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Our first episode of InnovEat was with Mr Lukas Boni the co-founder of Planted. He is a food scientist from Zurich with an extensive expertise in handling food soft textures and design protein fibers.
Lukas talked about the Plant based proteins that satisfies the emergent consumption of healthy and sustainable food while Planted Company succeeded to offer an excellent meat alternative that acknowledges the healthy diet and animal welfare.
1. How did start your adventure at Planted, what were your starting points to launch Planted?
Together with his other team players, the co-founders Pascal, Eric and Lukas approached the world of protein alternatives in 2017, and adapted the idea of vegetarian meat to the European market mostly looking for consistent product with short ingredient list.
Two drivers were behind the creation of Planted:
- The first one is an economic driver where Planted co-founders intend to favor the market gap in Europe in terms of animal protein alternatives.
- The second one is an environmental driver, the co-founders wanted to contribute through Planted in the sustainability advancement of the European food system and better shape the world that will embrace the future generations.
2. Can you give us your perspective of each of the 4 virtues of Planted:
At the heart of planted, 4 virtues are highlighted and according to Lukas:
- Delicious is what every consumer is searching for, it is important to verify the taste of a product because it will be the main reason for consumers to keep buying the product.
- Healthy: Planted products are composed of pea protein, pea fiber, rapeseed oil, water and vitamin B12. So “clearly we want to bring protein diversity to the plates” expressed by Lukas.
- Cruelty free: Planted is highly supporting animal welfare and invites consumers to support back their effort in order to contribute to the suppression of animal cruelty.
- Sustainable: 70 to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions resulting of livestock are reduced thanks to consuming less meat and integrating plant based proteins alternatives.
3. What about the 437.351 chickens saved thanks to consuming Planted products?
The counter “number of chicken saved” when consuming sustainable meat alternatives is a sustainable footprint measurement tool present on the platform of Planted. It demonstrates how consumers can directly impact their environment, Lukas added that :
It's also very rewarding to give people the food they love and have impact themselves.
4. Give us practical examples of Know-how creations thanks to research at Planted?
Science is deeply rooted in Planted Company and research is in the DNA of the co-founders of Planted.
Other companies who only sell the products at the end of the supply chain clearly lack getting their hands dirty and be immersed in the process from its starting point passing by all the difficulties that come along.
Furthermore, the company counts 160 active collaborations and around 45 are involved in the Research & Development field to create the best fibrous structure for enjoyable bites of the designed products.
5. The consumers of Planted products, are they sustainability oriented or animal welfare oriented?
Consumers of Planted fit in a wide typology range, some are vegetarian and vegan who are aware of the animal welfare issues, others prefer to combine Planted products with other meat products to ensure a sustainable food choice on their plates.
While another category is more health oriented and prefer to adopt healthy alternatives such as plant based proteins.
6. How do you predict the plant based protein market in the next decade?
The market is growing very fast and most people are looking for quality products; meanwhile, producers of plant based proteins need to communicate in a transparent manner the ingredients employed and provide the expected quality to guarantee the consumers’ trust in this category of products.
With regards to the Italian Market, Planted has created a web shop selling and shipping Planted products to all Italian regions and their positive influence is expanding also towards Italian food chain restaurants.
Conclusions
The goal of Planted is to ensure its flexibility in different markets and prioritize the quality of ingredients for the best food experience.
Undoubtedly in terms of Research and competitiveness, Planted is standing out thanks to their intuition about satisfying the consumer’s palates using plant based proteins without compromising the animal welfare and the environment.
Babbel for Business
InnovEat is a serie of interviews on worldwide agri-food innovations developed in partnership with Babbel for Business, the language learning solution for companies. Already over 800 companies use Babbel for Business as part of their professional development programs, as formal or casual training, or employee benefit.
Lukas Böni
Lukas Böni, the co-founder of Planted is a 32 years old graduate of ETH Zurich first with Master’s in Food process engineering then with PhD degree in food and soft materials research area. His care and dedication for the environment, technology and positive impact on the food system inspired him to kick off with his team the exemplary adventure of Planted, the specialized company in plant based protein products.
