Nestlé is preparing to launch its own herbal burger in the United States

Nestlé is looking to take a share of the growing market for herbal burgers in the United States.

Through its Sweet Earth brand, acquired in 2017, the global food giant will launch its Awesome Burger in the fall. The vegan meat substitute will be available in grocery stores, restaurants and universities.

The founders of Sweet Earth, Brian and Kelly Swette, said that they had started developing their own herbal burger several years ago, before almost all restaurant chains announced an option. plant-based and that Beyond Meat be made public.

Swettes are also not new to herbal meat substitutes. The company they founded manufactures about 13,000 pounds of herbal protein, including meatless bacon and ham, every day. Although Awesome Burger is not the first vegetarian hamburger from Sweet Earth, it is the first of the brand to imitate true hamburgers more accurately.

As the largest agribusiness company in the world, Nestlé is able to help Sweet Earth in its supply and production activities, which is a competitive advantage for the brand of food-based foods. plants, according to Kelly Swette. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, the two leading suppliers of herbal burgers, have sometimes struggled to meet the high demand due to limited production capacity.

"We have great admiration for our competitors and what they are trying to do, but we are also excited about the competition," said Brian Swette.

In April, Nestlé launched a vegetarian soy and wheat-based burger under the Garden Gourmet brand in Europe. German customers can buy his incredible Burger at McDonald's.

Sweet Earth's hamburger will be mainly composed of yellow pea protein.

"We believe that for the US market, pea protein is really fashionable and is popular for a variety of reasons, especially because it is an extremely sustainable crop," said Kelly Swette.

Beyond also uses pea protein for its beef substitutes, while Impossible Foods uses a soy protein base.

An organic version of the Awesome Burger will also be sold. Kelly Swette said that the burger acts the same way as traditional beef when cooking, but that it contains more protein and fiber.

The price of the awesome burger will be "competitive" compared to other herbal burgers. But, she said, as manufacturing and supply improve, the price could be closer to that of an ox burger.

Nestle is not the only Big Food company to compete with Impossible and Beyond Meat, as more and more consumers are trying to reduce their meat consumption. Tyson Foods sold its stake in Beyond prior to its initial public offering to allow it to manufacture its own meatless burger. Kellogg's Morningstar Farms brand is expected to be 100% herbal by 2021. And last year, Unilever acquired The Vegetarian Butcher, a Dutch herbal meat manufacturer.

More and more US consumers are consuming meat substitutes to reduce their meat consumption for health and environmental reasons.

Alexia Howard, Senior Research Analyst at Bernstein, estimates that sales of imitation products, currently worth about $ 13 billion, could reach $ 40 billion to $ 41 billion over the next 10 years.