Go big, or go home. This is the savvy approach that Seattle-based startup Rebellyous Foods is undertaking with its plant-based chicken nuggets.
Plant-based meat is a powerful solution to meat and in turn to climate change issues associated with meat industry, but that can happen only if it can be scaled and that is what is happening at Rebellyous Foods.
They are starting with the humble chicken nugget for a number of reasons, and on account of one number in particular –– nine billion: the number of chickens that are slaughtered every year for meat.
Not only is the scale of the chicken industry hurting animals and the environment, chicken production is rife with workers’ rights abuses, and creates impossible situations for farmers who have to conform to industry standards or go hungry.
They currently plan to cater to ‘foodservice’ industry like corporate cafeterias, schools, hospitals —places where mass quantities of food are served every day and thus provide an opportunity to make a big difference.
Plant-based meat costs consumers 2–5 times as much as conventionally produced meat. Today, the cost of production for the typical soy nugget is around 75% greater than the cost of production for a conventional chicken nugget.
That is why, Rebellyous Foods has engineering new machinery and processes that are custom-tailored to the requirements of plant-based meat production, allowing for lower-cost, high and continuous throughput, streamlined operations, top-notch quality control, and ultimately, a better kind of plant-based meat.
Reference- Rebellyous Foods website & PR, Food Republic, The New Yorker, Clean Technica