Plant-based Just Egg to launch sous vide bites
Dive Brief:
- Eat Just’s newest product, featuring its plant-based Just Egg substitute cooked sous vide, will hit select store shelves in March, the company announced Monday. Just Egg Sous Vide Plant Egg Bites were developed by Just Egg and leading sous vide food manufacturer and distributor Cuisine Solutions.
- Sous vide is a cooking technique in which food is vacuum-sealed in a container and slowly cooked in water at a consistent temperature. Just Egg Sous Vide Plant Egg Bites, which come frozen and can be heated in an oven or microwave, come in four varieties with international flair: America — with roasted potato, dill, chives, red bell pepper and black pepper; India — with curry, broccoli, cauliflower, coconut milk and lemongrass; Japan — with portobello mushrooms, yams, togarashi, soy and tamari; and Mexico — with roasted poblanos, chipotle chile powder, black beans, corn and lime.
- The launch is the latest format Eat Just is using to make its mung bean-based Just Egg more convenient. Just Egg also is sold in a bottled liquid form that can be cooked like conventional eggs, and a folded cooked form that can be warmed in a toaster and put on a breakfast sandwich. According to Nielsen statistics from Eat Just, in the 12 months ended Oct. 3, Just Egg was the fastest-growing egg brand in grocery — both plant-based and conventional — with 367% growth in dollar sales compared to the previous year. As of October, Just Egg was available at or coming to more than 19,000 grocers, and in more than 500 foodservice locations. The company announced earlier this month its products would be at about 500 locations of Dicos, a large Chinese quick-service restaurant chain.
Dive Insight:
Eat Just seems to have cracked the secret to success in the egg business: innovative new products that nobody else makes and that solve a consumer need.
The original bottled Just Egg provides a pretty close experience to cooking and eating actual eggs, but it’s plant-based. There aren’t frozen folded egg products widely available in stores, other than the one made by Eat Just. And with the sous vide bites, Eat Just is bringing its plant-based egg right on trend with a product only a few manufacturers offer for conventional eggs at retail.
Sous vide egg bites became popular last year, after three years of success as a breakfast item at Starbucks. However, according to Food Business News, consumers are concentrating more on making their own egg bites instead of buying them in their grocer’s freezer. A few CPG companies make them, including Nestlé’s Life Cuisine brand. However, neither Nestlé nor some of the smaller sous vide egg bite manufacturers, including Organic Valley, have the diversity of international flavors of Eat Just’s egg bites. And none of the others are plant-based.
Eat Just’s partnership with Cuisine Solutions also makes it stand out. The Virginia-based company is credited with inventing and perfecting sous vide cooking. Through the partnership, it’s apparent that Eat Just is putting culinary thinking into its egg bites, and the product is likely to exemplify what the cooking technique can do.
In a statement from Eat Just, Cuisine Solutions President and CEO Felipe Hasselmann said the partnership made sense.
“Both organizations seek to impact and revolutionize the food industry on a daily basis, which is what makes this such a natural partnership,” Hasselmann said. “There are very few food companies in the world that could match the culinary innovation capabilities of Cuisine Solutions R&D. Eat Just has this same DNA when it comes to being open to forward-thinking, innovative ideas and developments. We are extremely excited to start supplying customers with the best sous vide egg bites in the market made with the best plant-based eggs.”
It’s also a very good time to be launching a breakfast item. As the coronavirus pandemic has kept many consumers homebound since last spring, more people are taking time for breakfast — and manufacturers have been working to create new options for them. But, as many analysts are predicting widespread COVID-19 vaccinations will allow consumers to return to their previous patterns within the coming months, Just Egg Sous Vide Plant Egg Bites may have a leg up on other options thanks to their versatility. The bites are small and convenient, able to be eaten on the run or at the breakfast table.