Plant-based dairy producer launching its cult favorites in Canada
Canadian Packaging
Design & Innovation Design Aged Black Ash Double Cream Classic Chive Fluid Creative Fresh Vegan Mozzarella Loblaws Longo’s Miyoko’s Creamery Organic European Style Cultured Vegan Butter Save-On Foods Sharp Farmhouse Smoked Farmhouse Sobey's Tradin OrganicsThe company also ensures that it partners with ethical and environmentally conscious suppliers
With demand for plant-based protein products in Canada soaring through the roof, California-based Miyoko’s Creamery has picked an exceptionally opportune time and place for its first international expansion.
Having already established itself as something of a cult favourite in many U.S. markets, the leading U.S. plant-based butter and cheese brand made a tasteful Canadian market debut last month with the launch of its award-winning vegan butter at more than 1,000 grocery stores across the country last month, including Sobeys, Loblaws, Save-On Foods and Longo’s, as well as other smaller boutique grocers.
Produced and packaged at Miyoko’s processing facility in Petaluma, Ca., the company’s bestselling Organic European Style Cultured Vegan Butter is promised to melt, spreads, bakes, sautés and taste just like the highest-quality dairy butters, according to the company’s founder and chief executive officer Miyoko Schinner.
“Canada has really embraced the plant-based movement, with nearly 10 per cent of Canadians considering themselves vegetarian or vegan,” says Schinner.
“What I find most heartening is how so many omnivores are enthused about plant-based food options and have been asking us to cross the border for years,” says Schinner, crediting Vancouver-based branding agency Fluid Creative for working with his company’s in-house package design team for all the translation work from English to French that had to be incorporated into the package design.
Already one of the most widely distributed vegan cheese and butter brands in the U.S. with distribution in more than 12,000 stores, Miyoko’s Creamery recipes use only real, whole food organic ingredients like nuts, legumes and plants, awhile eschewing fillers, additives or GMO ingredients.
The company also ensures that it partners with ethical and environmentally conscious suppliers, Schinner points out.
With cashews being a major ingredient in Miyoko’s cheeses and butters, the company has partnered with the Dutch supplier Tradin Organics to source organic cashews from small farmer producers in Vietnam with the highest scores from third-party audits for working conditions and environmental standards.
As a result of these sustainability efforts, Miyoko’s products generate up to 98 per cent less greenhouse gases in production than their cow-based counterparts, according to Schinner.
“Consumers under 35 are the primary drivers for delicious plant-based food innovation: they want flavor and they don’t want to feel they’re giving up any of their favorite foods,” he states.
“They also get the importance of saving animals, the earth and preserving their health,” Schinner says, citing the new Canada’s Food Guide as validation of his company’s move into the Canadian market.
“We want to delight the palate of all butter loving Canadians who want a creamy, cultured, good-fory-our-gut), buttery experience with zero cholesterol,” he states.
Schinner adds that Miyoko is planning to follow up the Canadian launch of its butter later this fall with the phased introduction of its artisan vegan cheeses across Canada, including the award-winning Double Cream Classic Chive, Fresh Vegan Mozzarella and its premium cheese wheels in flavors such as Aged Black Ash, Sharp Farmhouse and Smoked Farmhouse.
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