Planted builds additional production facility for Europe in southern Germany

Zurich, Switzerland, September 10, 2024 - Planted, Swiss FoodTech pioneer for plant-based meat made exclusively from natural ingredients, is investing further in capacity expansion with a new production facility in southern Germany. Based on fermentation technology, the site will become the most modern production facility for plant-based meat in Europe. Green technology plays a central role in the construction of the new plant.

Demand for environmentally friendly foods has risen rapidly, with the recently launched planted.steak in particular appealing to European consumers and restaurateurs. Planted is therefore continuing to ramp up its capacities. The company is convinced that biostructured proteins will outperform animal meat in terms of taste, sustainability, health, productivity and price in the future.  

Research and production has been carried out at the main site in Kemptthal, Switzerland, since 2020. The German market now accounts for the largest share of the 75% of exports. With the aim of producing as close and locally to consumers as possible, Planted has now decided to open another production site in Memmingen, Bavaria, Germany. An old brewery site is being revitalized to create the most modern European production facility for plant-based meat. Commissioning is planned for the first quarter of 2025. At the Memmingen site, Planted will create more than 50 technical and operational jobs and produce more than 20 tons of plant-based meat per day in the medium term.

The Kemptthal site will maintain its production and importance, particularly for the Swiss market. 

Better proteins: Planted's Whole Muscle platform   

It was only in April this year that Planted presented its latest culinary innovation: the planted.steak. A new type of plant-based fermented steak that is available in numerous European restaurants as well as in retail outlets in Switzerland and Germany. The planted.steak is the first product in Planted's "Whole Muscle" platform, a pioneering platform for premium cuts of meat that grows muscle through proprietary fermentation processes. In spring 2024, the strategic expansion of production capacity in Kemptthal began with a state-of-the-art fermentation plant. This expansion is now being continued at the new production site in Memmingen.  

"Our international expansion follows the strategic decision to expand our biotechnological expertise and locations abroad, close to our customers. Our goal is to quickly bring innovative products from our fermentation platform to the market, in particular the planted.steak, which uses our currently most advanced and disruptive fermentation technology in terms of scalability, taste and product quality", explains Lukas Böni, co-founder and member of the executive board of Planted. "The investment in the additional production site enables us to meet the rapidly growing market demand and produce even closer to our German customers"continues Lukas Böni.

Green Technology: leading the way in sustainable food production  

"We are proud to be one of the few innovators of plant-based meat that covers so many steps in the value chain - from research and development to industrial production," explains Lukas Böni. "This depth of value creation allows us to develop and implement our vision of 'better proteins' even more strongly and stringently, as we do at the plant in Memmingen, for example, with regard to green technology and sustainable production", continues Böni.

Green technology plays a central role in the construction of the new plant. The site is operatedThe site is operated almost completely CO2 neutral and is entirely free of fossil fuels - instead, well cooling, district heating from wood heating and photovoltaics are used. This ensures that all the energy used to manufacture the Planted products in the new plant comes from renewable sources. Planted is therefore a pioneer and shows what the energy transition in food production can look like.

Planted is implementing the project in Memmingen together with the local Alois Müller Group, which specializes in sustainable energy and the strategic development of decentralized infrastructures supplied with sustainable energy. Andreas Müller, Managing Director of the Alois Müller Group, is enthusiastic: "We are very pleased to be working with Planted, particularly in the areas of sustainability at the site and with regard to our expertise in the technical implementation of sustainable solutions in building technology. For example, the plant is supplied with photovoltaic electricity, well cooling and regionally generated district heating in an almost CO2-neutral way." 

Up to 97% less CO2 emissions
Planted products are already a culinary innovation are not only a culinary innovation, but also a scalable and sustainable solution to the environmental challenges associated with industrial meat production - with the planted.steak in particular that of beef production. Compared to its animal counterpart, the production of a planted.steak produces 97% less CO2 emissions and 81% less water consumption per kilogram.

In Memmingen, around 5,000 tons of plant-based meat will be produced annually in the medium term. This will lead to high CO2 savings compared to animal meat - savings that correspond to the annual CO2 emissions of around half the inhabitants of the city of Memmingen.