International collaboration helping Juicy Marbles achieve its product development and market goals

Shoppers around the world have diverse needs and wants when it comes to their food, but there are certain consistencies. Regardless of the fine details, everyone wants food with a satisfying taste and texture and, preferably, comes from sustainable and ethical sources. Nowhere is this more true than for the food group most people consider the centerpiece of their plates: protein.

Juicy Marbles has focused their efforts in this realm on developing a line of plant-based meat alternatives that closely mimic their traditional counterparts—an effort that’s proven successful in markets around the globe. However, in an industry that’s still in its nascent stages, competing against meat industry titans requires companies like Juicy Marbles to constantly find new ways to appeal to the vast majority of people who still consider meat an indispensable staple in their diet.

“[This] is an industry that is suffering from not being developed enough, and that’s why it’s hard to compete on prices with the traditional industry,” Juicy Marbles CEO Tilen Travnick said. said. “We saw an opportunity in the whole-cuts segment, because no one had ever made a convincing alternative, at least when we started. While we’re still one of the main players in plant-based whole cuts—and have managed strong, steady growth with our original line of products—we want to continue to innovate and hopefully bring in more people who are skeptical of the quality of these products.”

Part of their strategy to create meat-like products has been to work collaboratively with international partners to incorporate innovative ingredients, particularly those that achieve meat’s texture. While they’ve seen promise in several of the ingredients they’ve tried to date, one they’re particularly interested in is Liven Protein’s animal-free collagen.

“We are always looking to include novel ingredients in our products to enhance their properties, and collagen, being one such component that is a key driver of the texture, is part of the experience of the product,” Travnick said.

After being introduced through an investor, Juicy Marbles partnered with Liven on a joint Protein Industries Canada-Innovate UK project that aims to further develop both the collagen ingredient and Juicy Marbles’ line of whole cut meat alternatives. The results have been successful so far, helping prove the potential Juicy Marbles sees for their products in the international market.

Travnick explained that with the overall plant-based product market settling, there’s new opportunity for innovative brands to stand out. Juicy Marbles’ product offerings, he said, have the potential to fill that opportunity, both in the UK and North America.

“Basically, we want to become a formidable company in the space,” Travnick said. “I think we are on a good path there … and in the long term, I do want to become, on the product side, a staple of households in Europe, the United States and Canada, while at the same time broadening the creative scope of what we’re doing.”

The international collaboration between Juicy Marbles and Liven is helping both companies in their respective markets, with Juicy Marbles’ whole-cut meat alternatives set to further expand into new territories around the world as they increase production and continue to upgrade their line of plant-based whole cuts.