Brief - The Hustle

Is it the egg alternatives’ time to shine?

Written by Juliet Bennett Rylah | Jan 27, 2023 9:03:31 AM

Eggs, a typically low-cost protein, now cost ~60% more YoY, leading egg headlines (and jokes) to dominate our feeds.

But some consumers have realized you don’t have to break a few eggs, turning to omelet alternatives and creating new business opportunities, per NPR.

Ron Kern of Back Forty Farms in Idaho is selling freeze-dried egg powder that lasts for years for ~$20-$60 a package — and they’ve been selling out.

But there’s also the no-egg egg

The plant-based egg market isn’t huge, worth $30m in the US and accounting for just 0.13% of total egg sales, per Bloomberg.

Its funding also pales in comparison to the alt-meat market, securing $208.7m in 2021 compared to plant-based meat’s $2B, per Crunchbase.

But here’s something interesting: Plant-based eggs typically cost more than chicken eggs (AKA shell eggs). Yet in late 2022, prices dropped to ~$1 cheaper per unit than shell eggs.

As shell egg sales declined, plant-based egg sales rose.

Eat Just Inc…

… makes a no-cholesterol liquid egg alternative from mung beans. Its sales shot up 17% YoY. (Fun fact: Eat Just also makes lab-grown chicken that’s available in Singapore.)

Eat Just accounts for ~99% of US liquid plant-based egg sales, but it’s not the only player in the space:

  • Yo! Egg’s soy and chickpea protein eggs — available in “fried,” “poached,” and “boiled” varieties — are on the menu at an Israeli breakfast chain.
  • Germany’s Perfeggt, made from fava beans, raised $4m in March.
  • Spero Foods makes its liquid egg alternative from pumpkin seeds.

The real question is: Will the high prices spur egg loyalists to try something new? Or, as in the past, will we just suck it up?