Hong Kong’s Green Monday sees breakthrough for plant-based ‘pork’ in swine fever-hit China
- The start-up expects about 15,000 restaurants and retailers across Asia will serve or sell its Omnipork product by the end of this year
With no known vaccine for the swine disease and a plunge in pork supply, purveyors of the growing plant-based protein meat trend have an opening to convince the mainland’s consumers that their products can be used for a range of popular dishes.
“It is a good window of opportunity,” said Hong Kong entrepreneur David Yeung, co-founder and chief executive of social venture Green Monday, which is behind plant-based meat substitute Omnipork.
“We do not need to explain to consumers and restaurants what [Omnipork] is for. They have to find another source for pork,” said Yeung in an interview on the sidelines of Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao Makers Festival, held in the eastern coastal city of Hangzhou last week.
Omnipork, a plant-based protein that looks and tastes like ground pork, was introduced in Hong Kong last year by Green Monday. It is now available on Tmall Global, Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform. New York-listed Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
