Following the sale of meat company Enkco, Vivera Foodgroup is entering a meatless future with its remaining businesses  companies ,Vivera, Culifrost and Dutch Tofu Company being totally plant-based manufacturers .

The group says it has strong ambitions with large-scale investments to expand production capacity and product range. Vivera has a strong market position in the European market and is one of the largest producers of plant-based products in Europe. Most of the 100 employees of Enkco will be taken over by Vivera Foodgroup.

Enkco, a specialist in chilled and deep-frozen meat products, was sold to Dutch Van Loon Group at the end of May 2019. As a result of the sale Vivera Foodgroup will focus more on  strong growth opportunities in the plant-based market in Europe. With the brand Vivera it has a strong market position in large parts of Europe and is one of the three largest players on the continent.

European growth

Vivera Foodgroup says it has noticed that the interest of consumers in healthy, sustainable food is increasing strongly in large parts of Europe. Given the rapidly developing market demand and the sale of Enkco, Vivera says it wants to invest structurally but in the short term production capacity of its plant in the Netherlands will be considerably expanded in the third quarter of 2019.

Willem van Weede, CEO of Vivera Foodgroup: “We are one of the first companies in the world’s meat industry to say a final goodbye to meat. From now on we will only focus on plant-based foods, which are really conquering the world. More and more consumers are discovering that plant-based products can be just as tasty as real meat and have many benefits for personal health, environmental impact and animal welfare. As a result of the sale of our meat activities we think we can boost Vivera’s rapid international growth even more.”

Large-scale production of plant-based products

With a production of more than one million plant-based products per week Vivera has developed the first commercially available vegan steak in the world in 2018,  a milestone in its history. In the UK alone, over 1 million items have been sold through supermarket chain Tesco. In addition, as an extension to its extensive product range the company recently launched  products such as Pulled Veggie, Shawarma Kebab and Veggie Quarter Pounder, which are available at many large retailers in Europe.

The group

Vivera has been a pioneer in the development of vegetarian and plant-based meal components since 1990. The company, with headquarters and plant in the Netherlands, has since become one of the largest producers in Europe. Together with Culifrost (producer of IQF frozen, plant-based meal components) and Dutch Tofu Company (high-quality tofu) Vivera is part of the newly formed Vivera Foodgroup. After the sale of meat company Enkco the new group was established on June 1st 2019.

Vivera’s products are available in more than 25,000 supermarkets in 25 European countries.