Kraft's First Vegan Cheese Singles Roll Out Nationwide in These 3 Flavors

Your summer season vegan burgers are getting a melty cheese improve this 12 months due to The Kraft Heinz Not Firm. In time for the Fourth of July, the corporate is launching new vegan Kraft NotCheese Slices in three flavors nationwide.

The brand new vegan cheeses are a reimagining of basic Kraft Singles that the three way partnership—between Chile’s The Not Firm (NotCo) and The Kraft Heinz Firm—has been engaged on since forming final 12 months. 

The Kraft NotCheese Slices first debuted final fall in a limited-run take a look at market in Cleveland, OH. How did customers just like the vegan Kraft singles?

Katie Pekarek—Head of Advertising and marketing and Technique for the Kraft Heinz Not Firm—says the vegan cheese slices carried out very effectively, informing the corporate’s choice to launch them nationally. 

The Kraft Heinz Not Firm

“The choice to broaden nationally was primarily based on our profitable Cleveland take a look at market that ran for 16 weeks beginning in November 2022,” Pekarek tells VegNews. “Kraft NotCheese Slices shortly grew to become the #1 branded plant-based slice in greenback gross sales.” 

Pekarek explains that inside eight weeks, repeat purchases of the vegan cheeses had been at 20 % and a majority of customers interviewed (91 %) offered overwhelmingly optimistic critiques for the NotCheese slices. 

“We needed the remainder of the nation to have the chance to get pleasure from our scrumptious Kraft NotCheese slices,” she says. 

And the remainder of the nation can discover the Kraft NotCheese Slices in American, Provolone, and Cheddar flavors at retailers nationwide within the coming months, each within the plant-based and dairy aisles. 

Perfecting Kraft’s basic cheeses with synthetic intelligence  

The Kraft Heinz Not Firm was established to construct a extra sustainable future for the long-lasting Kraft Heinz firm. Below the partnership, Kraft Heinz will meld its intensive business information, connections, and iconic model portfolio with NotCo’s applied sciences, particularly its synthetic intelligence-powered discovery platform that develops plant-based alternate options that mimic animal merchandise on a molecular stage.

The brand new Kraft NotCheese Slices had been developed with this distinctive know-how—which NotCo calls “Giuseppe”—and are created from water, coconut oil, modified corn starch, and chickpea protein as their predominant elements. The vegan cheeses are hitting the market at a aggressive worth that can assist make them enticing to customers trying to cut back their consumption of animal merchandise. 

The Kraft Heinz Not Firm

“Plant-based is likely one of the quickest rising segments in meals and beverage, exceeding complete meals gross sales progress by 3 times, however there are vital limitations to entry similar to style, texture, selection, and availability that go away present customers dissatisfied,” Pekarek says. “The main target of The Kraft Heinz Not Firm is to unravel these limitations by growing mouth-watering plant-based meals for all.” 

Collectively, Kraft Heinz and NotCo will develop extra co-branded merchandise at an accelerated tempo and scale, making this three way partnership one that would result in main plant-based modifications within the international meals system.  

“Our imaginative and prescient to be the indispensable plant-based meals firm has motivated us to ship meals that match with the best way customers are consuming right now,” she says. 

“By specializing in product high quality, leveraging consumer-loved manufacturers, having a presence the place customers store nationally, and providing an approachable worth, we’re assured that we are able to ship nice tasting, plant-based merchandise that fulfill customers’ biggest ache factors in these classes,” Pekarek says. 

The Kraft Heinz Not Firm is headquartered in Chicago with analysis and growth services in San Francisco. General, the aim of this three way partnership is to “reshape the meals panorama and set a brand new commonplace for plant-based innovation.” 

The Kraft Heinz Not Firm

Along with the brand new Kraft NotCheese Slices, the three way partnership has to date resulted within the launch of a vegan Kraft mayonnaise earlier this 12 months.

Kraft Heinz seems to be to NotCo’s know-how to construct the way forward for meals

Based in 2015 in Chile, NotCo makes use of its platform to research the properties of 1000’s of crops in a database after which creates distinctive ingredient mixtures that intention to copy the style and texture of animal-based merchandise. 

To date, the startup has launched near-identical approximations of milk, meat, and mayonnaise made with sudden elements similar to pineapple, coconut, cabbage, peas, bamboo, beets, and chickpeas. 

Starbucks

Backed by a protracted roster of high buyers, together with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, NotCo has discovered extensive distribution of its merchandise similar to NotMilk, NotMayo, and NotMeat in its dwelling nation. The model’s merchandise are additionally out there at main worldwide chains in Chile, together with Starbucks, Papa John’s, Dunkin’, and Burger King. 

Stateside, shortly after forming its three way partnership with Kraft Heinz, NotCo labored with Shake Shack to develop its first vegan desserts: the Non-Dairy Chocolate Custard and Non-Dairy Chocolate Shake. After a brief take a look at run in 2022, each gadgets hit Shake Shack’s greater than 260 places nationwide in Might. 

Shake Shack

“Following the early success of our new three way partnership with Kraft Heinz final 12 months, we knew this was the precise time to welcome others into the fold and begin accelerating the transformation of the plant-based business,” NotCo CEO and co-founder Matias Muchnick informed VegNews earlier this 12 months.

“There’s nonetheless loads to come back, however for now we are able to solely say that at NotCo we actually innovate, that there are lots of manufacturers that share this philosophy, and that we are going to not cease doing it.”

Vegan Kraft Mac & Cheese and extra

Previous to asserting its three way partnership with NotCo, Kraft Heinz already started releasing new plant-based variations of its iconic merchandise internationally. In Australia, Kraft Heinz launched a vegan model of its basic Kraft Mac & Cheese final 12 months. The corporate developed the brand new product as a “modern” tackle the basic boxed meal that’s each gluten-free and vegan-certified with pasta created from rice flour and a dairy-free sauce.

Supplied in the identical basic blue field, Kraft even modified the cooking directions for the brand new mac and cheese to counsel utilizing soy milk as an alternative of conventional cow’s milk.

Firstly of 2021, Kraft Heinz additionally launched a vegan model of its best-selling Philadelphia cream cheese. Constituted of an oat and almond base, the Philadelphia cream cheese initially hit Tesco in the UK.

Philadelphia

This summer season, Philadelphia can also be launching a vegan model of its iconic cream cheese—made with coconut oil as a creamy base, together with potato starch and fava bean protein—at retailers throughout america.

General, the Kraft Heinz portfolio holds lots of potential for brand spanking new plant-based innovation. Some iconic meat- and cheese-heavy gadgets that would profit from a plant-based makeover are Oscar Mayer wieners, Lunchables, Velveeta, and Bagel Bites. 

And with The Kraft Heinz Not Firm, these may simply get a contemporary vegan improve. This 12 months, the three way partnership goals to launch merchandise throughout 4 classes. In 2024, it goals to scale throughout seven classes and broaden merchandise internationally.