Spanish Food Brand Flax & Kale Launches The Country’s Largest Vegan Product Range

Spanish restaurant and healthy food brand Flax & Kale have launched a range of 45 vegan products. These include 14 alternative meat products and 31 dairy-free cheese alternatives. Created by renowned chef Teresa Carles, the line is being called one of the largest Spanish-produced plant-based product lines to date.

Diverse range of plant-based offerings

Owned by the Barcelona-based Teresa Carles Healthy Foods restaurant group, Flax & Kale’s products are based on the Flax & Kale restaurant menu offerings, with several of these products tested for three years. Made from soybeans or peas, the products aim to replicate the texture and feel of their meat and dairy counterparts.

The 31 animal-free cheese products contain different types of gouda, cheddar, and mozzarella. These include spreadable Philadelphia-style cream cheese, a grated four-cheese blend, and mozzarella fingers. The brand focused on making the products healthy, for instance, the fermented cream cheese has 99% less saturated fat than traditional dairy cream cheese.

The 14 plant-based meat products include beef and chicken alternatives available in formats like hamburgers, croquettes, nuggets, meatballs, and mince. The items will also be soon available via consumer and foodservice formats.

Read: Animal-Free Dairy Is Here. But Is It Vegan?

Commitment to plant-based

To date, the company has invested EUR€2 million(approx. US$2.3M) in developing plant-based products. This investment has been supported by its own resources, bank loans and aid from The Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).

Approximately EUR€7 million(US$8.2M) was invested in setting up a production facility in Lleida, where the brand’s products are manufactured.

The company aims to become a plant-based leader in Spain over the coming years. It has been able to offer diverse products at competitive prices by basing its entire production in the local region and by investing in industrial production lines.

Though the company excludes meat from its recipes, 20% of them do contain the use of fish.

Read: 7 Spanish Startups Changing the Future of Food With Vegan Meat

Sustainability initiatives

Back in December 2019, Flax & Kale was the first Spanish restaurant and food chain to earn the B Corp certification.

To offset the company’s carbon emissions from its transportation services, this year, Flax & Kale joined forces with non-profit Tree-Nation to plant a tree for each order placed through its e-commerce website.

In addition, it has pledged to use only organic and local products and to achieve this, Flax & Kale is working with local producers in Lleida and encouraging regenerative agriculture practices. The brand says that 75% of its kale is grown by farmers in its 100% organic greenhouse.

In 2019, the company sourced its electricity from 80% renewables with a goal to reach 100%. To reduce water waste, it collects and uses the excess water from reverse osmosis and in its greenhouse, through a rainwater recovery process, it saves 85% of the water otherwise needed to irrigate the crops. It also recycles its glass kombucha bottles or reuses them by cleaning them with its own machinery.

Going forward, the company is in search of an investment partner for a further financial boost and is planning to expand its current eight restaurants by adding two more in the Spanish capital.

Lead image – Jordi Barri, CEO, courtesy of Flax & Kale.