Seriously Sound Food Co in talks with Aldi to sell plant-based chicken nationwide

Seriously Sound Food Co. is in talks with German supermarket giant Aldi to stock its plant-based chicken pieces, just 12 months after launching.

The Tralee based company was established in July 2022 and launched its first two products in January this year. They are stocked at Dunnes Stores, Tesco and SuperValu.

According to Shane O’Connor, one of its two co-founders, talks are expected to be completed with Aldi in 2024 to list their products nationwide.

“We already worked with Aldi through their Grow with Aldi programme,” O’Connor said. “Now we plan to work with them on a permanent basis.”

Long time friends O’Connor and Richard Sharp started the company after they decided to reduce their meat intake.

“We wanted to use more alternative products, but on the Irish market there are not a whole lot of options and we really did not like any of them,” O’Connor said.

Neither founder had any experience in food production, so they looked for advice close to home.

“Tralee is home of the Kerry group and we managed to get some advice for plant-based meat production,” O’Connor said.

Both O’Connor’s and Sharp’s previous job experiences helped in setting up the company, O’Connor added.

“Richard previously worked in international sales, so he knew how to set up contacts,” O’Connor said. “He put a lot of work in to get us in the doors.”

O’Connor has a background in marketing and journalism, and designed the brand profile.

“I wanted to do something fun that would be different, but not judging people who eat meat,” he said. “We want to aim not only at vegans and vegetarians but also at flexitarians.

Looking abroad

The two co-founders found a manufacturer of plant-based meats in the Netherlands.

“We started the company with scaling in mind,” O’Connor said. “The manufacturer in the Netherlands was able to provide quick growing capacities.”

When it came to deciding what product Seriously Sound Food Co. should sell, O’Connor and Sharp based their decision on the state of plant based foods.

“Plant based chicken is the furthest in terms of research at the moment,” O’Connor said. “The texture is the closest to the meat original.”

O’Connor also added that the taste of chicken is less complex than that of other meats.

Plant based chicken is the furthest in terms of research at the moment. The texture is the closest to the meat original.

“We work with a third party in Ireland that develops our flavour profile, chicken was perfect for the first two products we had in mind,” O’Connor said.

Seriously Sound Food Co. launched two versions of its plant-based chicken fillet pieces. One is seasoned with a BBQ and mustard marinade, and the other is only lightly seasoned.

“Our goal was to produce the highest quality plant-based meat for the Irish market,” O’Connor said. “We are a bit higher in price than the competition, but we are of a better quality.”

He added that their product is made without any chemical additions. “It is only a soy and water base that is processed into the final form, other than products where you turn the package around and see a whole list of chemical ingredients that you do not know,” O’Connor said.

Testing the market

When the product was ready, O’Connor and Sharp managed to convince Dunnes Stores to test the market. “We soft-launched in January this year and tested in towns in Kerry that could not be further from choosing plant-based meats,” he said.

This was done to test how the taste and the texture of the products were received.

“We are both still meat eaters, so we compared our product with real chicken until we were real confident in the texture,” O’Connor said.

The feedback from the stores where so positive that Dunnes Store decided to list Seriously Sound Food Co. nationally. Other supermarket buyers followed shortly after.

For the first year, Seriously Sound Food Co. aimed for a turnover of €137,000. O’Connor and Sharp are the only two people working in the company.

“It has been a quick 12 months for sure,” O’Connor said. “We bootstrapped the company, and luckily got support from Enterprise Ireland through the pre-seed-start-fund.”

Support also came from Bord Bia, which helped them with contacts in the Netherlands and the UK.

“We were in the Netherlands a few weeks ago, to monitor the products on their market,” O’Connor said. “The markets on the European mainland are all very saturated, but our long term plan also includes expanding into those markets.”

For 2024, the company plans to introduce a product for the food service market like hotels and restaurants, O’Connor said, along with more flavour options.