Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. (PSE: PIZZA), the Philippines’ chained full-service restaurant, has made its biggest move yet into the meat-free market, making available a plant-based burger across all of its outlets in the Philippines.
PIZZA President and CEO Vicente L. Gregorio said, “Our so-called ‘Goood Burger’ tastes as good as any meat-based product out there, but is much healthier and friendlier to the environment.”
Shakey’s is the first major restaurant chain in the Philippines to move into the plant-based format in a big way, making meat-alternative affordable and accessible to a broader segment of the population.
The product’s patty makes use of the local ‘unMeat’ brand, a recent innovation of sister company Century Pacific Food, Inc. (PSE: CNPF) – one of the largest branded food manufacturers in the Philippines.
“unMeat”, currently sold to institutional customers only, serves as a healthy meat alternative made with non-GMO plant-based ingredients, with no cholesterol and trans-fat content, while remaining a good source of protein and fiber.
For Shakey’s, the result is a 100% meat-free patty that still provides that grilled-meat taste.
“We have always wanted to land on a winning formula for a plant-based menu item, with environmental and health consciousness growing within a subsegment of the population. Since then, we have been working hard – alongside CNPF – to come up with just the right product that meets all our requirements – healthy, tastes good, priced affordably, and positive for the planet,” said Gregorio.
He added, “Following a series of focus group discussions and initial feedback from guests, we think our new ‘Goood Burger’ with ‘unMeat’ patty is the product we’ve been looking for and may even pleasantly surprise guests who are less familiar with plant-based.”
Apart from being plant-based, the supply chain for ‘unMeat’ also requires lower consumption of various natural resources such as water, land, and energy, and generates less greenhouse gas emissions compared to the production process for meat.
This product launch comes on the heels of PIZZA finalizing its sustainability strategy, which includes priorities such as innovating healthier menu options, mitigating various environmental impacts, and localizing its workforce.
Recently, the Company announced that it signed an agreement with Plastic Credit Exchange (PCEx) for the certification of its plastic neutrality making it the first food service company in the Philippines to pursue such third party verification for a plastic offsetting initiative.
PIZZA celebrated its first year of being 100% “plastic neutral” earlier this year, following a push in 2019 to be plastic neutral by 2020.This means the Company is able to recover an amount of plastic equivalent to what it uses.
“We continue to take the necessary steps towards becoming a more responsible food company, integrating sustainability more closely in the way we do business. In spite of the more challenging business environment, we remain committed to integrating sustainability in the way we run our business and will continue in this direction for the betterment of our company and all its stakeholders,” Gregorio added. – BusinessNewsAsia.com