3 Mins Read
Eat JUST, the food tech startup behind plant-based JUST Egg and widely known as JUST, has just announced that they will be launching a new frozen version available for retail this April. The announcement follows the company’s rapid sales growth globally and its aggressive international expansion into Asia – the region with a massive market that almost every plant-based food tech player is eyeing to capture.
JUST has recently revealed that their latest product iteration – frozen JUST Egg – will be hitting supermarket aisles this April. The product will contain 4 packs of folded, pre-cooked plant-based scramble, and will retail for US$4.99 in the freezer section at Whole Foods, Safeway and other select grocery stores in the United States. Made from mung-beans, each pack of the frozen plant-based egg contains 7 grams of protein and no cholesterol and can be easily heated up using a skillet, oven or a toaster.
The startup also announced that they will release a new formulation of its liquid plant-based egg later this year, which will be “cleaner, creamier and more egg-like” than chicken eggs. It will also be retailing at US$3 less than the original when it hits shelves in May, after JUST debuts its new frozen product.
Founded in late 2011 by Josh Tetrick and Josh Balk, their newest product is the company’s first foray into the frozen food category, and adds to its existing product line of vegan mayonnaise, dressings, cookie dough, breakfast proteins, liquid JUST Egg scramble and cultured meat. Their star product, the JUST Egg, requires 70% less surface and groundwater to produce, and reduces carbon emissions by 40% compared to conventionally farmed chicken eggs.
Since the release of its liquid plant-based egg product, the company has quickly grown to account for 30% of all purchased units in the liquid egg category in the United States. While the latest version will debut in North America for the time being, it is likely that it will start rolling out in Asia in the near future – the key target market for the company.
While the startup has already launched in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau to great fanfare, it has set its sights on China for further expansion. Having already become the first major US food tech to enter the mainland Chinese market last year through a number of e-commerce platforms such as WeChat, Alibaba, JD.com and Tmall, the company is hoping to disrupt the Chinese egg industry that produces around 435 million eggs per year. JUST is now looking to build a local production facility in the country as well.
Other Silicon Valley food techs too are eyeing the bullish Chinese market, with Beyond Meat announcing that they have plans to begin production in China sometime this year, and its rival Impossible Foods searching for partners to launch within the country. In January, Impossible Foods revealed two new Impossible Pork products through various dim sum dishes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, clearly signalling its aim to attract pork-loving Asia – especially at a time when the region is battling a significant pork shortage crisis due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF). The recent novel coronavirus epidemic (Covid-19) originating from China is likely to further fuel food safety concerns, making Asia a ripe market for plant-based players to dive into.
Lead image courtesy of JUST.
Author
