Planted expands production with new factory

An old brewery site in Memmingen, Bavaria is to be revitalised to create the ‘most modern’ European production facility for plant-based meat, set to will produce around 5,000 tons (4,536 tonnes) of plant-based meat annually. 

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 (18.1 tonnes) of plant-based meat per day in the medium-term.

Planted’s headquarters in Kemptthal, Switzerland will continue to maintain its production and importance, particularly for the Swiss market.

‘Closer to our consumers’

Lukas Böni, co-founder and member of the executive board at Planted, said: “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. The investment in the additional production site enables us to meet the rapidly growing market demand and produce even closer to our German consumers.”​

The site will operate almost completely CO2 neutral and will be entirely free of fossil fuels. To achieve this, the new site will implement a well cooling system, district heating from wood burning and photovoltaics (solar panels). Through these measures, all the energy used to manufacture Planted meats at the new plant come from renewable sources.

“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,”​ Böni added.

Vision of ‘better proteins’

“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 a sustainable production.”​

Planted is implementing the project in Memmingen together with the local Alois Müller Group, which specialises in sustainable energy and the strategic development of decentralised infrastructures supplied with sustainable energy.

The manufacturer’s German expansion follows the launch of the planted steak in April this year, the first product of Planted's ‘Whole Muscle’ platform – a platform for premium cuts of meat where the muscle grows through proprietary fermentation processes.

Meanwhile, Signature Flatbreads is marking its 40th anniversary with a £150m investment plan​​ to support new product development and the creation of 500 jobs.