based News.
“I am vegan, but I don’t want to push anybody to change their diet with Daring. As someone with experience living on a plant-based diet, though, I often found that I was missing out on the emotional aspect of meals – the link that arises from breaking bread – simply because restaurants or groceries couldn’t meet my dietary needs in the middle with a solution that was actually worth eating.
“We aren’t aiming to be a novelty item on a menu – we’re just trying to make sticking or swapping to a plant-based diet as easy as ordering anything else so that people can get down to the real heart of any meal: the connections that happen across the table.”
‘Protein, not meat’
The alternative meat space is expected to grow to by $85 billion USD by 2030, and Rastelli Foods Group strongly believes its partnership with Daring Foods will help contribute to a large portion of that growth.
“Rastelli is a protein company, not just a meat company. We’re here to fill the center of your plate with the best and most delicious foods – no matter if they come from an animal or a plant,” said Ray Rastelli Jr., President of Rastelli Foods Group.
“The moment I tasted Daring chicken, I immediately knew this was something unique. Daring fulfills all our requirements for clean, responsibly sourced products. They epitomize what customers have wanted all along, a clean label product that is not a novelty but meant to be eaten every day and easy to cook by almost anyone.”
