The alt-meat market has had a rough go lately (Even Beyond Meat is distancing itself from the category).
Yet, one plant-based poultry producer has reason for celebration today. Daring Foods has been acquired by Australian alt-protein company v2food, with backing by Ajinomoto Co, Inc. CEO Jeff Gendelman told Nosh that the partnership will leverage the scale and frozen food expertise of Ajinomoto and the proprietary protein technology of v2food, bringing the brand into new protein formats and meal occasions across retail and foodservice channels. Currently, the brand’s products are sold in “north of 16,000 to 17,000” retail doors nationwide and include frozen breaded and unbreaded pieces and wings, as well as a line of single-serve vegetarian meals. The plant-based meat market garnered billions in venture funding over the past decade, but many of those heavily-capitalized entities, including Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Meati, are now faltering. Daring Foods has itself raised $113.8 million in total funding since its founding seven years ago, according to Crunchbase, from high-profile backers including celebrities and professional athletes such as Drake, Naomi Osaka, Cam Newton and Steve Aoki. While it might be hard to imagine any of the investors feeling good about their return at this point, that’s more due to the fact that, overall, plant-based meat and seafood sales have marked a steady decline since peaking during the pandemic. Yet, Daring has notched double-digit top-line growth year-over-year since 2021, with a high repeat rate among top meat alternative brands, according to Gendelman. “We’re very proud of that growth in a space that’s been contracting,” he said. | 
