Maple Leaf Restructures Alt-Protein Business, Partners With Better Meat
Under the leadership of Adam Grogan, meat juggernaut Maple Leaf Farms is broadening how it looks at the alt-protein category by partnering with The Better Meat Co. and exploring new food-tech offerings.
What’s the History?
With locations across Canada, the U.S. and Asia, and sales of roughly $4.5 billion Canadian dollars, Maple Leaf Foods is one of the globe’s largest meat producers and private label meat suppliers. Processing over 108 million chickens and 4 million hogs annually, the company aims “to be the most sustainable protein company on earth” In addition to its 19 meat manufacturing facilities, the company also owns two plant-based protein facilities.
After acquiring alt-meat and cheese brands Lightlife, Chao and Field Roast in 2014, Maple Leaf created subsidiary Greenleaf Foods in order to manage its plant-based assets. In recent years as the sector has gotten more crowded, Greenleaf’s sales have been in decline and Maple Leaf has reassessed the amount of resources it devotes to the division.
For the third quarter of 2022, Maple Leaf reported its plant-protein group had sales of $43.6 million, down roughly 9% from $48 million for the same period last year.
How Has this Impacted the Company Organization?
Earlier this month the company began to preview its new strategy for Greenleaf, announcing that Adam Grogan, Greenleaf’s president, would shift to the role of president, alternative protein. In the new position, Grogan will continue to oversee Greenleaf but is now also responsible for “commercializing and broadening the Company’s innovation and investment strategy in meat protein alternatives.”
“Adam is a quintessential Maple Leaf Foods leader,” said Curtis Frank, who is currently Maple Leaf’s president and COO but is transitioning to the role of CEO. “His experience in both meat and plant protein categories makes him uniquely positioned to take on this broader role to lead our alternative protein strategy.”
How is This Strategy Playing Out
This week Maple Leaf announced a new partnership with The Better Meat Co, a company using fermentation to develop alternative proteins made from Rhiza mycoprotein. Unlike Field Roast and Lightlife which were fully formed brands using conventional alt-meat ingredients, such as soy or pea protein, Better Meat is a true food-tech play crafting novel proteins for use in finished products.
A press release noted that Maple Leaf is experimenting with adding this protein to both plant-based meat analogues as well as conventional animal protein, stating that the addition improves taste, texture, nutritional benefits and yields. The latter is of particular note as the addition of Rhiza microprotein could ultimately help lower costs of animal-based products as the price of chicken skyrockets due to supply chain challenges. Better Meat is assisting with the development of both product types.
“We are looking forward to working with The Better Meat Co. as we continue exploring alternative protein ingredients to allow us to further diversify our portfolio,” said Jitendra Sagili, chief R&D and food technology officer at Greenleaf Foods. “Our current portfolio of over 50 plant-based items, which includes plant-based sausage, chicken, hot dogs, tempeh and cheese, primarily leverages soy and pea protein ingredients. Working with The Better Meat Co. opens up new opportunities for us to innovate with other potential protein sources.”
With this partnership Maple Leaf follows in the path that many other strategics are also taking. Tyson, for example, has invested in fellow fermentation business Myco Technology. Meanwhile, Hormel has inked its own partnership with Better Meat as well.
