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Cowin says cow out as Hungry Jack's offers meat-free option
By Emma Koehn
Fast food entrepreneur Jack Cowin says plant-based meat products his company has been developing with an arm of the CSIRO could be available in retailers and Hungry Jack's outlets as soon as next month.
Mr Cowin's investment vehicle Competitive Foods and the CSIRO's investment fund Main Sequence Ventures are among the financial backers of v2food, which is developing plant-based products made from legumes.
Meatless burgers represent a huge potential market for Hungry Jack's, Jack Cowin says.Credit: Louie Douvis
"The last taste test I had, I thought they were tricking me. Over the decades I’ve eaten probably as many hamburgers as anyone has in this country. When you taste it [the product], people won't be able to tell the difference," Mr Cowin said.
Over the past eight months a team at v2food, led by former PepsiCo and Masterfoods research director Nick Hazell, has been working to develop the product as the start-up races to get on the shelves in an increasingly crowded marketplace of meat alternatives.
"It would normally be a two- or three-year development. We've driven CSIRO quite mad – we've pushed really, really hard," Mr Hazell said.
V2food is about a month away from starting to roll out its products and plans to sell its mince to restaurants and traditional grocery retailers.
Nick Hazell of v2food, with investors Jack Cowin and Phil Morle. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Hungry Jack's looks set to use the products in some of its burgers, with Mr Cowin pointing to a younger generation of diners who are focused on the world's climate and sustainable eating.
"If you talk to the average younger generation of Generation Z, they have an extremely high level of interest in this. For them, it's definitely an ethical interest," he said.
The rise of plant-based meat alternatives is undeniable, and this means food retailers such as Hungry Jack's must cater to a growing cohort of diners who want plant-based options, he said.
"Not just as vegans, as the broader market of people who want to explore new things," he said.
"This isn’t a novel idea – the awareness of what people put in their bodies and mouths is an interest that I think it increasing."
V2food has pitched itself as a way for Australians to eat affordable meat alternatives, though it also has a broader reach in mind.
"We need to be able to export plant-based meat into developing countries and [that] has got to be part of our vision," Mr Hazell said.
Meat-free's multibillion-dollar opportunity
The company will join a new cohort of start-ups competing to overhaul Australians' barbecue habits. New Zealand's Sunfed Meats has already taken its "meat-free" meat alternatives to major supermarkets such as Coles.
In the US, plant-based meat company Beyond Meat has listed on the Nasdaq and is valued at $US9 billion ($13.4 billion). Fellow Californian brand Impossible Foods has also recently started to sells its products to US grocery stores.
This week McDonald's Canada started selling a Beyond Meat "PLT" burger.
The Australian "alternative proteins" sector was worth $2.2 billion in 2018, according to the CSIRO.
Main Sequence Ventures partner Phil Morle said this was the ideal time to launch v2food.
"As an investor we’re always looking for when the timing is right, sometimes it’s all about the timing. And everything is coming together – there is a phenomenal market pull," he said.