The UK’s Palace Culture has witnessed a threefold surge in plant-based cheese sales since its introduction in November at the local Waitrose grocery chain, guided by The Compleat Food Group.
Established in 2021 through a merger backed by investors between Winterbotham Darby and Addo Food Group, The Compleat Food Group acquired the London-based startup in October for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2018 by Mirko Parmigiani, Palace Culture successfully secured listings in Waitrose for three of its artisanal plant-based cheese brands – Kimcheeze, The Mouldy Goaty, and Holy Smokes. Sales commenced in mid-November, and the company is poised to expand its presence to other major UK retailers as early as 2024.
“In just three weeks, demand has already tripled from the first week,” Parmigiani shared. “This indicates a growing appetite for plant-based foods, particularly premium plant-based cheese. Our aim is to become the leading brand in the premium plant-based cheese market.”
“The focus is Waitrose at the moment, make sure it works well, and then eventually, in the next six to 18 months, start working on approaching the other retailers.”
Palace Culture crafts its cheeses from cashew nuts and almonds using the fermentation process, relying on natural ingredients without additives or preservatives. Additionally, the cheeses hold organic certification, adding to their premium quality, as acknowledged by Parmigiani.
Nevertheless, he mentioned that the current collection of three varieties, accessible in 89 of Waitrose’s “largest” stores nationwide, is priced competitively with other artisanal plant-based cheeses.
Many of those, he said, have additives like tapioca or coconut oils, unlike Palace Culture’s cheeses.
“Before The Compleat Food Group takeover, our cheeses were more expensive because we were making smaller quantities. We’ve been able to bring that price down because we are able to manufacture at scale,” Parmigiani added.
Prior to coming under new owners, the start-up was selling a range of about 11 varieties in farmers’ markets but in order to get into retail “we had to make more of a clean start and focus on three to start with”, he said.
However, Palace Culture has an active pipeline and is aiming to bring a plant-based feta and blue cheese to market in the new year, hopefully with Waitrose and other retailers, Parmigiani said.
He explained the feta is fermented and matured in wooden barrels, making Palace Culture unique in the UK, adding the biggest challenge when scaling up the whole cheese range is retaining the quality and staying close to its roots.
“Our focus is to make delicious food rather than focus on vegan. We’re not trying to replicate real cheese because it’s not going to have the taste of a goat cheese or a cow cheese because it’s not made with cow’s milk. But it has that sensation of real cheese,” Parmigiani said.
Palace Culture “excelled” on the sales targets initially set out by The Compleat Food Group in the first few weeks after launch but no firm targets have yet been laid out for the new year, he said, declining to provide growth rates.
The start-up is no longer manufacturing at its original location in Bermondsey, London, and has switched production to The Compleat Food Group’s close-by site in Redhill, Surrey, one of the company’s multiple UK plants.
“Obviously, this is a great time to launch at Christmas – it was a boost with orders,” Parmigiani said. “We’re really looking forward to the new year and we’re already working on orders for Veganuary.”