The Lower Austrian scale-up Kern Tec, which is making a name for itself with its vegan food alternatives made from fruit seeds, has started a cooperation with Berger Schinken. The traditional company has set itself the goal of including plant-based products in its range. Berger is now bringing 100 percent plant-based bratwursts to the shelves at the start of the grilling season. It is not Berger’s first vegan product. Last November, the company launched a plant-based cranberry pie.
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“Berg-Gaudi” sausages with core Tec cheese
Like many meat substitute products, the meatless grilled sausages are based on pea proteins. Kern Tec comes into play for the sausages with “mountain fun”. The scale-up refines these meatless sausages with its vegan cheese alternative. “The pea-based sausages taste excellent and are aimed at vegans and flexitarians alike – full enjoyment guaranteed both in the pan and on the grill,” is how Martin and Thomas Berger describe the new products.
Berger is particularly pleased about the new cooperation with Kern Tec. Once recipes, ingredients and production processes were defined and listings were available in the food trade, the scale-up began looking for producers. The plant-based cheese alternative from the “Wunderkern” brand has to be cooked, cooled, cut and packaged. These are all production steps that Berger “learned” as part of sausage production. “Thanks to Berger’s flexibility, production could be realized with just six weeks’ lead time,” says Fabian Wagesreither, co-founder of Kern Tec.
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Scale-up and Berger market product together
The two companies are now branding and marketing the product together. The plant-based grilled sausages with mountain fun will be available nationwide in 192-gram packs of nine at Billa and Billa Plus from mid-April. Kern Tec has been flying high for a long time. Last year, the young company was able to raise a whopping 12 million euros in a financing round (we reported).