Launched in the U.S. just last year and now on more than 1000 store shelves nationally, the Great Taste Award-winning Only Plant Based! brand of mayo and sauces has partnered with “Shark Tank” winner Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli and Acelerate to form the latest and tastiest plant-based partnership.
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Only Plant Based!, the ultra-creamy brand of eggless, shelf-stable mayo, dressings and sour cream popular throughout Ireland and the U.K. before debuting in the U.S., will now supply condiments to Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli submarine sandwiches, with the collaboration launching as the world’s first plant-based sub chain. Home of authentic, deli-style plant-based meats like corned beef, turkey and steak, Unreal Deli expanded its sliced meats to grocers and restaurants nationwide following a successful 2019 pitch to “Shark Tank” by owner Jenny Goldfarb. This newest venture between Unreal Deli, Only Plant Based! and a third partner, Acelerate, will bring the plant-based sub chain to cities across the country.
Acelerate manages ghost kitchens and delivery, enabling restaurants to offer fully developed, custom menus. Ghost kitchens are a rapidly expanding concept in the food service space – TV star Guy Fieri, for example, has been creating them in dozens of cities – but Acelerate is unique in the scale of this rollout and its partnerships with 8 to 12 local restaurants in each city.
To date, the Unreal Cheesesteak, Reuben, Albuturk’y Sub and other vegan subs and sammies can be found in restaurants across Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Raleigh.
“It’s an ideal partnership and an example of how the plant-based experience can be enhanced through a collaborative business model,” says Only Plant Based! consulting chef George Vutetakis. “This venture brings together companies who have specific expertise and passion for their products in order to create the best possible menu, taste and access for the customer.”
Extending into the retail space as well, this type of plant-based partnership can be seen in products like pizza, snacks and frozen entrees featuring co-branding with Violife cheese and Beyond Meat, for example. Only Plant Based! products are currently being used to develop a number of vegan offerings coming soon to local retailers.
Says Unreal Deli owner Jenny Goldfarb, “I am extremely excited–it’s about time! These subs are outrageously delicious; one would never know they’re all made of plants. Thanks to our extraordinary partners for bringing it all to life.”