Adamo Foods 2024: Revolutionise Food Production!

When you think of a perfectly cooked steak, sizzling with flavor and seared to perfection, the last thing that might come to mind is fungi. Yet, in a world where sustainability and innovation are becoming increasingly essential, Pierre Dupuis, the visionary Founder and CEO of Adamo Foods, is challenging traditional notions of what we eat and how it’s made. Adamo Foods is not just another player in the food technology space; it's a pioneer. Under Dupuis' leadership, the company is on the cusp of launching the world’s first sustainable and delicious steak made entirely from fungi—an innovation that promises to revolutionize the way we approach food production. The name "Adamo" itself carries profound significance, meaning "from the ground and earth" in Hebrew, and "for the pleasure of" in Latin. These meanings encapsulate the essence of Adamo Foods: creating natural, plant-based alternatives that are as enjoyable to eat as they are good for the planet. In this exclusive Delivery Rank’s interview, Pierre Dupuis takes us on a journey through the inception of Adamo Foods.

Adamo Foods is pioneering a new approach to meat alternatives with its fungi-based steak. What inspired you to focus on fungi as the core ingredient for your products, and how does it align with Adamo's mission?

Adamo Foods, a pioneering UK-based food tech startup, has just closed a $2.5M Seed round, co-led by Future Planet Capital and Joyful Ventures. This funding will propel Adamo's mission to

introduce the first ultra-realistic beef steak alternative made from fungi, addressing the growing consumer demand for better quality, healthier, and cleaner meat alternatives. 

Adamo’s new steak is set to disrupt the burgeoning whole-cut meat alternatives market, which has long lacked innovation despite whole-cuts making up 85% of real meat consumption globally. As plant-based meat sales experience fluctuations, surveys indicate consumers are increasingly seeking tastier, more authentic products with clean labels — 81% are concerned about ultra-processed foods.

With its proprietary fermentation process, Adamo Foods produces long, densely packed fibers of mycelium, closely replicating the muscle structure of whole-cut meat. This breakthrough technology results in a tender, flavorful fungi steak made from just five natural ingredients, free from plant off-notes and artificial binders like methylcellulose. The Adamo Steak is also nutritionally superior, being high in protein and fiber, with zero cholesterol, and boasts an impressive 93% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional beef.

Creating a steak from fungi is a significant leap in food technology. What were the biggest challenges you faced during the development of this product, and how did you overcome them?

The main challenges we have faced are similar to most biotech companies working with fungal organisms, this includes maintaining consistent, reproducible and sterile fermentation systems. We have a very strong and experienced technical team and some great R&D partners who have helped identify and mitigate these challenges early-on.

“This is a pivotal moment for Adamo. We’re thrilled to have such experienced investors with deep foodtech expertise on board. This funding will allow us to scale our production to pilot-scale and bring our clean-label products closer to consumers.”

Milo Runkle, Co-founder and General Partner at Joyful Ventures, who will join Adamo Foods’ Board, added, “Adamo Foods represents the future of alternative protein companies. We are excited to support the team in scaling their sustainable and healthy protein alternatives.”

The fresh capital will not only scale production but also expand Adamo’s team with senior food industry experts and broaden its product range to include steak and chicken breast alternatives, all while maintaining a focus on transparency and natural ingredients.

Adamo Foods has been recognized for its innovative approach, being named among “8 Great British Startups that are Going to Change the World” by The Grocer and “Top 10 European Food Tech Companies to Watch in 2024” by Tech.eu. The company is preparing for its first product launch with a limited pilot in the UK, followed by a broader rollout across Europe.

Sustainability is a key aspect of Adamo Foods' mission. Can you elaborate on how your fungi-based steak contributes to a more sustainable food system compared to traditional meat production?

As explained above, our biomass grows exponentially, and doubles in size every 3 hours. This means our steaks take just a few days in total to produce, compared to many months from some plant-proteins, or even multiple years for real meat. We are therefore saving substantial resources. Overall the Adamo steak requires 93% less GHGs than a real beef steak.

What role do consumer preferences play in your product development process? Have you conducted any consumer testing or feedback sessions, and what insights have you gained from them?

Before even starting with our product development phase, we conducted a comprehensive review of the meat-alternatives market and consumer trends. It became obvious that consumers have been let down by some meat alternatives which aren’t genuinely healthy or just aren’t good enough. Some products are great, but I’ve personally tried too many products with poor taste/texture that I wouldn’t buy again. It’s now clear that consumers want transparent, clean-label healthy products that actually taste great. Taste should always be at the center of the consumer experience. For these reasons, we have always benchmarked our steak against actual beef steak, to create the most realistic, juicy, meaty experience. During product development, we have involved many expert tasting panels to get some unbiased feedback, which has helped us create the highest-quality product. 

To read more about Adamo Foods, please visit https://www.adamofoods.com/