Getting the scoop: Perfect Day partners to bring vegan dairy ice cream to consumers

11 May 2020 --- Perfect Day, a start-up engineering flora-made dairy protein, is collaborating with Smitten Ice Cream to bring vegan ice cream with lab-cultivated dairy protein to consumers in the Bay Area, US. The ice cream resulting from the partnership – dubbed Smitten N’Ice Cream – is touted as being clean label, lactose-free, hormone-free and “unparalleled” in texture and taste. This launch is the latest step in Perfect Day’s fast evolving journey to provide for customers who are demanding animal-free options but are unprepared to accept reduced quality.

“Smitten and Perfect Day are challenging all consumers, not just those with dietary restrictions, to taste it to believe it. There are currently no plans to remove Smitten N’Ice Cream from our menu at any point in time and our goal is for it to remain a staple as the vegan offering. We plan to introduce new flavors of Smitten N’Ice Cream seasonally and we’d like to hear from our customers on what vegan flavors they’d like to see in the future,” Robyn Sue Fisher, Founder & Chief Brrrista of Smitten, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

This partnership marks the first regionally available commercial product made with Perfect Day’s flora-made protein. However, last summer Perfect Day launched a limited-edition version of its ice cream, which sold out within a day. “From this, we learned that consumers wanted more. Since then, Perfect Day has been working diligently with potential partners to bring a whole variety of new animal-free dairy products to market,” Ryan Pandya, Co-Founder and CEO of Perfect Day, also tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

The process for producing the protein used in the ice cream involves adding genes essential to producing milk protein to Trichoderma – a type of microflora – and letting the dairy flora ferment plant sugar into whey and casein. This gives food products the nutrition, texture and taste of conventional dairy, according to the company. In November, the start-up expanded to start development on vegan milk lipids. The following month, Perfect Day saw the closing of a US$140 million Series C funding round, led by Singaporean holding company Temasek.

The texture is touted as rich, creamy and luxurious.A “rich and luxurious” texture
The ice cream base consists of water, sugar, coconut oil, sunflower oil, non-animal whey protein, pectin, calcium, potassium, phosphate, citrate and salt. However, Fisher states that there is no coconut or nutty aftertaste and that the texture is “rich, creamy and luxurious.” The ice cream is then churned in Smitten’s proprietary “Brrr” machines that produce pint-size batches to order.

She further explains that Smitten had been working on offering a vegan product for years. “I had refused to put a product on the menu if I didn’t like it as much as our traditional grass-fed dairy flavors. That all changed the first time I did a blind taste-test of the Smitten N’Ice Cream made with Perfect Day. It blew my mind. I knew, then and there, we were ready,” she notes. 

This emphasis on mouthfeel is in line with Innova Market Insights’ fifth 2020 trend of “Tapping into Texture.” Consumers are recognizing the importance that texture has on their food and beverages, with this trend being driven by social media. According to Innova Market Insights, 70 percent of consumers claim that “texture gives food and beverages a more interesting experience” as they are looking for more fun and different products. 

Addressing COVID-19 concerns, Fisher states that the Smitten team is following all local and federal guidelines at this time and that the team is continuing to assess as the situation evolves. Consumers will be able to try Smitten N’Ice Cream locally in the San Francisco Bay Area via in-store pick-up and delivery platforms, and regionally (Western Region of the US) via Smitten’s newly launched direct-to-consumer platform. Smitten N’Ice Cream is available in Brown Sugar Chocolate, Fresh Strawberry, Coconut Pecan and Root Beer Float.

“At Perfect Day, we believe that the future of food is within arms’ reach and we’re thrilled to work with partners who value not only science and technology but the experience and taste of delicious dairy products, to empower the future – and now – of food. Smitten’s approach aligns with our commitment to quality and sustainability, while still promising the dairy experience that consumers have come to know and love. We’re thrilled to join forces and allow consumers nationwide the chance to taste dairy made perfect,” concludes Pandya. 

By Katherine Durrell

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