Unlimeat, the plant-based alternative meat brand from South Korea, was selected as one of the 10 winning brands in a plant-based product contest hosted by Carrefour, the Boulogne-Billancourt, France-headqiartered retail giant and distributor of food and other products.
This event was organized as part of Carrefour’s vision to create opportunities for innovative startup companies to enter the global market and introduce plant-based products to its customers. More than 250 brands from over 50 countries entered the competition. Among them, 15 teams were selected as finalists and then judged in Paris. Brand representatives directly showcased and pitched their story and products to Carrefour Group CEO Alexandre Bompard, CSR Director Nicolas Dher, and other company executives, along with investors, media, and influencers in the food industry.
The winners included La Vie, a French brand that developed plant-based bacon; LAPP, a vegan ice cream treat; Vly, a plant-based milk made from peas; and Väcka, a Spanish startup that makes aged vegan cheese among other products. Unilmeat was the only Asian brand selected as a winner.
The Korean food startup company creates products using upcycled ingredients, such as skimmed soybean powder extracted from soybean oil and rice bran from milling brown rice. A Carrefour official remarked that it won high marks for practicing a virtuous cycle that supports a healthy ecosystem, adding: “The fact that it has its own factory and has product scalability is also one of the reasons why it received a positive evaluation.”
Most alternative meat brands have similar product lines, such as burger patties, sausages, and chicken nuggets. Unlimeat, however, offers highly differentiated products such as plant-based Korean BBQ, a versatile offering that can be prepared the same way real meat can be and can be grilled in a wide variety of dishes, depending on the sauce used.
Pulled barbecue is another unique and popular Unlimeat product and is sold in various flavors with different seasonings, such as Korean BBQ and Texas BBQ. Also offered are plant-based meat dumplings. Their dumplings contain about 30% plant-based faux meat, giving them a texture similar to real meat dumplings, unlike vegan dumplings sold in most grocery stores.
The brand’s plant-based jerky also uses proprietary extrusion technology to create texture just like that of real meat. Unlimeat recently launched a campaign to bring its jerky to the USA on Kickstarter, an American representative crowdfunding platform, achieving its target funding goal within three hours of launch, and subsequently achieving more than 470% of its target funding within a week.
Carrefour is a large French retail distribution chain with over 13,000 stores in more than 30 countries around the world. The 10 winning brands in this contest will have various opportunities, such as collaborating with the retailer’s team and displaying their products in stores in one or more of the nine countries where Carrefour directly manages its operations, among them France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Taiwan.
