Vivera Foodgroup says ‘goodbye to meat’
Enkco, a specialist in chilled and deep-frozen meat products, was sold to Dutch Van Loon Group, leaving Vivera Foodgroup with remaining plant-based companies Vivera, Culifrost and Dutch Tofu Company.
The sale means Vivera will focus more on the “strong growth opportunities” in the plant-based market in Europe.
Willem van Weede, CEO of Vivera Foodgroup, said: "We are one of the first companies in the world's meat industry to say a final goodbye to meat. From now on, we will only focus on plant-based foods, which are really conquering the world. More and more, consumers are discovering that plant-based products can be just as tasty as real meat and have many benefits for personal health, environmental impact and animal welfare. As a result of the sale of our meat activities, we think we can boost even more Vivera's rapid international growth."
The business said it planned to invest structurally at a higher level in expansion of production capacity and new products. In the short-term, the production capacity of Vivera's plant in the Netherlands will be considerably expanded in the third quarter of 2019.
With the development of the first commercially available vegan steak in the world in 2018, Vivera reached a milestone in its history. In the UK alone, over one million items have been sold through supermarket chain Tesco. In addition, as an extension to the product range Vivera recently launched successful products such as Pulled Veggie, Shawarma Kebab and Veggie Quarter Pounder, which are available at many large retailers throughout Europe.
