EVOLUTION MEATS: CONQUERING EUROPE WITH VEGETABLE KEBABS

Evolution Meats is showing that it can be done: making 100 percent vegetable doner kebabs that meat eaters love. The young company offers doner on skewers or sliced and recently added satays and sausages to their vegan range. The products are available in kebab shops, the hospitality industry and catering wholesalers in the Netherlands, England, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Germany and, from next year, in supermarkets. "We only introduce our products to the market if meat eaters are enthusiastic about them," says Commercial Director Mark Laponder.

FROM VEAL TO SOY

When Laponder was still working at a veal slaughterhouse, trucks full of veal went to Germany to be made into doner kebabs. After leaving the meat manufacturer, he was asked by a former colleague to consider what kind of new product he would make in an empty local factory. Laponder’s thoughts turned to kebabs. But, this time, to a vegetable version.

Via a well-known soy supplier he acquired some textured soy to experiment with. "The soy comes from Europe, has not been modified, and its structure closely resembles meat. The first marinades were way too salty but, after a few months, we had a tasty end product. We approached an English restaurant chain and a German doner producer and both responded immediately and enthusiastically. The latter even asked if we could develop a sliced variant," says Laponder.

WORLD RECORD

During the TU Delft Introduction Week in 2018, Laponder and his colleagues served over 3500 rolls filled with vegan doner kebab in just a few hours, setting a world record. It was also a good opportunity to gather the opinions of a large group of consumers. "The sandwich received an average of 7/10 and 76% of the students surveyed would order it again in the hospitality industry. Meat eaters were also surprised about the quality, and one student said: 'I taste normal doner kebab, just like the meat version'.

ABROAD

In March 2018, Laponder and his colleagues set up a company dedicated to the production of vegetable kebabs and other meat substitutes. André Storkenboom is responsible for production, Jacob Remijnse and Dennis Smith for finance and Laponder for the commercial side. They called the company Green Meat Products. "In the Netherlands green stands for sustainability, but in Anglo-Saxon countries the colour green, in the context of food, has a negative connotation. That is why, recently, we changed our name. It took a while to agree to the change, as I had come up with the original name myself. But now I’m fully behind the new name and branding of Evolution Meats."

Gradually, Laponder and his colleagues are discovering that other countries not only think differently about names, but also about taste. "In England you don't have doner kebabs on restaurant menus, because doners are what you eat after a night out. In Germany, however, although doner kebabs are popular, they really don’t like them served with spicy shawarma."

EXPANSION

While the entrepreneurs were busy with further developing their products and company, they come into contact with creators of vegetable satay and sausages. The satay is made from soy and wheat, the sausages from broad beans and rice. "Together with them we have further developed both products so that they can be made at factory scale and with consistent quality. We don't mind using a non-soy raw material. Our approach is to use whichever vegetable raw material provides the best end product for the customer."

NEXT YEAR

In the last year and a half, the guys at Evolutions Meats have achieved many milestones: an extensive range; certification of the factory in Limburg; purchase of a fully automatic kebab-production line; forming an international sales team; enthusiastic customers throughout Europe and new branding.

The most important goals for 2020 are to increase their customer base in the European hospitality industry, hospitality wholesalers and supermarkets. They will receive support from their American investor Unovis Partners (New Crop Capital), which is committed to stimulating plant-based food consumption throughout the world. "In 2020, we also want to become better known among consumers. For example via in-store demonstrations, presence at food fairs and via social media," concludes Laponder.

www.foodvalley.nl