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Developing high-quality meat alternatives

Technology
TECHNOLOGY PRIORITY

Make, Sell

PROJECT TIMELINE
July 2021 to March 2023
PROJECT STATUS
Fund I: Complete
TOTAL INVESTMENT
$4,925,762

Consortia Contribution
$2,462,881

Cluster Contribution
$2,462,881

PARTNERS

Wamame Foods

Merit Functional Foods

Wismettac Asian Foods

Crush Dynamics

Teja Food Group

Sierra Meats & Seafood

Goal

To create and sell plant-based alternatives to Wagyu beef, that is developed using a suite of texture to compete against the best beef brands in the world; and to market the products under the "Waygu" brand and expand it into mainstream food service.

Project Summary

The partnership leveraged Wamame’s current first-to-market status for a wagyu beef alternative by creating two additional product lines, with the support of the consortium partners, across 33 Stock Keeping Units that capitalized on Waygu’s recent global attention and profile. Wamame partnered with Teja Foods and Sierra Meats to complete market testing and develop sales channels for the products developed in the project.

Two Japanese-based multinational food companies are anchoring the sales efforts with Wismettac Asian Foods developing a co-branded Waygu-Shirakiku (Wismettac’s house brand) and Azuma Foods supporting the sales of Wamame's branded Waygu products internationally.

Results and Impact

  • Product partnership at the 2022 TED Conference in Vancouver, with Waygu being served to speakers Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Al Gore

  • Product listings with hotel chains such as, Fairmont, Sheraton, JW Marriott and Shangri-La Asia Group
  • Wagyu served in 7-Eleven Canada locations nationwide in its ready-to-serve Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap and Mexican Plant-Based Steak Wrap
  • The consortium developed of Japanese-inspired products using a combination of raw Canadian materials and Canadian research, and developed products for sale through two of Japan’s leading food companies
  • Rapid expansion into a proven but niche market for Japanese-style plant-based products - establishing Canadian-based Wamame’s Waygu brand as a dominant global player

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