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Starbucks Hong Kong has just added a new plant-based option to its menu, collaborating with Green Monday’s food tech arm OmniFoods for the dish. The new offering, a fish-free crab cake salad, features the new vegan crab analogue launched under the OmniSeafood range.
Starbucks Hong Kong has just added yet another green dish to its menu, this time, a plant-based seafood salad. It has been launched in collaboration with OmniFoods, the food tech arm under the city’s vegan pioneer Green Monday. The dish, Thai Style New Crab Cake Salad, is made with a plant-based crab alternative developed by OmniFoods, which made its first debut earlier this year when the company launched OmniSeafood.
Starbucks Hong Kong x OmniSeafood
Thai Style New Crab Cake Salad features Omni Crab Cake, mixed lettuce leaves, pumpkin, red onions, tomatoes and fresh pomelo. It is completely free from meat and dairy, but the dressing does contain fish sauce, which makes the dish not suitable for vegans or vegetarians. Plant-based folk can enjoy the dish without the dressing, which is served on the side.
It marks the third collaboration between OmniFoods and the coffee giant, which has previously added a number of OmniPork dishes to its Hong Kong menu, as well as in mainland China.
OmniFoods expanded its plant-based range to cover seafood alternatives earlier this year, tapping into the fast-growing category as awareness of the footprint of commercial fishing grows. Within just the first half of 2021, companies developing seafood alternatives have attracted record investment, totaling $116 million—more than the figure recorded in the whole of 2020.
Raising awareness for the ocean
Commenting on the latest collaboration with Starbucks, founder and CEO David Yeung said he was “thrilled” that the coffee chain would be one of the startup’s first partners to roll out OmniSeafood to Hong Kong diners. So far, OmniSeafood dishes have debuted across Green Monday’s own Green Common eateries.
Yeung added that he hopes the launch will help boost public awareness about the environmental impact of seafood consumption, especially in Asia, a region that will account for three-quarters of the growth in demand for fish in the years ahead.
“Besides the exciting menu item we are introducing, we trust this is the beginning of raising awareness that ocean preservation and reduction of seafood consumption should be high on everyone’s agenda in terms of combating climate change and ensuring food security for the planet.”
Aside from crab cakes, the OmniSeafood range includes classic fish fillet, golden fish fillet, ocean burger, OmniSalmon and a shelf-stable OmniTuna product. The alternatives are made from soy, pea and rice protein.
Related: Starbucks just opened a circular Greener Store in Shanghai. Here’s how it looks.
Starbucks embraces plant-based
The move by Starbucks comes as the global chain pivots to plant-based, keeping up with changing consumer preferences. Back in 2020, when Starbucks’ leadership announced its “resource-positive” pledge, it made clear that plant-based milk would be a “big part” of its strategy to reduce its carbon footprint.
Starbucks has since rolled out numerous plant-based menus in collaboration with startups across its global markets, including with players like Oatly, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat in 8 key Asian countries.
Other QSRs have also ramped up their plant-based offerings as more consumers look to minimise their meat and dairy intake, with the likes of Burger King now serving Plant Based Whoppers globally and McDonald’s starting to add the McPlant burger in various locations.
All images courtesy of OmniFoods / Starbucks Hong Kong.
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