If a Chinese-based business owner has wanted to create and sell a meat-free pork dumpling over the past decade, they might well have visited a three-story restaurant-laboratory in a commercial district of Shanghai to seek the help of Dr. Dong-Fang Chen.
He earned his PhD from Cambridge by focusing on plant molecular genetics, then worked at AstraZeneca, and now as vice-president for R&D in Asia-Pacific, he manages a group of several dozen scientists in Shanghai. They’re part of a global research workforce of roughly 1,000 at a Swiss firm called Firmenich, the world’s largest private business focused on developing flavors and aromas.
Chen’s team is tasked primarily with helping global and Chinese food businesses improve the taste and texture of their products, and these days, particularly those made using meat and dairy alternatives. Firmenich, doesn’t reveal its client list, but it includes some of the world’s largest food, fabric, beauty and household care businesses.
Beyond Meat increasing China focus
The plant-based protein market in China is attracting more attention. Just this month, Beyond Meat announced it was launching an online store for the Chinese market, in partnership with the e-commerce platform JD.com, and plans to expand beyond its current retail partners in China, including Starbucks and Yum China Holdings, to around 300 Chinese cities at a time when local consumers are more frequently buying fresh food online.
Both Beyond Meat and its main U.S. rival Impossible Foods see big opportunity in China and are aware success requires more than importing successful ideas from Western cuisine. “I will work very hard to make sure that we’re not exporting American taste,” Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown, September.
Late last year, Nestle launched a brand called Harvest Gourmet, offering non-meat burgers and nuggets, but also pork belly and kung pao chicken, among others, through Alibaba Group’s internet Tmall site and its Hema grocery store chain.
Both Nestle and Beyond Meat have built faux-meat manufacturing facilities in Tianjin and Jiaxing respectively, in competition with local giants Zhenmeat and Starfield.
