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San Francisco, CA - January 9, 2024 – MeliBio, the company behind the world’s first honey made without bees, and organic food producer Narayan together announce the debut of vegan, bee-free honey across ALDI-owned Hofer stores in Europe starting in January 2024.
MeliBio and Narayan’s Vegan Hanny™ product will be rolled out in the ALDI-owned Hofer supermarket chain, under the Just Veg! brand. The award-winning plant-based honey is set to debut in Austria and Switzerland before expanding into other European geographies.
Driven by their core mission of giving bees a break, food tech innovator MeliBio provides taste-competitive and high-functioning substitutes for traditional bee-derived honey products, which place an environmentally critical burden on bee biodiversity. The collaboration is part of a previously announced partnership between California-based MeliBio and sustainable food leader Narayan, which will place finished products crafted through MeliBio’s technology platform in 75,000 stores across the EU, the UK and Switzerland reaching over 500 million consumers.
The agreement between MeliBio and Narayan is valued at over $10M over four years, beginning in 2024.
“At MeliBio, we pride ourselves on our ability to pioneer and deliver product innovation, quality, and execution, and the partnership with Narayan has allowed us to accelerate and expand our international market presence with speed and a level of care that is unmatched anywhere else,” said MeliBio CEO and Co-Founder Darko Mandich. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the demand from customers all over the world for our sustainable, bee-friendly products, and we’re glad that working with ALDI will enable European consumers to enjoy what is truly the best honey available on the market.”
In January 2024, Narayan is launching the MeliBio-powered Better Foodie™ Vegan H*ney product in UK retail stores. “It’s one thing to read the rave reviews about MeliBio’s ingredients, but a completely different experience for a critical mass of consumers to be able to see, taste, and feel them firsthand,” states Narayan Chief Strategy Officer Žiga Vranicar. “The product consistently astounds those who try it, vegan and non-vegan alike. We couldn’t ask for a better way to make this incredibly meaningful food innovation available to the EU market with a trusted partner in ALDI.”
MeliBio has proven itself to be an industry-leading food technology innovator, bringing its products from concept to commercial-scale, in top restaurants and on retail shelves in the US and EU in record time.
In addition to the latest EU partnership, MeliBio’s portfolio includes the acclaimed Mellody™ brand of plant-based honey available in the US through select foodservice partnerships and direct-to-consumer channels. For more information, visit www.melibio.com and www.mellodyfoods.com.