Italian confectionery major Loacker has backed Danish alternative chocolate start-up Endless Food Co.
The chocolate wafers producer has committed to investing €1m ($1.2m) a year in a new corporate-venture programme.
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In a social media post on LinkedIn, the business said it is “backing high-growth startups that are ready to transform the food ecosystem”.
Copenhagen-based Endless, which produces a chocolate alternative from upcycled ingredients like spent grain from breweries and cacao shells, is one of two businesses that have received backing from Loacker.
The second is an Italian tech start-up called Dr Taste, which is building a predictive platform that uses market, sensory and neuroscientific data it says helps food businesses understand consumer responses to products.
Loacker added in its post: “Our focus centres on key areas of strategic synergy: pioneering natural ingredients, developing balanced nutrition without compromising on taste, driving circular economy solutions and enhancing supply chain transparency through smart data.”
Just Food has appraoched Loacker for more information on the investment programme.
Founded in 2022, Endless produces its chocolate alternative called THIC (this isn’t chocolate) in several formats, including chips and powders.
According to its website, the group supplies 7-Eleven stores in Denmark with its chocolate alternative for the retail chain’s baked cookies. It also supplies bakeries across Europe as well as restaurants.
Reflecting on the investment on LinkedIn, Christian Bach, the co-founder and CCO of Endless, said: “Loacker Group didn’t get to a century in confectionery by chasing every new ingredient trend. They got there by understanding their space better than almost anyone. If anyone knows where indulgence is headed, it’s them. That they’re betting on us to help take it there is one of the most validating things that’s happened for us yet.”
Just Food has contacted Bach for details on how Endless plans to use the investment.
Food manufacturers have been showing a steady growing interest in alternatives to traditional chocolate, with much of this interest being in cocoa-free options.
Earlier this year, Mars launched a trail mix product in Germany with local cocoa-free ingredient supplier Planet A Foods.
On Just Food, alongside the daily diet of news, analysis and interviews on the website, we have a quarterly digital magazine in which we dig into some of the hot topics facing the sector.
The latest edition, out now, has as its cover story a look at how snack makers are adjusting to the rise of GLP-1 drugs.
“In no way do we see GLP-1 as the end of snacking,” Bosco Fonts, the CEO of Cerealto, told Just Food. “On the contrary, snacking is the unlikely winner of GLP-1.” Is he right?
The issue also explores the questions facing Big Food as some of the major names in the industry talk up their efforts on regenerative agriculture, while we also weigh up the development of the alt-milk market in Japan.
The magazine includes an interview with French dairy giant Bel about its plans to grow in the US, the Laughing Cow maker’s largest market.
And we speak to the founders of Biomel Gut Health about why they believe the UK plant-based business can successfully ride the interest in gut-health seen in the country.
