NEW TECH FOODS

Revo Foods has revealed plans to make its unique plant-based octopus alternative, The Kraken, a permanent part of the brand’s portfolio after a limited initial run last year. We spoke to the company’s CEO, Robin Simsa, to find out more.

Austrian food-tech start-up Revo Foods – the company behind the world-first 3D-printed salmon fillet alternative that hit European retail shelves in 2023, marking a major industry milestone – specialises in unique seafood alternatives made from fungi.

One recent addition to the company’s mycoprotein-based innovation portfolio was The Kraken, another category-first offering a hyper-realistic alternative to octopus with an authentic tentacle-like shape, chewy texture and ‘suckers’.

The Kraken was introduced as a limited-edition offering in March 2024, a move CEO Robin Simsa told The Plant Base was more of a “joke,” an experiment to showcase the company’s tech capabilities.

“Octopus is just not a mass market product, and consumed in relatively little amounts around the world,” he explained, with the product initially seen as too niche for mass production.

But the company was not prepared for the ‘overwhelming’ demand and consumer reaction to the unique product – the first batch of The Kraken sold out within 48 hours, with Revo receiving hundreds of requests from customers, chefs and retailers requesting its return.

With this demand being impossible to ignore, Simsa explained the brand have decided to relaunch the product after releasing less than 1000 units in its first limited-edition run.

“Right now, we have not dedicated that much production capacity to it, but should the demand stay strong we will probably have to,” he noted.  

While demand was strong, the product did stir up some controversy among consumers. Online debates saw some argue that its imitation of octopus ‘goes too far,’ a response Simsa said was quite unexpected.

“It is a very interesting thought experiment though – why this product elicits such a strong emotional response, while other [plant-based] products (or conventional octopus) do not,” he said. “Is it perceived as ‘playing god’? We don’t know, but it’s sure fun to watch!”

Ultimately, Simsa hopes the relaunch will continue to spark debate and shed light on the negative aspects of octopus consumption – a topic that has hit the headlines amid recent efforts to ban octopus farming.

“It’s something many people still don’t know about, and if we can lead to some new thoughts with The Kraken, it was all worth it,” Simsa said.

He revealed that in the coming weeks, Revo Foods has further innovation announcements up its sleeve – and the next offering “goes in a very different direction,” Simsa confirmed.

The company expanded from its typical alt-seafood offerings in April when it launched The Prime Cut, an entry into the functional foods arena that focuses on targeting nutritional benefits for health-conscious consumers.

Ultimately, Revo’s innovations aim to make consumers happy while promoting more sustainable alternatives to traditional animal products – in seafood and beyond. While Simsa said The Kraken is still “quite niche,” it was “too fun as a product to keep hidden!”

Made from naturally fermented mushroom mycelium, The Kraken has a complete amino acid profile and a high omega-3 acid fatty content from microalgae oil. The product can be eaten raw in a salad, but is best served fried to release its flavours.

It will be re-released this month at Revo Foods’ webshop throughout Europe; at Billa Online and Pflanzilla, and Gurkerl (Austria) or Knuspr and Kokku Vegan Market (Germany).