Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Beef Grounds are now available in a vegan taco salad at Foxtrot
BOSTON, September 21, 2023 —Motif FoodWorks, the food technology company making plant-based foods more delicious, announced a partnership with Foxtrot, the next generation corner store and café, who is now offering Motif’s alternative beef product in a premade meal across their 30 locations. This comes following Motif’s entry into foodservice earlier this year, where the company launched their Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Burger Patties and Grounds and Motif PorkWorks™ Plant-Based Grounds products.
Foxtrot, the Chicago-based brand known for redefining convenience for the modern consumer, offers a wide variety of products including freshly crafted chef-prepared meals, premium groceries, handpicked wine and spirits, snacks and sweets, along with personal care products. The brand initially signed an agreement with Motif for a limited time offering. However, Foxtrot opted to extend their partnership and make the product a multi-season feature on their menus. Foxtrot’s Vegan Taco Salad featuring Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Beef Grounds atop a bed of romaine lettuce, roasted corn, tomatoes, jalapeño, onion, cilantro and a lime vinaigrette, is currently available to purchase for pickup or delivery at all of Foxtrot’s locations.
“Motif BeefWorks™ came with lots of deep savory flavor that we historically find absent in most plant-based alternative proteins. I was impressed by how workable the product really was…it seared, caramelized, and roasted much like animal-based proteins,” said Justin Schaub,
Senior Director of Culinary at Foxtrot Market. Schaub also added that “While perhaps not relevant to our current concept [the Taco Salad], I feel like the Motif product is [also] a best-in-class beef alternative for burger-making—especially smash burgers, which is the vehicle through which I first sampled the product.”
“88% of consumers expect to maintain or increase their consumption of plant-based foods, and we’re proud to create products that make that goal a little bit easier – and tastier,” said Michael Leonard, CEO of Motif FoodWorks. “Working with partners like Foxtrot amplifies our mission to bring the next generation of delicious foods to the world by offering consumers the better tasting, plant-based options they have been demanding. This is only the beginning for Motif and we look forward to continuing our momentum into foodservice.”
For more information about Motif’s line of foodservice offerings, visit www.servewithmotif.com
To try Foxtrot’s Vegan Taco Salad made with Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Chili-Spiced Taco Grounds, visit your nearest Foxtrot location or order delivery from the app: https://foxtrotco.com/get-the-app
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About Motif FoodWorks
Motif FoodWorks is creating the next generation of food. We are a food technology company developing breakthrough ingredients that unleash the promise of plant-based foods and transform the eating experience – from first bite to lasting impact. With food as our passion and innovation coded into our DNA, we are driven by the science of more. More taste. More texture. More choices for consumers. That is why our work has gone beyond the lab. We have taken it all the way to the plate with products grown from the universal experience of what great food should be: tantalizing, satiating, and nourishing. Our ecosystem of ingredients and finished products are designed for people of all habits and beliefs and with the health of our planet always in mind. Because at Motif, we believe the food of the future should set you free. For more information, visit www.madewithmotif.com.
About Foxtrot
Foxtrot is redefining convenience for the modern consumer, marrying the best of neighborhood retail and e-commerce technology to create a community of discovery. Its spaces offer the most-loved aspects of neighborhood cafés, and you can turn to the Foxtrot app or website for 30-minute delivery and five-minute pickup of a city’s best goods – from local beers and fine wines to chef-prepared meals and everyday essentials. Foxtrot also ships the best of its favorite foods, goods and curated gifts nationwide via Foxtrot Anywhere. There are currently 30 Foxtrot locations across Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Austin, with plans to continue expansion in existing markets. For more information, visit https://foxtrotco.com/ or download in the App Store.
Media Contacts
Julia Dacri
Motif FoodWorks
jdacri@motiffoodworks.com
Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Beef Grounds are now available in a vegan taco salad at Foxtrot
BOSTON, September 21, 2023 —Motif FoodWorks, the food technology company making plant-based foods more delicious, announced a partnership with Foxtrot, the next generation corner store and café, who is now offering Motif’s alternative beef product in a premade meal across their 30 locations. This comes following Motif’s entry into foodservice earlier this year, where the company launched their Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Burger Patties and Grounds and Motif PorkWorks™ Plant-Based Grounds products.
Foxtrot, the Chicago-based brand known for redefining convenience for the modern consumer, offers a wide variety of products including freshly crafted chef-prepared meals, premium groceries, handpicked wine and spirits, snacks and sweets, along with personal care products. The brand initially signed an agreement with Motif for a limited time offering. However, Foxtrot opted to extend their partnership and make the product a multi-season feature on their menus. Foxtrot’s Vegan Taco Salad featuring Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Beef Grounds atop a bed of romaine lettuce, roasted corn, tomatoes, jalapeño, onion, cilantro and a lime vinaigrette, is currently available to purchase for pickup or delivery at all of Foxtrot’s locations.
“Motif BeefWorks™ came with lots of deep savory flavor that we historically find absent in most plant-based alternative proteins. I was impressed by how workable the product really was…it seared, caramelized, and roasted much like animal-based proteins,” said Justin Schaub,
Senior Director of Culinary at Foxtrot Market. Schaub also added that “While perhaps not relevant to our current concept [the Taco Salad], I feel like the Motif product is [also] a best-in-class beef alternative for burger-making—especially smash burgers, which is the vehicle through which I first sampled the product.”
“88% of consumers expect to maintain or increase their consumption of plant-based foods, and we’re proud to create products that make that goal a little bit easier – and tastier,” said Michael Leonard, CEO of Motif FoodWorks. “Working with partners like Foxtrot amplifies our mission to bring the next generation of delicious foods to the world by offering consumers the better tasting, plant-based options they have been demanding. This is only the beginning for Motif and we look forward to continuing our momentum into foodservice.”
For more information about Motif’s line of foodservice offerings, visit www.servewithmotif.com
To try Foxtrot’s Vegan Taco Salad made with Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Chili-Spiced Taco Grounds, visit your nearest Foxtrot location or order delivery from the app: https://foxtrotco.com/get-the-app
###
About Motif FoodWorks
Motif FoodWorks is creating the next generation of food. We are a food technology company developing breakthrough ingredients that unleash the promise of plant-based foods and transform the eating experience – from first bite to lasting impact. With food as our passion and innovation coded into our DNA, we are driven by the science of more. More taste. More texture. More choices for consumers. That is why our work has gone beyond the lab. We have taken it all the way to the plate with products grown from the universal experience of what great food should be: tantalizing, satiating, and nourishing. Our ecosystem of ingredients and finished products are designed for people of all habits and beliefs and with the health of our planet always in mind. Because at Motif, we believe the food of the future should set you free. For more information, visit www.madewithmotif.com.
About Foxtrot
Foxtrot is redefining convenience for the modern consumer, marrying the best of neighborhood retail and e-commerce technology to create a community of discovery. Its spaces offer the most-loved aspects of neighborhood cafés, and you can turn to the Foxtrot app or website for 30-minute delivery and five-minute pickup of a city’s best goods – from local beers and fine wines to chef-prepared meals and everyday essentials. Foxtrot also ships the best of its favorite foods, goods and curated gifts nationwide via Foxtrot Anywhere. There are currently 30 Foxtrot locations across Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Austin, with plans to continue expansion in existing markets. For more information, visit https://foxtrotco.com/ or download in the App Store.
Media Contacts
Julia Dacri
Motif FoodWorks
jdacri@motiffoodworks.com
How do you recreate the taste, texture and overall experience of biting into a juicy plant-based burger? Believe it or not, the science behind the physical properties of food and how it leads to different sensory experiences does not currently exist. That’s why we’re partnering with the University of Queensland (UQ) to answer this question.
This culinary quest is part of a three-year Australian Research Council project to better understand the sensory experience around the taste and texture of plant-based foods. While previous approaches relied on trial and error to measure these sensory inputs, this project will develop new sciences that uncover novel insights for measuring the physics, physiology and sensory experiences of eating food.
Ultimately, UQ’s work will help the bridge knowledge-gap in what happens to food at the material level—from the first bite of a burger to how it breaks down and dissolves in the mouth. Professor Jason Stokes and Associate Professor Heather Smyth are leading this work at the university, and will bring their expertise in chemical engineering and nutritional food science to the project. They are also working alongside Professor Louw Hoffman, Professor of Meat Science, who has a deep understanding of the material properties of meat.
I spoke to them about their hopes and goals for this project—and here’s what they had to say.
Motif Team (MT): Congratulations on winning a grant to dive deeper into this important research. Recreating the taste, texture and experience of biting into a juicy beef burger using plant-based proteins is the Holy Grail of 21st century food science. Motif FoodWorks and UQ have worked together in this area before, so it’s great that we can cement our relationship by partnering to tackle big industry challenges around plant-based foods.
Jason Stokes (JS): It’s exciting to work with Motif, especially since your team includes a bevy of academics from around the world. We started this adventure when I was in the industry about 15 years ago and it continued when I joined UQ. We wrote influential pieces about how food is transformed during the eating process—this is something that no one really focused on before and now we’re uncovering new techniques to examine that. Collaborating with Heather Smyth is really the step change because we can bring in a more sensory angle.
Heather Smyth (HS): We’ve been doing a lot of work to understand how functional ingredients can change and how we can modify them to create a more pleasurable eating experience for consumers. We have a unique offering here, with both a fundamental understanding of human oral physiology and sensory science, as well as the chemical engineering, structural or physical properties of food.
MT: Consumer demand for plant-based food is rising steadily, but the food industry has struggled in providing a plant-based experience that emulates the overall taste, texture, and aroma of meat. Why is this so challenging for plant-based proteins?
HS: Well, they’re not meat proteins to start with! They don’t functionally behave the same way that meat proteins do. So, they don’t release juiciness like a beef burger does or break down in the same way. And they don’t have that elastic quality when you’re eating a meat burger. We need to understand why they’re different, how they’re different and what consumers are really looking for from meat alternative products.
MT: How will this grant help uncover the differences between plant-based proteins and meat, especially in how they behave in foods we love to enjoy like burgers?
JS: As we eat food, we chew it, it interacts with saliva, it breaks down and that food is transformed quite dramatically. My research tries to understand that process in a mechanical sense and how that links to our sensory perception of the food, both in texture and taste. What is it that’s different about the structure in the product that leads to a difference in perception? If we can get a better handle on that, then we can deliver a seamless sensory experience and emulate as many features as possible with plant-based meat.
MT: In many ways this research grant is quite timely as consumer demand for plant-based foods has been rising steadily for the past few years, as has the global population and awareness of the global climate crisis. Why do you think people are adopting more meat alternatives into their diet and will consumers’ desires help drive it forward?
HS: Certainly, there’s a strong consumer drive for food products that are more sustainable and allow us to make choices that are better for the environment. Let’s say there’s a protein shortage in the future if our population doubles as is predicted, we still need to feed all those people and they’ll want to eat something that’s both sustainable and delicious.
JS: This grant is exciting because it’s focused on plant-based foods. One of the biggest challenges in research is that consumers are driving this desire to be more focused around sustainability. This project is aimed at the most commonly eaten foods and trying to understand what makes meat products so interesting. What is in the structure of meat that leads to a different sensory presence and why are we attracted to it? We want to keep a similar eating experience but with alternative proteins.
MT: This is a three-year research project, where do you hope to be by the end of it?
JS: I expect that the knowledge and insights we generate will be used by Motif to make better plant-based foods. We will generate new knowledge that’s not been previously available and expanding that knowledge base into the sector is really important. We also want to train the next generation to think creatively and make a step change for companies in the food sector.
HS: In the short term, I really hope that we’re able to make some real breakthroughs in understanding how to modify and change plant proteins in a way that makes them just as good as meat. It’s going to take some breakthroughs in understanding how to make plant proteins as delicious as their animal counterparts. Together, UQ and Motif are working hard to develop a plant protein a sustainable option that meets high consumer standards.
Read more about Motif’s work with the University of Queensland team.
Plant-based foods are going mainstream.
Thanks to growing awareness of the health benefits of plant-based diets, and of the climate impacts of animal agriculture, more consumers are seeking out plant-based foods for the first time. The plant-based industry is a $25 billion market that’s growing four times faster than animal-based markets.[1] In 2020 alone, the plant-based dairy market grew 12% year-over-year, compared to 3% for its animal-based counterparts, while plant-based meat grew 25% compared to animal-based meat’s 9%.[1]
While the plant-based industry is growing, it’s important to note that there are still gaps in consumer acceptance. Our research at Motif FoodWorks and others’[2] reveal that the biggest need and opportunity to gain wider acceptance is in improving taste and the sensory experience. In fact, two out of three Americans (67 percent) say they would be willing to eat more plant-based foods instead of meat if plant-based options tasted better than they do today.[3]
So how can we get more consumers to adopt plant-based foods? Beyond tastier products, the key is understanding who the plant-based consumer is – and what they want.
Who is the plant-based consumer?
Based on our research with more than two thousand plant-based consumers, the average plant-based consumer is female, millennial, and politically leans liberal. Of the plant-based consumers surveyed, 69% were female, 29% male and 2% not identifying as male or female. Millennials made up 55% of the market, with Gen X coming in at 24%. Previous generations such as Boomers are slower in plant-based adoption, making up just 12% of the category.
What are they looking for?
The plant-based consumer is looking for more than what’s currently on the market, and are disappointed by the taste, texture and versatility of plant-based products when compared to the real thing. They expect plant-based products to easily integrate into traditional meals that use animal-based counterparts such as ground meats and shreds. And they want to incorporate plant-based into their lives through simple at-home preparation and substitute it into comfort foods such as pizza or chicken nuggets.
Where offerings fall short – and how to fix it
This surge in consumer demand is a major opportunity for the food industry, but it also presents its biggest challenge: making plant-based options that consumers want to buy again and again.
Consumers who are particularly conscious of health, animal welfare and sustainability no longer need to be convinced of the value of plant-based foods, but most consumers are still skeptical about how they actually taste. Some of these consumers even told us that today’s offerings feel limited. They want to move beyond animal mimics, and are increasingly interested in new, innovative plant-based food forms.
Understanding consumers’ needs and filling those gaps is essential to growing the plant-based category. That’s why at Motif FoodWorks we’re constantly talking with them – and why we believe that you shouldn’t compromise taste and experience when it comes to plant-based foods.
That no compromise approach is behind our recent food-tech breakthroughs that create the rich meaty taste, appearance and texture in plant-based meat. In fact, when we tested these products in a burger designed with our food tech, 73% of core plant-based consumers preferred our showcase burger to an 80/20 beef burger. We’re also hard at work on creating new, plant-based food forms that have the capability to stand on their own and occupy the center of consumers’ plates.
Ultimately, our mission is to make plant-based foods better tasting, more nutritious, and so desirable that people crave them. These consumer insights show that there’s a huge opportunity to do just that. Visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter to keep up-to-date on our progress and what’s new in the world of plant-based foods.
This blog was originally published on Women in Agribusiness.
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[1] Nielsen & Euromonitor 2020.
[2] Accelerating Consumer Adoption of Plant-Based Meat: An Evidence-Based Guide for Effective Practice. The Good Food Institute 2020.
[3] Climate change and the American diet. Yale University and Earth Day Network 2020.