Breakfast sandwiches are a culture. A staple food of commuters. Iconic, even. Few are plant-based. But now, if you’re at one of 500 Whole Foods locations, you might find a new vegan breakfast sandwich in the frozen aisle.
Called the Field Roast Classic Style Sausage, Egg & Cheese Plant-Based Breakfast Sandwich, the name says it all: it has everything you’d expect on a breakfast sandwich, all served on an English muffin. The new sandwich is a collaboration between San Francisco-based food tech company Eat Just and artisan plant-based meat and cheese brand Field Roast, owned by Greenleaf Foods, SPC, the American branch of leading Canadian meat brand Maple Leaf Foods.
The collab features a Field Roast breakfast sausage patty made from pea, fava bean, and brown rice protein seasoned with sage and rosemary; a slice of Field Roast’s Chao Creamery cheese, made from coconut oil and fermented tofu; and a JUST Egg Folded, made from mung bean protein.
Speaking to the collaboration, Greenleaf Foods president Dan Curtin said: “This collaboration with two plant-based industry leaders joining forces will provide a better breakfast solution for the consumer seeking high-quality and delicious plant-based options for their mornings.”
Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just, seconded the sentiment: “Our combined expertise in the breakfast space has produced a superior breakfast offering that delivers on both flavor and convenience.”
Eat Just’s plant-based collaborations
This isn’t Eat Just’s first team-up with another food brand. While the plant-based meat and cheese space is rife with options, there are fewer for vegan eggs, so the food tech brand has attracted a lot of interest from potential collaborators. (However, vegan eggs are an emerging category.)
It has also partnered with Beyond Meat to develop a breakfast sandwich, featuring a JUST Egg Folded and Beyond Meat Breakfast Sausage Patty, across several chains, including Peet’s Coffee, Aloft Hotels, and Gregorys Coffee (which also features Daiya vegan cheese). On the retail front, plant-based meat brand Alpha Foods has a similar frozen breakfast sandwich featuring the vegan egg.
