New Age Meats Becomes ‘New Age Eats,’ Expands Mission As a Consumer-Facing Food Company

On the heels of raising $25 million last October, plant-based and cultivated meat company New Age Meats has rebranded to New Age Eats, a move it says reflects its expanded focus as a CPG company rather than just a food tech company.

Emphasizing “The Joy of the Pig,” New Age’s refresh debuted in late June with a new name, a new logo and an updated website interface. The rebrand was created in collaboration with Scott English and Victor LaPorte from Chicago-based brand agency Scott & Victor, which has previously worked with other iconic consumer brands like RXBAR.

New Age Eats is focusing on consumers’ emotive responses to its products while making the unknown accessible and approachable to the everyday consumer. The refresh expands the company into an entity “big enough to hold the vision of where we’re going while emphasizing the joy we feel today eating the meat we know and love – made in an entirely new and better way,” said New Age Eats CEO, Brian Spears, in a LinkedIn post.

“We want to pop in a way that that signals that we’re something good and that we’re breaking through; we’re different, but at the same time, we’re familiar, because at the end of the day, if we don’t get that hook, we’re not going to go very far,” echoed New Age Eats CMO Kati Karottki. “We like this idea of playing in the space of joy, indulgence and the things that people associate with pork consumption.”

Launched in 2018, Berkeley, California-based New Age Meats produces a hybrid pork product combining cultured meat with plant-based protein, which the company says enhances the taste, texture and nutritional value of its products. According to Spears, the company initially chose sausage as its first product because of its status as a “universal food product.”

Now, as New Age Eats, the company is using consumer feedback and its refreshed identity to make room for greater opportunities within the category beyond innovative technology. As Karottki noted, “New Age” signals something innovative and different, while “eats” opens up opportunities beyond cuts of meat, such as dumplings.

“When you say meat, that is a very clearly defined category, but we wanted to open ourselves up and be more consumer facing versus product,” Karottki told NOSH. “We joke that my biggest claim here is that I’ve dropped the ‘M,’ but there really was some strategic thinking behind it.”

She continued, “It’s not to say that we won’t have focus in the early going and come to market with one product, prove it out, establish credentials and pork flavor […] but there is intention to do much more. And we’ve already proven that we’re capable of making fantastic-tasting dumplings, meatballs [and] pizza toppings.”

New Age Eats’ refresh arrives as cell-cultured meat companies are seeking to better speak to end consumers as issues of sustainability and animal suffering fuel interest in lab-grown food products. Over the past few years, several other alternative meat and protein companies have renamed themselves in an attempt to improve the accessibility of their products; Clara Foods became The EVERY Company, Atlast Food rebranded to MyForest Foods Co., Artemys Foods is now SCiFi Foods, and Hampton Creek became Just. According to data published by Global Market Insights, the cultured meat market exceeded $19,500 in 2021 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 410% percent between 2021 and 2030.

“I’m a firm believer that there always has to be a deep consumer insight that connects with what you have to offer. You have to go to them and then reel back in and show you know what it is you’re delivering that they want. And in this case, it’s on that emotional level, the joy,” said Karottki.

Concurrent with its rebrand, New Age Eats recently appointed Greg Belt, founder and CEO of sustainable ingredient company Evergrain, as an advisory board member. According to Spears, Belt’s experience operating and executing on a global scale “lends to strong counsel and advisory” as the brand pivots to its next phase.

Looking ahead, New Age Eats is expected to complete construction of its 23,000 square foot pilot manufacturing facility in Almeda, California this fall. Though originally slated to begin producing cell-based pork sausages this year, global supply chain shortages have pushed the release date out to 2023 pending regulatory approval from the FDA and USDA. New Age Eats is also actively looking for opportunities in Asia, where it has stakeholders, for GTM and other commercial endeavors that will move the venture forward.

The company’s strategy, as of today, is to develop a CPG brand and produce products that “bring people joy.” According to Karrotki, building a direct-to-consumer base with an initial product lunch will provide opportunities to take that data to expand into larger volume play channels.

“The planet can use a lot of help from having our food systems innovated,” she said. “And we can figure out a way to get everyday consumers to help in that process if we make delicious products. We have to just connect the dots so that everyday consumers will make those choices.”