Media

Sydney, 14 July 2023 – Australia’s first health-focused, 100% plant-powered meal-kit subscription service, Just Add Vegan, recently announced the raise of an A$ 700,000 seed round to upgrade their subscription platform, enhance operational efficiency and hard-launch in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The company validated its concept during a 15-month test market, delivering over 12,000 meal kits to more than 300 subscribers across NSW and the ACT.

Just Add Vegan launched in Sydney in October 2021 and are on a mission to inspire and make it easy for people to cook delicious and nutritious plant-based meals, with the purpose of creating a happier, healthier and fairer world.

“Our test market was challenging but extremely fulfilling,” said co-founder and COO/CFO Padma Lianos. “We received excellent market validation, despite some major issues regarding our legacy subscription platform. It was tremendously rewarding to see our vision come to life and to hear from customers that Just Add Vegan was actually ‘life-changing’ for them. Probably the strongest indicator of our success is the average number of orders per customer, 12 – three times as much as HelloFresh.”

Evolving into “1-stop shop for your weekly plant-based food needs”

In addition to meal-kits, Just Add Vegan offers a range of add-on products from premium third-party brands not readily available in supermarkets, including Syndian sausages and dips, Suzy Spoon’s Vegetarian Butcher’s meat alternatives and Miller Lane Foods cheeses, which they also use in their meal kits.

When they introduced their add-on products in 2021, they were one of the world’s first meal-kit services to diversify in this way, and expanding into other usage occasions and different meal times is a key element of their growth strategy.

“Our customers love the option to add products to their weekly box, instead of ordering them elsewhere. It saves them time and shipping fees,” added Lianos. “We will be significantly increasing the breadth and depth of our third-party product range, including superfoods and supplements. We are also extending the Just Add Vegan brand with add-on products, including spice mixes, sauces, cereals, snacks and a limited range of ready meals. These add-on products are a great way to increase the average order value. They also have an attractive margin, benefiting our bottom line. And we can order most of them just in time, minimising our inventory levels and waste. We are ultimately evolving into a 1-stop shop for your weekly plant-based food needs.”

Capitalising on two major consumer trends

Just Add Vegan operates at the intersection of the major consumer trends towards plant-based eating and convenience. Australia is the world’s third-fastest-growing market for plant-based foods, with over 30% of the population aspiring to plant-forward diets, mainly for health and environmental reasons. It is also the fifth-largest market for meal-kit delivery, with revenues projected to increase from A$1.5 billion in 2023 to A$ 2.4 billion in 2027.

“We have everything in place to capture a significant share of this large and growing market,” commented co-founder and CEO Arthur Voorwinden. “We offer better flavours, higher nutritional value and more choice than the big foreign brands. In addition, we are 100% Australian family-owned, purpose-driven and more sustainable. These factors increasingly drive consumer choice and brand loyalty, and they benefit our customer acquisition cost as well as our retention rate.”

Just Add Vegan founders Padma Lianos and Arthur Voorwinden

Focus on flexitarians

Just Add Vegan’s marketing efforts will be focused on flexitarians, by far the largest part of plant-forward consumers, and are centered around content and collaborations. Topics include free recipes, nutrition, and brand and customer stories.

Collaboration partners encompass subscribers (via brand ambassador and referral programs), affiliates, micro-influencers, purpose-driven brands and mission-aligned businesses, such as plant-based nutritionists and yoga/pilates studios.

Expanding interstate

Some key milestones for the coming five years include the launch of no-added-gluten, calorie-smart and high-protein meal plans; building an operational platform to increase efficiency; moving to a larger fulfillment center in New South Wales; launching into Victoria and Queensland; establishing a fulfilment center in Victoria; attain plastic-neutral and B Corp accreditation; and entering into an overseas market.

“During our test market we gained first-hand insight into the key success factors for our business. Over the last few months we have fine-tuned our strategy and updated our business plan and financial projections. We are more convinced than ever that Just Add Vegan has a great future ahead of it and that we can become a major player in the plant-based food-delivery category,” added Voorwinden.

Making dreams come true

Lianos (Australian) and Voorwinden (Dutch) met on the last day of a Vipassana meditation course in the UK, in 2012. Back then, Lianos was based in London, where she held a management position at a large accountancy firm. Voorwinden lived in the Netherlands and was a vice president at a global investment-management firm.

They soon discovered that they shared a passion for food and a strong urge to make the world a better place, and started making plans for a future that was more aligned with their dreams and values.

In December 2018 they quit their well-paid jobs, sold their house in Amsterdam to fund their plans and moved to the other side of the world, together with their baby daughter. And with the dream to start a vegan food business.

The couple were close to launching a grab & go chain when Covid hit and everything changed. They quickly pivoted to meal delivery, and Just Add Vegan was born.

“We couldn’t be more passionate and determined to make Just Add Vegan a household name and create the impact we have always envisioned. We’re looking for the right values-aligned investor to be part of this incredible opportunity,” said Lianos.

Media contact

Arthur Voorwinden

Head of Marketing and PR

E: arthurvoorwinden@justaddvegan.com

M: 0459 887 808