[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Juicy Marbles.]
Juicy Marbles—a Slovenian startup making high-end plant-based filet mignon steaks, loins and baby ribs—is planning a move into the US retail market in 2025 following a successful debut online and is now developing a new more accessible product to broaden its consumer base.
The firm, known for its quirky marketing, is now in 3,500 stores in multiple European markets, with major retail accounts including Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Whole Foods, Billa, Migros and Lidl, says cofounder and CEO Tilen Travnik, who is aiming to get to profitability by the end of this year as the startup achieves greater economies of scale.
“We have a new product in the pipeline that retains the features consumers are looking for but will be manufactured in a more efficient way [with a lower price point].
“We’re also exploring how partnerships can help us in store, so we’ve done some bundling, most recently with Graza, the olive oil brand, so we’re looking at how this kind of thing can work for us in future.”
‘Accidental’ mention on Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat
While it’s still early days for the brand in the US market, awareness jumped at the beginning of the year when Juicy Marbles got an “accidental” mention in the high-profile Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat, says Travnik.
“It was during an interview, when they asked something like, ‘Is there such a thing as a plant-based steak?’ And then somebody from the audience shouted ‘Juicy Marbles!’ It basically doubled our online revenue, which was a nice surprise!”
That said, online sales in the US are fiendishly expensive given the costs of temperature controlled shipping, he said, and the aim is to get into the retail market next year. “We have secured a key distributor in the US and we are gearing up to be available in US retail in 2025.”
According to Travnik, who says the firm engages with consumers via its newsletters and social media platforms, the Juicy Marbles consumer varies a little by market.
“In the US, I would say the purchasers are hardcore fans equally distributed between vegans, vegetarians and then non-vegans or vegetarians that maybe have somebody in the family that is a vegan or vegetarian. In European markets, however, I’d say we get more flexitarians, people that are reducing their meat intake but are still meat eaters.”
The future is hybrid
Juicy Marbles is one of several players making ‘whole cut’ meat alternatives, from Switzerland-based Planted to Israel-based Chunk Foods; Indonesia-based Green Rebel Foods; Germany-based Project Eaden; US-based MyForest Foods, Meati Foods, and Mooii Meats; France-based Umiami; and Spain’s Novameat.
The firm has not disclosed what tech it uses to make its whole cuts, although Travnik say it deploys “an extrusion-like process to texturize the protein,” with “the interesting parts” happening afterwards, “where we get the fibers, inject the fat and then color it and form it.”
The team—which is churning out about two tons of product a day from its manufacturing facility in Slovenia—is also working with startups in the precision fermentation and cell culture space developing more animal, or animal-like ingredients to explore how they could work in Juicy Marbles products, said Travnik.
“We’ve produced prototypes with two different cell culture companies and we’ve seen meaningful progress. It’s obviously a lab project right now, but it does validate the idea that the future is going to be hybrid. That’s my firm belief.
“Maybe not through cell cultured products immediately, maybe we have an intermediate step with things like precision fermented fats and other aromatic components, but I definitely see a future where plant-based represents the bulk of the material and the protein, and then fermented or cell cultured material added as an aromatic or functional component.”
The trough of disillusionment
Stepping back, he said, “The market has undergone quite a classical Gartner hype cycle and it is now in the trough of disillusionment.
“Consumers became bored with products that are not good enough, but I am actually quite confident that companies able to produce really good experiences for consumers will be able to not just survive, but grow, although the growth will not be as gigantic as the investors of Beyond and Impossible probably hoped for.”
Team members at Juicy Marbles, who are currently raising additional funds to expand the brand’s reach, have “set ourselves on a path to become profitable by the end of this year,” he added.
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