Eat Just Teams Up With Infinite Foods To Launch Vegan Egg in African Market

Eat Just has entered the African market for the first time, launching its mung bean-based JUST Egg Folded in South Africa in partnership with Infinite Foods. The frozen product will be rolling out in both retail and foodservice channels, as well as Infinite Foods’ e-commerce platform. 

In partnership with Johannesburg-based Infinite Foods, Eat Just is bringing its plant-based egg to the African market. It is first launching its frozen JUST Egg Folded product in South Africa, with plans to bring more of its mung bean-based product range to the country in the months ahead.

Collaboration with Infinite Foods

The San Francisco-based food tech is working with Infinite Foods for its African market entry, the continent’s go-to-market platform bringing brands like Beyond Meat and Oatly to consumers’ doors in South Africa and providing an entry into sub-Saharan African countries. Infinite Foods’ network spans over 800 foodservice outlets across the continent, including in Mauritius and Botswana.

“Infinite Foods is the ideal partner for our expansion into this market,” shared Eat Just co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick. “They bring invaluable expertise to reach the African consumer and have the value chain to support us in delivering this ground-breaking product to consumers at home and in restaurants.”

Eat Just’s JUST Egg Folded will be retailing at all Wellness Warehouse chains in South Africa this month, and will also be served at restaurants like Lexi’s, Jackson’s and Great Cape Deli in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. The cholesterol-free vegan egg analogue, which boasts 7-grams of plant protein per serving, will additionally be available on Infinite Foods’ e-commerce platform. 

For now, Eat Just is only launching its folded egg in South Africa. But the company says it is open to launching its other products, such as its original liquid vegan JUST Egg and sous vide egg bites, in the future. 

Read: Africa rising – how the vegan and alt-protein scene is heating up across the continent 

Making sustainable choices available 

For Michelle Adelman, founder and CEO of Infinite Foods, bringing the pioneering plant-based egg brand to Africa is a step in the right direction to help African consumers make more sustainable choices. Eat Just says that its alternative, in addition to being cruelty-free, uses 98% less water, 86% less land and leaves behind 93% fewer GHG emissions compared to conventional eggs from chickens.

“Eat Just is an innovative company on the forefront of food technology, making them an amazing partner to help Infinite Foods address the food security, health, and sustainability issues we face in Africa,” commented Adelman. 

“We are excited about the opportunities this partnership creates as it speaks to Infinite Foods’ ethos to create socio-economic sustainability, advance a plant-forward lifestyle, and leverage technology to bring great products to market.” 

With the average South African diet containing around 7 kilograms of eggs per year—equating to more than 160 million eggs for the whole country annually—offering consumers a vegan egg alternative is “more critical than ever”, added Adelman. “The biggest individual impact you can make for the planet is the food you choose to eat, and the JUST Egg Folded product allows consumers to do just that.” 

Eat Just’s global expansion

Eat Just’s foray into the African continent is just the latest in its global expansion. Fuelled by $200 million in funding back in March and an additional $170 million for its cultured meat venture Good Meat, the startup is ramping up its presence internationally in fast-growing markets, particularly in Asia. 

In mainland China, the brand is available on e-commerce giants JD.com and Tmall as well as the country’s major fast food chain Dicos. The partnership with Dicos marked the first time a QSR chain directly replaced chicken eggs on its menu with a plant-based version. Eat Just has since opened up a culinary studio in Shanghai and launched localised campaigns with street vendors to tap into the mainstream Chinese market. 

According to a recent report, the startup is now eyeing a $3 billion IPO in Q4 this year or early 2022, with the funds geared towards its continued growth in Asia and with its latest partnership with Infinite Foods, the African market too. 

In a statement, Tetrick described South Africa as “an important new market for us, and we cannot wait to see how consumers use this product in new and delicious ways.” 

All images courtesy of Eat Just.