Dive Brief:
- NotMayo, a plant-based mayonnaise that is the second product from Kraft Heinz’s joint venture with NotCo, launches this month. The product will begin with regional launches across the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast, with a goal of expanding nationally and into Canada later this year, an email from The Kraft Heinz Not Company LLC joint venture said.
- The product uses chickpea flour, among other ingredients, to deliver a smooth and creamy texture that is similar to that of traditional egg-based mayonnaise, according to the joint venture. Its suggested retail price is $5.99.
- The Kraft Heinz NotCo joint venture delivered Kraft-branded NotCheese slices in October. These slices, which come in American, cheddar and provolone flavors, are available in some stores in Northeast Ohio.
Dive Insight:
Kraft Heinz, which has been for many years slower to get into the plant-based sector, is continuing to speed ahead. This is the company’s third major plant-based launch in six months, following NotCheese and Philadelphia Plant-Based spread, an in-house developed plant-based version of its well known cream cheese brand.
Kraft Heinz has several mayonnaise brands under its umbrella, including Kraft Real Mayo and the mayonnaise-adjacent Miracle Whip. Mayonnaise isn’t as much of a hallmark item for Kraft Heinz as cheese slices and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, but it’s an important part of its condiment line. And it’s an item that traditionally relies on eggs.
While Kraft Heinz isn’t traditionally associated with mayonnaise, NotCo is. The Chilean company, which uses a powerful artificial intelligence platform it calls Giuseppe to redesign traditional food products with plant-based ingredients, actually got its start in mayonnaise in 2017. Chile is one of the world’s top consumers of mayonnaise. Ninety-nine percent of households buy the condiment, and per capita consumption in the country is 2.28 kilograms per year, according to trade reports compiled about export commodities.
NotCo quickly saw success with its Chilean NotMayo, CEO Matías Muchnick previously told Food Dive, and that buoyed its expansion into other product lines and other countries.
While the joint venture said NotMayo launching in the United States was developed to deliver on the U.S. consumer’s preferences in terms of mayonnaise taste and texture, the formula could be very similar to the product that started NotCo on the path to becoming a superstar in the food tech space.
Unlike the packaging of the NotCheese slices, which features the Kraft logo and has the iconic blue color of many of the CPG company’s products, NotMayo’s package branding doesn’t resemble that of Kraft Real Mayo. It looks a lot more like NotCo-branded packaging, with a black label featuring bold white and magenta type with the brand name. The NotCo X logo is on the front, while Kraft Heinz’s name appears just once on the back, next to the Nutrition Facts label.
Regardless of which company’s name is more visible on the package, the funding, distribution and influence of Kraft Heinz is behind NotMayo. And the international recognition of NotMayo could help the product sell on U.S. shelves.
In an email, the joint venture said that they have quite a bit more still to come. They’re aiming to launch products across three categories in 2023. In 2024, they plan to continue scaling across seven categories and expand the joint venture’s items internationally.
