- The UK’s fastest-growing plant-based meat business is launching its “meatiest” chicken to date
- To kick start the launch it’s partnering with one of the UK’s leading home-cooking brands, Schwartz, to drive recipe inspiration and encourage more meat reduction this summer
- The partnership is being announced in the run up to THIS™ launching crowdfunding next week
The UK’s fastest-growing plant-based meat business, THIS™, has revamped its chicken recipe to create its ”meatiest” product yet. The award-winning brand is partnering with market-leading seasonings brand, Schwartz, to kick the launch off in-store and online.
THIS™ Isn’t Chicken is the business’s second-best selling product, behind bacon, and the overall second best-seller in the plant-based chicken category. The update to the recipe is helping to create an even more realistic taste, texture and appearance, adding more juiciness and flavour. The business is aiming to make it even easier for consumers to replace the UK’s most consumed meat in their day-to-day meals, without tasting the difference. The move is testament to THIS™’s commitment to hyper-realism, innovation and quality.
The updated chicken recipe will also now feature in new packaging with a meal shot, to help drive meal inspiration and a roundel sticker noting the ‘new and improved’ recipe. Recent consumer focus groups by the brand showed a demand for recipe inspiration when it comes to meat alternatives. This is also a core driver behind the brand’s partnership with Schwartz this summer. THIS™ and Schwartz are coming together to demonstrate how the versatility of the two brands can support the 18m UK consumers actively seeking to reduce their meat consumption.
From the 20th June, THIS™ Isn’t Chicken will feature on a recipe barker alongside Schwartz’s range in Tesco, ASDA and Morrisons stores nationwide. There will also be an online campaign running alongside this including a discount, paid ads, video content and social media promotion. The partnership provides recipe inspiration whilst also showing the taste credentials of THIS™ Isn’t Chicken to the Schwartz customer, who are predominantly meat-eaters. This is the first time the brand has partnered across different categories and with an everyday, household name. It will also be Schwartz’s first plant-based meat cross promotion and partnership.
Herbs, spices and sauces became key ingredients amid the lockdown boom in home cooking, which was positive for Schwartz. Shoppers continue to experiment with new flavours and Schwartz has firmly cemented itself as the go-to for home cooking.
Andy Shovel, Co-Founder of THIS™ says, ‘’This is our chicken-iest recipe yet. We’re super proud of it and even more proud to be partnering with Schwartz. They’re such a huge, foodie brand – it’s a big moment for us and a great opp to show how two brands can cross categories and complement each other.’’
Nicholas Day, Brand Manager for Schwartz, says; ‘’We know a large amount of our customer base is looking at reducing their meat consumption. Partnering with THIS™ felt like a ripe opportunity for showing them just how versatile the Schwartz range is and importantly, just how delicious plant-based food can be.’’
THIS™ was founded by ex-meat fanatics Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman in 2019 to create a plant-based meat brand for meat lovers. The business, now valued at £150m, announced this month it is crowdfunding to help drive its market-leading innovation, first international expansion and bold marketing. The £4m crowdfunding round is expected to be one of the largest on Seedrs and will open to the public next week. It is currently available for pre-registration here: Seedrs | THIS™ | Pre Registration.
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