Dunedin Company Launches 100% Plant Based Mince

Local Dunedin firm – The Craft Meat Company and its owners Grant and Sherie Howie, are launching “No Meat Mince.” The product will target Kiwis that want to reduce their meat consumption or who do not eat meat at all.

The recently developed plant-based mince uses ingredients such as mushrooms, tomato, almonds, coconut oil and soy protein. “We are seeing a significant rise in global demand for alternative proteins, and the New Zealand market is now experiencing a massive increase in Vegan and Flexitarian consumers” says Grant Howie. “Flexitarians are looking to replace some of the meat in their diet and so as a business we are responding to that new demand.”

Earlier this year, Grant and Sherie took ownership of Fishers Meat, a 99-year old Dunedin meat company, and established a new premium brand ‘The Craft Meat Company’.

However, this business venture took an unexpected turn when the couple noticed their new company wasn’t providing for all the dietary needs at the Howie dinner table.

“My youngest daughter became a vegan two years ago, so when I bought the meat company she said, ‘why don’t you make something I can eat’, and I realised there was a growing trend for people to eat less meat or to eat no meat at all”, Mr Howie explains.

Recent research shows more than 30 percent of Kiwis describe themselves as actively looking to reduce their animal protein consumption, typically having a ‘Meat Free Day’ at least once a week. ‘It’s this new Flexitarian consumer segment that we are primarily targeting, although, of course, Vegans and Vegetarians will also be key consumers.”

The new product, “No Meat Mince” is the first of the alternative meat range to be launched and closely resembles traditional mince. It is designed to be cooked into meals exactly as regular mince would. “In some instances, you can’t even tell the difference whether it is meat or not”, says Sherie Howie.

Plans to follow the plant-based mince with “No Meat” sausages, burgers and ready-made meals are underway for 2019.

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