Daring Foods Raises $8 Million, Launches New Product

Frozen plant-based chicken brand Daring Foods this week announced the close of an $8 million round of funding led by venture capital firm Maveron, with participation from GoodFriends, Stray Dog Capital and Palm Tree Crew Investments. Stitch Fix CFO Mike Smith and Sweet Earth president Brian Swette, who previously sold his plant-based company to Nestle, also took part in the round as private investors.

Earlier this year New Jersey-based food distributor Rastelli Food Group committed capital, services and distribution support valued at $10 million. The new funding from this recent round will be used to expand the brand’s retail and foodservice footprint, as well as to launch a new breaded product and grow its team, CEO and co-founder Ross Mackay said.

Los Angeles-based Daring Foods, which produces a line of plant-based chicken pieces made with soy protein concentrate, was founded in 2018 in the U.K. The company shifted its focus to the U.S. market in 2019, pivoting to grocery after initially planning to start in foodservice.

With its chicken pieces already sold in natural retailer Sprouts and online, Daring’s product lineup, including the new breaded SKU, will next month enter Gelson’s, Bristol Farms and Fresh Thyme, bringing the brand’s door count to 500. The plant-based chicken alternatives are available in Original, Cajun, Lemon & Herb and Breaded varieties, and retail for $7.99 per 8 oz. pack.

The brand also recently reduced its pack size from 10 oz. to 8 oz. to lower its price point in hopes of encouraging trial, Mackay said.

While the company has thus far targeted the natural channel, due to increased demand for alternative proteins during the pandemic, it will expedite plans to enter conventional grocery stores. The brand also launched an ecommerce website in April and next month will debut in quick service chain Just Salad. To support the latter, Daring plans to hire two foodservice managers next month.

“The market is moving so fast,” Mackay said. “We have to make ourselves available to as many consumers as possible so we will be more aggressive in our retail strategy.”

Though Daring took pride in launching what it claimed was the first non-breaded chicken alternative, the demand from U.S. shoppers was just too great, Mackay explained, citing the popularity of fried chicken amongst U.S. consumers. While the plant-based protein market has seen an explosion of new product offerings this year, there’s still white space for appealing to everyday use cases, Mackay said, such as the new product which is more of a tender then a nugget. Chicken alternatives have also been largely overlooked, he said, despite the fact that U.S. consumers purchase chicken, on average, three to five times per week.

According to Mackay, there has also been a “health gap” in the plant-based market, and consumers are looking for more clean-ingredient options. Though the new breaded product is not gluten-free, it still features a minimal ingredient deck.

“[Some brands have] large missions of reinventing the supply chain, but a lot of times the products cannot be consumed every day,” he said. “We have to create trust and health in plant-based meat — not just taste and texture.”