Hamburg, Germany-based Hydrosol – a supplier of food stabilizers and texturizers to the seafood sector – has split off its plant-based division into its own subsidiary, which it has named Planteneers.
Hydrosol, owned by the family-run Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, which has annual revenue of EUR 500 million (USD 586.8 million) supplies the seafood industry with stabilizer systems for cured fish products, cooked fish products, smoked salmon, and salmon products as well as spoilage inhibitors, among its much larger stable of products.
“We intend to continue to grow with both companies,” Ster-Wywiol Gruppe CEO Torsten Wywiol said in a press release. “With that in mind, it will be important to focus on each of their strengths, and further build on them for both brands with the appropriate strategies in each case. That’s the reason we separated the plant-based field out of Hydrosol. To put it differently, our former ‘plant-based baby’ has grown up and is ready to strike out on its own. We’re bundling its capabilities in a dedicated company.”
Planteneers GmbH will be headquartered in Ahrensburg, Germany, and will develop and produce individual system solutions for plant-based alternatives to meat, sausage, and fish products, as well as cheese, dairy products, and deli foods. Planteneers will operate the Plant Based Competence Center, which was founded in 2019 as a research and development center for alternative-protein solutions. Customers benefit further from the Group’s international network of 17 affiliates and numerous qualified foreign representatives in the key markets. The Group also has shared production facilities and logistics resources.
Ster-Wywiol Gruppe Managing Director Matthias Moser said the move was made in response to plant-based foods becoming a “dominant international food trend.”
“The category of plant-based solutions for alternative forms of nutrition has already attained remarkable scale. But it still offers significant further growth opportunities, which we can make much better use of with a dedicated company and a focused strategy,” he said. “We’re positioning Planteneers as a cornerstone within the group. Plant-based alternatives are gaining enormously in importance. Planteneers is our clear commitment to this rapidly expanding category.”
Moser said the company will push to move beyond stabilization and texturizing to develop products of its own, including plant-based alternatives to meat, sausage, dairy, deli and fish products.
“Through intensive research, creative ideas, and tireless pioneering spirit, at Planteneers we intend to play an active role in shaping the future of the industry,” Moser said.
Global revenue from the plant-based meat alternative sector will more than triple to USD 450 billion (EUR 528.3 billion) by 2040, according to the Kearney Consulting Firm, driven by increasing concern over environmental protection, animal welfare, and human health, the company said in a press release.
“With this new company, we are developing attractive solutions and making an important contribution to the fast-growing market for foods from plant-based alternatives,” Wywiol said. “It is our clear objective to establish this newest subsidiary successfully on the international market.”
Photo courtesy of Hydrosol
