SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hampton Creek, a company that applies cutting-edge science and technology to create healthier, more sustainable foods today announced the launch of Just Scramble. The first-of-its kind product will be rolling out first in San Francisco and expanding to additional locations and cities in 2018.
Just Scramble tastes like egg, is free of antibiotics and cholesterol, and its ingredients require less water and emit fewer carbon emissions than conventional eggs. The product, which has already won acclaim from notable chefs and food enthusiasts, is made from a 4,400-year-old legume called a mung bean that scrambles like an egg.
"We were lucky enough to find something that has impacted our food system for thousands of years and turn it into a meal that will impact it for thousands more," said Hampton Creek cofounder and CEO Josh Tetrick. “Launching Just Scramble is the culmination of years of hard work by our talented team."
Even before its launch, Just Scramble took home a top honor at the annual gathering of the international protein industry in September. A month prior, Hampton Creek received confirmation of "GRAS" (generally recognized as safe) status for its mung bean protein isolate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The debut of Just Scramble is a major milestone for the company. In the last four years, Hampton Creek has grown from zero to 100,000 points of distribution, releasing some of the fastest-selling products in several categories. The multi-billion-dollar egg industry, with one trillion eggs laid globally last year, represents one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the global food system.
New Funding
As part of this landmark launch, and to ensure the product’s rapid expansion, Hampton Creek announced that Radicle Impact and Blue Horizon, two firms that invest in systemic social and environmental impact, will be investing in the company alongside other mission-driven investors.
“We're pleased to have the opportunity to continue our longstanding support of Hampton Creek's mission. We appreciate the team's work endeavoring to build a healthier food system and environmental resilience through innovative, plant-based protein solutions. Transformation of incumbent systems on a large scale is never easy, and we admire the food justice and sustainability goals Josh Tetrick and the Hampton Creek team are trying to hold fast and accomplish,” said Dan Skaff, Managing Partner Radicle Impact.
“We’re excited to invest in Hampton Creek, which has proven itself to be an innovative and disruptive food company. We look forward to supporting the development of new plant-based products and seeing the Just-branded product line grow," said Blue Horizon CEO Roger Lienhard.
“Our vision requires global partnerships across disciplines and we’re grateful to have our new investors join Mitsui, Temasek, Founders Fund, Horizons, and other long-term partners in achieving our mission to build a world where everyone has the chance to eat well," Tetrick said of the capital that will be used to scale Just Scramble, among other uses.
Sustainability Metrics
Hampton Creek also announced sustainability metrics for all of its products today* -- including Just Scramble, the ingredients for which save more fresh water than conventional egg products and emit fewer greenhouse gases.
By choosing Just-branded products like Just Mayo, Dressing, Cookies and Cookie Dough over other leading brands, consumers helped save upwards of 254,000,000 gallons of fresh water between January 1 and October 31, 2017 – enough to fill more than 12,722 swimming pools. They’ve also helped avoid emitting over 2,511 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent of more than 196,120 cars kept off the road for a day. On top of that, consumers have eliminated the need for more than 3,947,592 eggs.**
“Our ingredient metrics and unique methodology can help make existing and future products more sustainable and we’ve begun reviewing additional factors like soil health, overall fossil fuel use and fertilizer run-off among others,” said Udi Lazimy, Global Plant Sourcing Lead at Hampton Creek. “Ultimately, we want our environmental impact work to encourage stronger sustainability analytics across the food industry."
* Results (1/1-10/31/2017) are based on publicly available ingredient data for leading brands and our own product ingredient data. Competitor formulations are modeled and may be different than actual proprietary formulations. A number of variables influence sustainability metrics; for example, one can measure all water required by a given activity, or more relevantly, only fresh water used from lakes, rivers, and aquifers ("blue" water). That is our initial approach. Hampton Creek’s technical methodology report to assess sustainability metrics is available here. The report was reviewed and independently validated by sustainability consulting firm Third Partners. Their validation statement can be found here.
** Hampton Creek calculated the total quantity of eggs in competitor products using the same underlying methodology used to calculate GHG and water impacts and assumed an average large egg without its shell has a mass of 50 grams, that hens produce 279 eggs per year.