Inside Yumame’s Groundbreaking Fungi-Based Food Revolution

Yumame Foods, a pioneering foodtech startup, specialises in creating minimally processed, fungi-based products through fermentation. Their mission is to offer healthy, sustainable, and locally sourced alternatives to ultra-processed foods. They approached Agilery to help scale their production efficiently while preserving their commitment to sustainability and high-quality ingredients.

- The challenge -

Meat alternatives CAN be the star of the plate

The global plant-based food market was valued at over €26 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of around 18.6%. With 53% of consumers aiming to eat more plant-based foods, taste has emerged as the top factor influencing their choices, followed by health and sustainability. In fact, 67% of consumers consider taste to be the most important factor when choosing plant-based products.

Yumame Foods stands out in this market by offering products that don’t merely replicate meat texture but instead establish a category of their own as the star of the plate.

To meet the growing consumer demand for tasty, plant-based options that go beyond traditional meat alternatives, Yumame Foods needed to rapidly scale the production of three flagship recipes.

Founder Eliana Zamprogna, a chemical engineer with extensive experience in the food industry, recognized the potential of fermentation to create rich flavors and provide a truly sustainable solution for plant-based foods.

The challenge was twofold:

1. to scale production efficiently while preserving the quality of the recipes and minimal processing
2. to protect proprietary fermentation processes while maintaining local, sustainable supply chains

- The solution -

Unique Decisions in the Path to Perfection

Scaling Yumame Foods' production required innovative thinking. After identifying 44 potential small-batch co-manufacturers, instead of a regular co-manufacturing contract, we decided to set up a dedicated facility. This ensured full control over the unique fermentation process, which was a top priority for the client.

Key steps to set up the production included:

1. Facility set-up: Transforming all processes to scale, but still preserving authonomy in recipe handeling. 
2. Equipment setup: Agilery sourced specialised equipment for fermentation, to meet all Yumame’s production needs.
3. Packaging for a longer shelf life: Our fermentation experts rapid-tested numerous packaging materials and formats to achieve solid shelf life. 

Throughout the ramp-up phase, Agilery provided support with logistics, ingredient procurement and staffing to ensure smooth operations. Yumame used the full extent of our in-house team to ensure high quality was met on scale and all necessary certifications were obtained.

- Success factors -