The world’s first vegan and carbon-negative oat-based ice cream has been produced by Plan(e)t Foods, which claims to be the first vegan company to ever be launched in Greece and to have earned €400K in its first investment round, which was spearheaded by Greek angel investors.
The portfolio of Plan(e)t Foods, which Grigoris Bograkos founded in 2021, is presently offered in more than 500 stores throughout Greece. “In under 18 months of operations, we are already distributing our plant-based – and indistinguishable from dairy – ice cream through all major supermarket chains in Greece, currently available in 500+ stores,” Founder Greg Bograkos said.
“We are proud of our impressive unit economics and growth (on track for 5x sales vs 2021), but above all, we are proud for building an ethical & planet friendly brand, as we are the world’s first plant-based and carbon negative ice cream,” he added.
In an effort to reduce and offset carbon emissions by 110%, the firm has teamed up with a UK-based independent climate action advice to quantify direct and indirect emissions.
Erietta Kourkoulou Latsi, a vegan and ethical investor, Albertos Revach of Humble Holdings and AMVYX, and Dimitris Georgakopoulos of Zeno Capital served as the angel round’s primary investors. The new funding will be applied to growing the ice cream brand into the grocery channel in order to strengthen its domestic presence.
You can’t tell the difference
According to Bograkos, the reason why its dairy-free ice cream is successful is that it tastes, feels, and experiences exactly like regular dairy ice cream. He reveals that after doing countless tests and spending countless hours in the lab utilizing oat beverages as a substitute for milk, the final oat-based ice cream recipe was developed.
With thirteen flavors, including Triple Chocolate Brownie, Double Pistachio, Peanut Butter & Caramel, and Strawberry & Pavlova, the firm opened its first ice cream shop in Monastiraki, Athens, in July 2022. According to the startup, as part of its zero-waste effort, the ice cream shop serves its ice creams in vegan, edible cups and spoons made of waffle and biscuit.
“Our planet-friendly and plant-based ice cream is not a substitute product, but the successor of dairy ice cream. We are proud of our impressive growth, but above all, we are proud of building an ethical and planet-friendly brand, as we are the world’s first vegan and carbon-negative ice cream,” Bograkos explained.
“We are getting ready to launch more stores. Our ice cream is already better and indistinguishable from dairy hence it doesn’t make sense to keep the cows in the equation,” he added.
The Plan(e)t Ice Creams brand is offered online by Pop Market, Wolt Market, and E-fresh as well as at domestic grocery chains such Sklavenitis, AB, My Market, Biologiko Chorio, and Thanopoulos.
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