An Indonesian startup Green Butcher, has now changed its name to Green Rebel Foods, launched two new products, Beefless Steak and Chick'n Steak, which it calls "Asia's first Whole-Cut Vegetable Steak". Green Rebel Foods is a startup focused on providing healthy food, including plant-based meat.
The large number of requests to provide ready-to-cook products made Helga Angelina Tjahjadi and Max Mandias, as founders, decide to establish Green Rebel Foods. This startup focuses on providing alternatives to beef and chicken, namely plant-based meat products made from non-GMO soybeans, chickpeas, and wheat gluten seitan (www.greenqueen.com.hk). The taste of alternative ready-to-cook meat products draws from Asian and Indonesian culinary tastes such as Beefless Rendang, Chick'n Katsu, and Maranggi Beefless Satay.
Green Rebel Foods focuses on the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) segments. This startup has collaborated with various restaurants such as KOI Indonesia, Abuba Steak which has 29 outlets across Indonesia, and Pepperlunch with more than 50 outlets, Hause, and Plataran.
According to Green Rebel Foods, the production of these vegan meats has 15 times less negative impact on the environment than beaf steak’s production process. If consumers choose Green Rebel’s meat, they would be saving 4 years worth of drinking water and 44 kilometres driving worth of carbon emissions. This is key in Asia, where rising incomes and economic mobility means demand for animal protein is growing fast. Despite the pandemic, in 2020, beef imports to China increased by 76% compared to the year before.
In early 2021, Green Rebel Foods raised US$2 million (approximately IDR28 billion) in an early-stage funding round led by Unovis Asset Management and Teja Ventures. The fresh funds obtained will be used to develop the research and development (R&D) team, increase production, and offer products through a reseller network in the second quarter of 2021. On the official website, Green Rebel Foods has collaborated with 20 resellers, including Kem Chicks, Yummy Box , and Fitco (id.techinasia.com). (Ruhmaya Nida Wathoni. Illustration: eurekastreet.com.au)
