The Devon-based creators of the UK’s first dairy-free avocado ice cream brand Fravocado launched an online frozen food shop to help reduce food waste and support other independent frozen food brands to reach consumers.
Mighty Plants has recently received investment in a funding round led by Dismatrix Group, a venture capital firm run by Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni and Miray Zaki to kick start their new business. Dismatrix Group focuses on sustainably driven, environmentally friendly companies that work to improve our food system. UK’s first frozen plant-based food shop Mighty Plants is the UK’s first and only online frozen plant-based food supermarket and aims to be a vegan store where non-vegans shop.
Mighty Plants is an online ‘frozen aisle’ where consumers can shop for multiple sustainable frozen products in the comfort of their home and, with just one click, get them delivered to their door. It offers delicious dairy-free ice cream, allergen-free frozen food, tasty vegan ready meals, and super realistic plant-based meat alternatives. The shop caters to those who care about what they put on their plates but have no time for regular shopping because of their busy lifestyle.
How Mighty Plants was born – During the Covid-19 pandemic, Becky and Gabriel lost many retail customers when the shops and restaurants were closed and stopped ordering their ice cream. They realised they needed to pivot their strategy if they wanted their business to survive through a challenging period. With many companies turning to sell their products directly to consumers online, they thought it was nearly impossible in the case of ice cream. Delivering frozen food requires special packaging, and the service is costly. To make frozen shipping cost-effective, there had to be a reasonable minimum order, which Becky thought would price them out of the e-commerce market.
She explains: “I had to put myself into the consumers’ shoes, and things were tight financially. Could I really justify spending a minimum of £30 on ice cream, let alone have the freezer space for it?” That was the moment they decided to join forces with other independent brands and launch an online store for ethically sourced frozen plant-based foods.
After months of research, they managed to find a way to send their ice cream using sustainable insulation packaging made from recycled plastic bottles.
Mighty Plants carefully select the brands they work with. One of the first brands onboard was fellow local company Clives Pies who are finally able to sell their frozen pies direct to consumer via the Mighty Plants website. They also heard of the Plant-Based café in Somerset, Plantside that were making popular vegan Yorkshire puddings and supported them in bringing their unique product to market. Becky says “it was important for us to find brands that share the same ethos, whether it be a well-established favourite, or a brand new start up, they all deserve the chance to showcase their amazing products to a national audience.”
Dismatrix Group co-founder Miray Zaki, said: “Dismatrix is proud to have invested in Mighty Plants, a new delivery service for frozen vegan food and desserts. The founders of Mighty Plants launched a vegan frozen delivery service to help combat the food waste problem and the greenhouse emissions. They offer better options to those following a plant-based diet from both large and small producers. Buying frozen and plant-based foods can help cut food waste throughout the supply chain and in households. “This was a perfect fit for investment firm Dismatrix, which backs sustainably-driven, yet financially lucrative opportunities in the plant-based food revolution.”
Mighty Plants founder Becky Osborne, said: “It’s an honour to be working with Miray and Sebastiano of Dismatrix Group, not only has it given us a lot of validation to our vision but they bring a wealth of experience and knowledge. We are now ready to take Mighty Plants to the next level.”