Shandi Global (Shandi) is proud to announce its launch and the opening of Singapore’s largest plant-based chicken manufacturing facility following a second seed funding round to commercialise and scale Shandi’s unique and proprietary plant-based chicken products. Shandi produces plant-based chicken products in various formats such as patties, pieces, shreds, strips, and drumsticks.
Shandi which means “because we care in Hebrew”, was founded on the premise of creating truly sustainable, affordable, nutritious meat alternatives that could benefit millions, if not billions. The reality of a global food shortage as the world population continues to increase spurred its founders to continue innovating and seeking alternatives for a sustainable food source for the entire world, and to which, Shandi was conceived.
Founded in 2019 by Dr Reena Sharma, entrepreneur and research veteran and Dr Gaurav Sharma, a food flavour industry expert, the food-tech company uses a 5-patent process that uses only natural, non-Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMO) ingredients such as pea protein, chickpeas, quinoa, flax seeds, brown rice, and coconut oil, to develop and manufacture their plant-based chicken.
Shandi has managed, through their proprietary technology, to recreate a plant-based product that feels and reacts to cooking, almost exactly like meat. Meat from different parts of a chicken differ in texture prior to and post cooking, so does its taste. This inherent natural changing characteristic of meat had never been successfully recreated in any plant-based product before.
Easy Switch to Plant-Based Chicken for Restaurants
Shandi’s technology is the first in the world that has been able to introduce this natural changing characteristic of meat in their product, making it almost indistinguishable from real chicken meat. More importantly, because of its similarity to real chicken meat, Shandi has created a viable, versatile alternative meat choice that can be easily deployed in any kitchen, to make chicken drumlets and chicken curry that taste and feel like actual meat.
With the product’s versatility and ease of use, chefs need not experiment and recreate entire menus to embrace this new supply in their kitchens. Ingredient compatibility is a major deterrent for food establishments to swop out current suppliers because changing just one ingredient may affect the taste of the dish and their entire kitchen operations. This probably accounts for Shandi’s quick entry into market – in just 12 short months, Shandi has been accepted by more than 50 food establishments, which serve more than 18,000 people in Singapore every day.
Highest Protein Content in Plant-Based Food, On Par with Real Meat
In addition, Shandi’s plant-based chicken is the only one in the world that has a protein content of close to 30%, on par with the protein content of actual chicken meat. This makes Shandi’s offering a most attractive one for the schools and hospitals which have started to offer Shandi’s plant-based chicken in their menus as a healthier more sustainable option without sacrificing the benefit of protein for those switching to a meatless diet.
Sustainable, Healthy Food For the Long Run For the World’s Population
Shandi chose to focus on plant-based chicken products first, as part of their mission to create a truly healthy and sustainable alternative to meat for the world. Chicken is one of the world’s most widely-consumed meat product[1], with 118 million tonnes being produced annually, and getting even a small percentage of the population to switch to consuming just one chicken part less a day, will contribute to major ecological and environmental benefits for the earth[2]. On top of this, the ability to produce plant-based chicken at scale will also create more cost-effective and consistent supplies to alleviate hunger and food accessibility. This is part of the ethos of Shandi, along with one of their investors, Singapore food-tech startup incubator, Innovate 360, which manages the Feed 9 Billion collaboration platform for food-technology companies in Singapore. Feed 9 Billion aims to create an ecosystem for food suppliers to prepare to feed the expected 9 billion world population by 2050.
“Shandi is committed to promoting food sustainability through innovation in food-tech, and to do this at scale and fast. We are currently focusing on B2B (business to business) partnerships, whose established networks we are tapping on to quickly introduce our products to as many people as possible, to gain mass adoption of Shandi in kitchens around the world. This will enable us to quickly expand, so that we can continue research and development to further improve on our offerings,” says Dr Reena Sharma, Founder and CEO of Shandi Global.
“Working with companies like Shandi Global is truly satisfying as we aim to alleviate world food problems today and in the future. Innovate 360 and Feed 9 Billion are proud to be involved as investors and partners in backing a truly innovative meat-free product, proudly made in Singapore,” says John Cheng, Chairman of Feed 9 Billion and Managing Director/Founder of Innovate 360. “Together, we will feed the world!