UK-based THIS is one of the fastest-growing food businesses with a growth rate of 53% month-on-month. Eventually, their products are placed in over 1200 outlets across the UK. The company is also forming partnerships with both restaurant groups and retailers simultaneously.
Founded by Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman in 2019, THIS has come up with a product that mimics meat in texture, appearance, taste, and smell. This product uses soya beans and peas as the base and is produced sans causing any environmental or ethical impact. This start challenges legacy plant-based meal brands as it targets meat-reducers instead of vegans.
Raises €5.1M funding
In a recent development, THIS raised £4.7 million (nearly €5.1 million) seed plus funding from the London-based VC Backed along with participation from Seedcamp, Idinvest Partners, Five Seasons Ventures, and Manta Ray Ventures.
The latest investment will be used to improve its manufacturing capabilities, expand its team, and open a new R&D centre that enables the business to meet the growing demand for meat alternatives.
Mimics real chicken!
The plant-based chicken from THIS is touted to be equivalent to real chicken. It is breakthrough in the plant-based meat-alternative and food tech industries. With this product, meat eaters need not compromise if they are looking forward for options to cut down on meat.
In a blind taste test that was conducted by THIS, 65 meat eaters were chosen from the streets of London and were asked to compare two tikka products – THIS’ plant-based chicken and a standard supermarket ready-to-eat chicken tikka product. What’s interesting is that 92% thought both products were chicken.
Minimises CO2 emissions
The plant-based meat products from THIS minimises the CO2 emissions as compared to real meat in production. Also, the product consumes significantly less water. Besides being made from sustainably sourced ingredients, the product has a longer shelf life than real meat and helps reduce food waste.
Award-winning meat alternatives
THIS has been awarded 2019 Great Taste Award, Best Vegan Bacon, PETA 2019, Best Vegan Chicken, and Food Matters Live 2019 awards. Also, the company’s soy and pea based products are realistic that the company managed to convince 25 food bloggers and critics that it is real meat.
Main image picture credits: THIS
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