Food tech startup Tender Food Inc. is a four-year-old startup breaking into a market that is already crowded with well-known brands. It’s doing so well that it has already secured a contract with the Boston-area fast food chain Clover Food Lab.
The Somerville, Massachusetts-based company, formerly generally known as Boston Meats, develops plant-based meat alternatives including beef short ribs, pulled pork, chicken breast and crab.
Its technology involves spinning fibers of plant proteins, including soy proteins, much like cotton candy, to create structured cuts of meat, company co-founder and CEO Christophe Chantre told TechCrunch. Berlin’s Eaden project also uses fiber spinning technology to supply alternative protein.
Chantre believes Auction the technology beats popular plant-based meat products like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat in terms of taste, texture, dietary value and cost. All 4 of those have traditionally been barriers to mainstream adoption in the food technology industry.
“Consumers are largely disappointed with what is on the market,” he said. “We focus on investing in technologies that help us create higher products. This has been the hardest thing, until now.
Since Tender Food launched in 2020, the market has grown significantly. During this time, his company evolved and matured. Two years ago, he would have described Tender Food as a technology company focused primarily on research and development. While it is still a technology company, its focus has shifted to industrial.
“We’re just starting commercialization, so revenue hasn’t been the most important factor for us, but now it will be,” Chantre said.
Some Tender products have made their option to restaurants and universities in the Boston area, and due to the recent partnership, Tender products are now in greater than a dozen Clover Food Lab locations in the area.
“We’re a popular vegetarian chain, so as you can imagine, we’re testing a lot of new plant-based products,” Chris Anderson, Clover’s senior vice chairman, said in a statement. “Tender’s has stood out from the start – it’s innovative, delicious, and a great addition to our grain bowls and salads.”
The move is supported by a recent money injection of $11 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Rhapsody Venture Partners, joined by existing investors similar to Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital and Safar Partners, and recent investors Claridge Partners and Nor’ Easter Ventures. In 2022, the company raised $12 million in seed funding.
In addition to meeting the demand of the recent restaurant customer, the funds will likely be used for further product development. Chantre said it also intends to scale up co-production with other firms to supply products price thousands and thousands of kilos.
The company continues to check its products on the market, including: in firms from the catering industry and large corporations involved in food production. In the long term, Chantre also sees Tender Food as a technology enabler for the entire food tech industry, working with many different players across the value chain and possibly licensing its technologies.
Meanwhile, Tender Food recently added Mike Messersmith, former president of Oatly in North America, to its board of directors. After joining Oatly in 2017, Messersmith pioneered the company’s launch into the US market. Chantre said he met Messersmith through one of his investors.
“As we have evolved from a technology company to a technology and sales company, we are recruiting builders and operators like Mike who have this experience,” he said. “We think this is really valuable for the next stage of our development.”