JUST Egg to enter Canadian Whole Foods and Walmart stores this fall

16-Jul-2020 - Last updated on 16-Jul-2020 at 16:57 GMT

Photo: Eat JUST Inc.

Eat JUST Inc. will launch its folded plant-based egg products at Whole Foods Market and select Walmart stores in Canada, where demand and investment in plant-based food is skyrocketing, says CEO and co-founder Josh Tetrick.

The products, which will be marketed as ‘JUST Plant Egg’, will hit the frozen aisle at Whole Foods stores in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Ottawa, and at more than 100 Walmart stores across Canada.

In the US, sales of the toaster-ready product have surged since April, where it is now the #1 frozen breakfast entrée by velocity in the natural channel, according to SPINS data (last four weeks ending 6/14/20). At a top-five US supermarket, velocity has more than tripled, with JUST Egg’s folded egg reaching the #1 spot in frozen breakfast, surpassing frozen waffles, SPINS data for the week ending 7/12/20 showed.

The company is also working with regulators to bring JUST Egg’s original pourable plant-based egg product to Canadian consumers as soon as possible.

“We’re working hard to make our products available in as many places as possible and launching in Canada, where demand for plant-based proteins is strong and growing, brings us one step closer to that goal,” said Tetrick.

More than 10.2 million Canadians are reducing or eliminating meat consumption, up from 6.4 million in 2018, according to Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab’s year-end study.

The study also found that 31% of Canadians are actively trying to incorporate more plant-based food and beverages in 2020, and 24% planned to visit the freezer aisle.

At a national level, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a government investment of $100m (over ten years) into the country's plant-based protein market, which is expected to grow 14% annually by 2024, and will account for up to a third of Canada's entire protein market, according to the National Research Council Canada.

"With plant-based diets on the rise in Canada and the government's own recent announcement of major investments in the plant-protein field, we believe there's no better time to enter the Canadian market," said the company.

The key ingredient of JUST Egg products is protein from the mung bean, a legume that has been cultivated for thousands of years and is consumed all over the world. The product is NON-GMO Project verified, free of cholesterol and has 7g protein per serving. Its ingredients use 98% less water, have a 93% smaller carbon footprint and use 86% less land than conventional animal sources, according to Eat Just Inc.