If you turn off Highway 1 at just the right spot in Moss Landing, California, past fruit stands, roadside cafes and artichoke farms, you may catch a sudden whiff of bacon. It’s surprising, because this exit leads to the headquarters of the vegetarian meal company Sweet Earth, where bacon — at least the kind made from pigs — is absolutely not on the menu.
Monterey County, where Moss Landing is situated, is the perfect place for a vegetarian business. Home of the Salinas Valley, the so-called “salad bowl of the world,” it’s one of the most productive agricultural areas on the planet, growing more than 150 crops including lettuce — lots of lettuce. It’s been Sweet Earth’s home for years, well before Nestlé acquired the then 350-person company in 2017. But these days, it’s turning into something else — Nestlé’s Plant-Based Protein Center of Excellence, the beating heart of the massive food company’s recent foray into fake meat.
At the Moss Landing facility, where factory workers crank out the wheat-gluten-based Benevolent Bacon responsible for the scent, changes are afoot. Nestlé is spending more than $5 million to renovate the facility, adding new equipment, more freezer capacity, “meat” smokers and more. Construction is underway, and soon employees will start making a slew of new products, including the Awesome Burger, Nestlé’s answer to the Impossible and Beyond Meat burgers.
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