SAN FRANCISCO – Hooray Foods debuts their innovative meat-free bacon with a 300-store rollout in Whole Foods, landing on shelves now throughout November. The brand is breaking through barriers to entry with a novel product that looks like bacon, sizzles like bacon, smells like bacon and tastes like bacon, but instead puts our health, environment and animal welfare first – Hooray for that!
Hooray Foods’ market entry is at a time when plant-based alternatives are enjoying unprecedented popularity with an estimated growth projection of $140 billion by 2029, according to Barclays analysts. Taking a unique approach, founder Sri Artham, a professed meat eater determined to become a more conscious eater, decided to start by veering into the plant-based food experience. “People who love bacon, love Hooray,” comments Artham, “I came at it from a totally different direction and developed it with a novel way to encapsulate fat in a substrate.” This means the finished product has a taste and texture that replicates the unique and delicious taste of bacon. Hooray Foods’ plant-based bacon is minimally processed and made with a mix of umami and salty, smoky flavors with a hint of sweetness. This is achieved with coconut oil, rice flour, tapioca starch, liquid smoke, umami seasoning (shiitake mushrooms, salt, mushroom extract, calcium carbonate), maple syrup, salt and beet juice concentrate.
“I wanted to do something that would have a positive environmental impact,” adds Artham, “While I’m not a chef, or a food scientist, I have been in the food industry for many years, so working to make an environmental difference seemed like a good place to start.” With eight years at Fair Trade USA, Artham learned that food can be a game changer when it comes to saving our planet, saying, “If you want to impact climate change, there’s almost no better way to do so than by changing what you eat.”
Giving consumers a better choice is a positive way to change the food system. Whether a consumer is concerned with the environment, animal welfare or their health, Hooray’s plant-based substitute contributes both to a cleaner planet, reducing carbon emissions by over 80%, while saving pigs from the slaughterhouse. Currently, there are over 70 million pigs living on U.S. farms today for food production.
Hooray Foods plans to partner with non-profit animal farms and sanctuaries to help provide funds toward pigs rescued from production and abuse.
With a seven-region rollout in Whole Foods, Hooray Foods’ gluten-free, allergy-free, dairy-free, soy-free, meat-free bacon checks all the boxes, while saving animals from the food system “One Pig at a Time” – now that’s something to celebrate.
About Hooray Foods:
Hooray Foods has a vision for plant-based meats that closely mimic their animal counterparts while using ingredients that consumers can feel great about, because eating should be a joyful, guilt-free experience. The hefty environmental impact of meat is the driving force behind the brand, but taste takes top billing. The visionary approach to creating plant-based bacon attracted Stray Dog Capital who recently led a seed round for Hooray Foods, after leading its pre-seed round last October. Members of the GlassWall Syndicate also participated in the round. With a head office and test kitchen in San Francisco, Hooray is poised to take its plant-based bacon to plates across America, while making a positive impact on the environment one crispy, delicious slice at a time!
