There’s a brand new vegan cheese making its debut on Walmart retailer cabinets. This week, the mega retailer formally launched plant-based cashew cheese made by Misha’s Sort Meals at places in California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, and Texas.
Beforehand solely obtainable at pure meals markets and specialty shops in choose areas, Misha’s launch at Walmart marks the Black-owned model’s official entrance into typical grocery retail chains.
Made out of cashew milk, Misha’s cheeses are blended with a medley of regionally sourced greens, spices, and herbs.
Obtainable in-store or on-line, Walmart customers can select between 4 of the model’s signature cheeses: French Connection (made with herbs de provence, grains of paradise, and black olives); Smoked Cheddar (flavored with smoked paprika and chipotle); Sari (that includes sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and cilantro); and Black Truffle (made with actual truffles and shallots).
Misha’s Sort Meals
Misha’s partnership with Walmart will increase the variety of vegan cheese manufacturers obtainable on the mega retailer from 10 to 11, which in the end helps enhance the accessibility of plant-based dairy merchandise.
Whereas Misha’s preliminary Walmart launch is concentrated on shops throughout California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, and Texas, a nationwide launch is within the works.
“We’re all anticipating this preliminary launch to go very nicely after which we are going to see Misha’s on many extra Walmart cabinets across the nation,” Aaron Bullock, Misha’s co-founder and CEO, tells VegNews.
Misha’s Sort Meals makes vegan cheese for all
Based in 2018, Misha’s made its world debut at farmers’ markets within the higher Los Angeles space, the place it developed a fan base amongst vegans and non-vegans alike.
Co-founder Ian Martin, a full-time musician and part-time vegan chef, was decided to create a decadent plant-based cheese in contrast to another available on the market on the time. Martin took to his kitchen, the place he experimented with conventional cheese-making strategies sans dairy.
Misha’s Sort Meals
The primary main problem for Misha’s, Bullock notes, was creating a taste profile that appealed to a wide range of tastes. “We needed to work tirelessly to get the cheese to be ok for the entire palates we have been focusing on, not simply vegans,” Bullock says.
As soon as Misha’s nailed its taste profile and easy, spreadable texture, it was time to tackle one other problem: scaling.
“[Our] group had to determine the way to transfer this new, wonderful product from a small house kitchen to a scalable manufacturing facility,” Bullock says. “This was no straightforward activity. We needed to take the tinkering of a passion and convert it into an industrial, repeatable course of.”
After slinging their vegan cheeses at farmers’ markets, Bullock and Martin launched their product line to native pure meals and specialty grocers. Misha’s retail footprint grew from there, and earlier than touchdown on Walmart cabinets, the model had expanded its availability to specialty grocery shops in California, Texas, Hawaii, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest areas.
Misha’s Sort Meals
Alongside the way in which, Misha’s picked up a celebrity-studded roster of traders. In 2021, music legend and enterprise mogul Jay-Z invested within the model via his agency Marcy Enterprise Companions (MVP). Jay-Z, alongside different celeb traders together with NBA all-star Chris Paul, helped Misha’s elevate a $3 million seed funding spherical that very same 12 months.
“The mission of Misha’s instantly aligns with our values. Once we first found Misha’s, we discovered some speedy synergies,” Jay Brown, co-founder of MVP, mentioned on the time. “We embrace firms that worth sustainability, empowerment, inclusivity, accessibility, comfort, well being and wellness, and private expression.”
At this time, Misha’s boasts a product line of seven vegan cheeses, all of that are paleo, keto, and Kosher Pareve, and freed from soy, vegetable oils, dietary yeast, starchers, and fillers.
Misha’s Sort Meals
Other than the 4 flavors now obtainable at Walmart, Misha’s additionally produces Joi (infused with deseeded jalapeños, thyme, and oregano); Seven Level 5 (made with contemporary habanero and jalapeño peppers, plus strawberries for steadiness); and basic ricotta.
Following a nationwide growth with Walmart down the road, Bullock is concentrated on making Misha’s a pacesetter within the class. “When individuals consider plant-based dairy, we would like them to say Misha’s,” he says. “After they consider vegan cheese, or dairy-free cheese, we would like them to say Misha’s.”
“Our plan is to well develop into the nationwide market and in the end discover a main accomplice who may help us well develop onto the world stage,” Bullock says.
