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 Type Meals at areas 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 standard grocery retail chains.
Produced from cashew milk, Misha’s cheeses are blended with a medley of regionally sourced greens, spices, and herbs.
Obtainable in-store or on-line, Walmart consumers 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 Type Meals
Misha’s partnership with Walmart will increase the variety of vegan cheese manufacturers obtainable on the mega retailer from 10 to 11, which finally 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 Type Meals makes vegan cheese for all
Based in 2018, Misha’s made its world debut at farmers’ markets within the larger 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 in the marketplace on the time. Martin took to his kitchen, the place he experimented with conventional cheese-making strategies sans dairy.
Misha’s Type Meals
The primary main problem for Misha’s, Bullock notes, was growing a taste profile that appealed to quite a lot of tastes. “We needed to work tirelessly to get the cheese to be ok for the entire palates we have been concentrating 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 how one can transfer this new, superb product from a small house kitchen to a scalable manufacturing facility,” Bullock says. “This was no straightforward process. 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 Type Meals
Alongside the way in which, Misha’s picked up a celebrity-studded roster of buyers. In 2021, music legend and enterprise mogul Jay-Z invested within the model by his agency Marcy Enterprise Companions (MVP). Jay-Z, alongside different movie star buyers 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 straight aligns with our values. After we first found Misha’s, we discovered some speedy synergies,” Jay Brown, co-founder of MVP, stated on the time. “We embrace firms that worth sustainability, empowerment, inclusivity, accessibility, comfort, well being and wellness, and private expression.”
Immediately, 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 Type Meals
Except for 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 stability); 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 wish them to say Misha’s,” he says. “After they consider vegan cheese, or dairy-free cheese, we wish them to say Misha’s.”
“Our plan is to well develop into the nationwide market and finally discover a main accomplice who will help us well develop onto the world stage,” Bullock says.
