How Juicy Marbles is raising the steaks in plant

The Slovenian company uses its breakthrough technology — and irreverent sense of humor — to change the way people think of alternatives.

What does it take to start a plant-based food company with realistic and well-regarded whole cuts of beef?

For Juicy Marbles, it was a six-pack of beer.

Vladimir Mićković, one of the four co-founders and the Slovenian company's chief brand officer, said that the ideas, scientific knowhow and dedication to creating plant-based meat that contains a complex texture also played a big part. As did the company's acceptance into Y Combinator's accelerator program 2021.

"We sent them three prototypes that were made, by the way, on a little machine that we had paid a guy a six-pack of beer to build," he said, laughing. "So that got us into Y Combinator. That was a springboard to talk to investors."

It's an appropriate beginning for a brand that highlights its irreverent sense of humor every step of the way. On the product labels, the description of the texture of the company's steak says it comes from an "elixir of happy tears from the biggest cuddly teddy bear ever listening to ASMR of Keanu Reeves helping an old lady cross the street."

Even the name Juicy Marbles began as a kind of joke, Mićković said, a strange word combination that the founders liked the sound of.

The company's plant-based steaks — in both thick-cut filets and as two-pound whole-cut loins — have received high praise from a variety of tasters. The company has raised $4.6 million to date, according to Crunchbase.

Juicy Marbles’ Thick Cut Filets launched in small batch drops in 2022, and its Whole Cut Loins debuted at the end of last year. The company, which Mićković said spent 2021 figuring out its factory and 2022 learning how to make its products on a production line, sells plant-based steaks through its website in Europe, the U.K., and the United States. Mićković said that the company is now looking at restaurants to begin a foodservice launch. Small retail launches are likely to slowly follow, he said.

Mićković is hopeful their product and the brand's sense of humor can break down some of the cultural divisiveness that has arisen around the plant-based sector.

"I just hope there's more and more voices that remind us what kind of we have in common," he said. "Everybody loves to eat wild, crazy food."

In the late 2010s, Mićković ran a vegan restaurant called Kucha in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The restaurant was born after Mićković took a sabbatical from his career in branding and product design. He’d always been interested in plant-based cuisine, and Kucha, he said, was "hard core." The restaurant specialized in plant-based food made from local ingredients.

However, Juicy Marbles was not born in Kucha's kitchen.

"Everybody loves to eat wild, crazy food."

Vladimir Mićković

Co-founder and chief brand officer, Juicy Marbles

"We had no microscopes at Kucha. That explains everything," Mićković said with a laugh. "It was just homey recipes using local ingredients."

Some of Kucha's regular customers, on the other hand, not only had microscopes, but knew how to use them. They were Tilen Travnik — now Juicy Marbles’ CEO — Luka Sinček — now co-CEO — and Maj Hrovat — now head of R&D. Mićković and Travnik talked a lot about what they were doing and their shared enthusiasm to do something with plant-based meat that wasn't burger patties or sausage.

"We wanted to be like no, let's do some, you know, real stuff," Mićković said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world in 2020, Kucha closed. Mićković said the complexity of the restaurant's dishes and processes made it impossible to operate under pandemic restrictions. But the timing was right for Mićković to get involved as a co-founder of Juicy Marbles.

Many companies are working on whole cuts of plant-based meat, but there are not many available on the market yet. One of the biggest challenges for plant-based meat products is creating a satisfying texture for consumers, according to analysts.

In fact, the biggest turn-off in the plant-based space has to do with texture and consistency, according to a study done by the Plant Based Foods Association and 84.51º.

Neeru Ravi, a principal at Boston Consulting Group, said at a webinar last month that more meat-like whole cuts could help boost sales in the space.

"We know that there's been significant improvements along these dimensions over the last few years. But in the minds of consumers, there still seems to be a gap between these products and traditional meat," she said. "So there is room to still innovate and test new products to really understand what resonates with the mainstream consumer."

Mićković does not get involved in the science that creates Juicy Marbles’ plant-based meat, but said the ingredients in the steaks are "quite simple," and the method by which they are made is "anticlimactic, to say the least." The ingredient deck includes soy protein, sunflower seed oil, beetroot coloring and methylcellulose.

Each serving of Juicy Marbles’ steak has 200 calories, 26 grams of protein, seven grams of fiber and eight grams of fat.

"We wanted to create a process that doesn't go too far, and isn't too hard to replicate, and doesn't damage the micronutrient integrity of the product."

Vladimir Mićković

Co-founder and chief brand officer, Juicy Marbles

The exact details are proprietary, but Mićković said the process to turn plant proteins into something so steak-like "involves mostly physics."

"This is not ultra-processed. It's just processed. It's akin to cooking something, right?" Mićković said. "So that's it. We wanted to create a process that doesn't go too far, and isn't too hard to replicate, and doesn't damage the micronutrient integrity of the product."

While Juicy Marbles turned heads with its proprietary protein texturizing technology — including the little machine that cost them a six-pack — there was a lot that the company could do from the beginning.

Mićković said the application to Y Combinator included a prototype of a steak, a rib and a piece of chicken. But the decision to create steak was the result of trying to conquer two big challenges: Making a realistic analog for beef, and creating a product that can replace the animal causing the biggest sustainability problems.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, beef production is responsible for 25% of global land use, land-use change and forestry emissions. And, statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization show, farmed animals of all kinds make up 20% of the calories consumed by all people worldwide.

"That's a ridiculous statistic," Mićković said.

Plant-based marbled steak products also had not been on the market. Mićković said that tackling steak gave Juicy Marbles a chance to flex its technology and show what could be done.

When prototypes of Juicy Marbles’ steaks first started getting out, they were mostly made by hand, Mickovic said. They built a factory in Slovenia in 2021, but figuring out the process for continuous production was difficult.

By the second half of 2022, they were able to consistently produce about one ton of quality product per day, Mićković said.

The eventual goal is to scale up more, build more factories and ramp up expansion, he said, but maintaining product quality and corporate culture are vital for the time being.

While Juicy Marbles steaks have received plenty of favorable reviews, a common complaint is that they are expensive. The beef loin costs close to $60.

Mićković said that because of supply chain difficulties and price fluctuations, Juicy Marbles’ products are close to price parity with some medium quality beef. As the company scales up, he said, they will be able to sell at a lower cost, and shipping will not be quite as expensive.

"I think people just want plant-based meats to be way cheaper than conventional meat, rightfully so. And that's the general idea. But [because] meat is subsidized, it's hard to compete, especially for a little young company like us."

Vladimir Mićković

Co-founder and chief brand officer, Juicy Marbles

"I think people just want plant-based meats to be way cheaper than conventional meat, rightfully so," Mićković said. "And that's the general idea. But [because] meat is subsidized, it's hard to compete, especially for a little young company like us."

Mićković said 2023 is going to be a year of branching out Juicy Marbles, both at restaurants and retailers, and potentially with other products. The company is looking at other innovations.

Juicy Marbles is getting noticed, both among other companies in the plant-based space and at traditional steakhouses, Mićković said. He said he sees promise in some of the talks they’ve had. Consumers are getting "protein curious," and it makes sense for restaurants to try to cater to these people with quality products.

"The feedback that we're getting from a lot of chefs that we're talking to that they're just happy finally to get whole cuts, which enables them to do all sorts of recipes that … fits their concept and their imagination," he said.