... [+]Sam Dennigan’s company gave Irish consumers a new way to eat vegetables and Irish supermarkets a new way to sell them. Now he wants to do the same thing in this country.
He is entering the U.S. market at a time when annual sales of plant-based products have reached $4.5 billion and are growing at a rate of 11%, the Plant-Based Foods Association “Plant-based foods are a growth engine, significantly outpacing overall grocery sales,” Julie Emmett, the PBFA’s senior director of retail partnerships, said when the report was released, The PBFA is urging U.S. supermarkets to offer more variety and maximize shelf space in the category.Less than a year after launching U.
The company has raised $18 million in financing from the N.Y. firm Goode Partners which will help fund the U.S. expansion, Dennigan said. A key part of the Strong Roots sales pitch to supermarkets involves serving fresh-cooked samples of its cauliflower hash browns, spinach bites, and other products during meetings with buyers and executives.He said the fact the Strong Roots has a proven track record in Ireland and the United Kingdom also helped it gain access to U.S. stores.
The popularity of celebrity chefs, and TV cooking shows, he said, was shifting eating habits away from boring vegetables like peas, carrots, and broccoli, and consumers were increasingly willing to try new things. One of the new things Dennigan produced first as a line of frozen sweet potato fries, which were still rare in Ireland.
“When you take a bite you can see the soybeans, you can see the kale, you can see pieces of carrot,” Dennigan said.
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