Planted builds additional production facility for Europe in southern Germany

Zürich, Switzerland, 10 September 2024 – Planted, the Swiss FoodTech pioneer for plant-based meat made exclusively from clean ingredients, is further investing in capacity expansion with the addition of 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.

The demand for environmentally friendly food has increased rapidly, and the recently launched steak has been particularly appealing to European consumers and restaurateurs. Planted is therefore continuing to ramp up its capacities. Planted is convinced that biostructured proteins will surpass animal meat in the future, in terms of flavour, sustainability, health, productivity and price.

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

The headquarters in Kemptthal will continue to maintain its production and importance, particularly for the Swiss market.

Better Proteins: Planted's Whole Muscle Platform  

In April this year, Planted presented its latest culinary innovation: the planted.steak. A new type of fermented plant-based steak that is available in numerous European restaurant establishments as well as in various retailers across Switzerland and Germany. The planted.steak is the first product of Planted's ‘Whole Muscle’ platform, a ground-breaking innovation platform for premium cuts of meat, where the muscle grows through proprietary fermentation processes. In spring 2024, the strategic expansion of the production capacity in Kemptthal began with a state-of-the-art fermentation plant. This expansion will now be continued at the new production site in Memmingen.

‘Our international expansion follows the strategic decision to bolster our biotechnological expertise and locations abroad, closer to our consumers. Our goal is to quickly bring innovative products from our fermentation platform to the market. In particular the planted.steak, which currently uses our most advanced and disruptive fermentation technology in terms of scalability, flavour and product quality,’ explains Lukas Böni, co-founder and member of the Executive Board at Planted. ‘The investment in the additional production site enables us to meet the rapidly growing market demand and produce even closer to our German consumers,’ 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 who covers as many steps as possible in the value chain - from research and development to industrial production,’ explains Lukas Böni. ‘This depth of value creation allows us to develop our vision of ‘better proteins’ even more strongly and will be implemented at the new plant in Memmingen, for example, when it comes to green technology and sustainable production,’ continues Böni.

Green technology plays a central role in the construction of the new plant. The site will be operating almost completely CO2 neutral and will be entirely free of fossil fuels - instead, a well cooling system, district heating from wood burning and photovoltaics will be used. This ensures that all the energy used to manufacture Planted meats at the new plant come 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, who specialises in sustainable energy and the strategic development of decentralised 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 on site and regarding our expertise in the technical implementation of sustainable solutions in building technology. For example, the plant is supplied with photovoltaic power, a well cooling system and regionally generated district heating in an almost CO2-neutral way.’

Up to 97% less CO2 emissions

Planted products 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 particularly amongst those associated with 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 5000 tons of plant-based meat will be produced annually.  This will lead to high CO2 savings compared to animal meat - savings that correspond to the annual CO2 emissions of around half the residents of the city of Memmingen.