When restaurant industry veteran and former cattle breeder Jade Gray returned from China in 2020, his next career move seemed radical, given his background.

Words: Peter Griffin

In founding Auckland-based Off-Piste Provisions, Jade Gray set out to challenge the meat industry he knew so well, developing a range of plant-based snack foods that would appeal to meat lovers looking for healthier and more sustainable snack options.

“We wanted to do something that had a positive impact,” says Jade, whose career has included managing a farm, a supermarket butchery, a meat processing plant and launching and selling a chain of pizza stores. “Our approach, based on the research, was just to remove the cow.”

Jade had adopted a plant-based diet himself and felt much “lighter” and energized. So, he teamed up with researchers at Massey University to develop a pea and fava bean protein combination that would resemble the mouthfeel, taste and texture of beef jerky. That’s right — the meatiest, chewiest snack around would be Off-Piste’s first product.

“The test was that bits of jerky needed to get stuck in your teeth. A good bit of meat will not dissolve,” says Jade.

It took a lot of science to make that happen. But the resulting product features all-natural ingredients, is gluten- and soy-free and is now available in more than 100 supermarkets and stores nationwide. Unlike in the United States, South Africa and China, where jerky is a hugely popular snack food, it’s a niche product in Aotearoa, but one with an enthusiastic customer base.

But as Off-Piste ramped up its research and development last year with a move to Callaghan Innovation’s FoodBowl production plant in South Auckland, Jade was already thinking about the next wave of products.

They include plant-based biltong, bacon-like toppers for salads, tacos and pizzas and the upcoming debut of its pork-crackling product, which will present the ultimate taste test for fans of the crunchy slivers of fatty pig skin.

Off-Piste joins many Kiwi start-ups making plant-based versions of dinner favourites. The target market is the growing number of “flexitarians”, vegans and vegetarians who still want to enjoy animal products occasionally or eat a plant-based version that’s just as good. As Off-Piste says, its products are 100 per cent plants, 45 per cent protein and zero per cent “BS”.

But Gray’s ambition for the future of Off-Piste involves a gear change in innovation. The company plans to use solid-state fermentation to massively open up the range of potential products it can produce. The process takes starch-based bio-waste such as leftover fruit, waste potatoes or brewers grain and maize and ferments it in a bioreactor.

The result is fungi that feeds on the materials to grow and produce a protein that can be harvested and turned into natural products. With very little water and energy used, solid-state fermentation could be a much more efficient way to produce protein than the techniques for plant-based protein used in Off-Piste’s jerky and bacon toppers.

Solid-state fermentation is widely used in Asia but has only recently attracted widespread investment. Off-Piste struck an R&D partnership with Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University, world-respected for its expertise in solid-state fermentation, to develop the process for creating fungi-based proteins. Gray is looking for investment to help fund the construction of a solid-state fermentation plant and believes there’s plenty of food waste available to offer a reliable feedstock for the company.

Off-Piste is the first local company looking to use solid-state fermentation for food production at scale. But a lengthy programme of R&D lies ahead to discover which potential meat alternatives can be brewed in the bioreactors.

Headwinds: “It comes back to the all-important mouthfeel. It is hard to get it right. We are willing to take it a bit slower so that when we hit the market, people are bowled over by the experience.”

Tailwinds: “We’ve identified four megatrends converging — the health and wellness movement, sustainability, plant-based foods, and convenience eating. They are pushing the category forward at a great rate of knots.”

What’s next? “Next year, we’ll focus on exporting our plant-based products and gaining traction with our fermentation research and development.”

NUMBERS

$10–15 million — funding target for Off-Piste’s Series A capital-raising round
$12.99 — price for a 100g bag of Off-Piste plant-based smoky bacon toppers
130 — number of local stores selling Off-Piste’s plant-based products
157,38 tonnes — food New Zealand households throw away uneaten each year

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