That every-man mentality, which means the eggless egg could also help to alleviate hunger around the world as an important and cheaper form of protein, has also attracted some of the company’s biggest-name investors, including Bill Gates, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, financier Tom Steyers and Chinese entrepreneur Li Ka-Shing.īut before that can happen, Hampton Creek’s chefs and chemists are trying to tackle their biggest challenge yet - scrambled eggs. Case in point: Just Mayo will also be at the Dollar Tree. From the beginning, Tetrick says, Just Mayo was not meant to be a boutique brand aimed at the 1% who can afford to worry about the environment. That’s why companies like Walmart, Target, Kroger, Safeway, Ralph’s, Shoprite and Costco are signing deals to carry the company’s mayonnaise. The cookies are moist and crumbly, and even the raw cookie dough pretty faithfully replicates the taste of a traditional batter-but without, as Tetrick points out, the risk of salmonella poisoning or the burden on the environment that comes with raising hundreds of thousands of poultry.
So much so that celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern is a fan: in a blind taste test, he preferred the richness of Just Mayo to Hellmann’s. So how does it taste? The mayo is indistinguishable from regular mayo. Now, they’re trying to cull from the world of plant proteins to develop alternatives to sugar or even fat. Tetrick says the company has already piloted eggless raw cookie dough as well as a liquid egg-like substance that can be used on French toast or even scrambled on their own. On the day I’m there, dozens of people-from biochemists to data scientists to chefs-were busy fulfilling the next stages of the company’s mission. It’s not about replacing what we currently have, he says, but about making it better – more nutritious, and cheaper by about 30%. With the help of biochemists, food scientists, data scientists and chefs, he is rethinking where our food comes from and how it’s grown. It was here that founder and CEO Josh Tetrick began his journey two and a half years ago to find a new way to make food-starting with the egg. In September, it will take over Walmart and Target shelves too and based on the growing interest in its products so far, the company expects to earn $35 million in sales this year.ĭuring a recent visit to Hampton Creeks’ research facilities in San Francisco, in a warehouse between the city’s SOMA and Mission neighborhoods, I found the cramped space was a hub of activity. Hampton Creek Foods launched its eggless mayonnaise just over eight months ago and its flagship product, Just Mayo, is already the leading mayo brand at Whole Foods Markets.