A visit to Planted

Swiss Youth Hostels go Planted!

I was looking forward to this exciting team trip all week. Together, Andrea, Ayse and I headed to Kemptthal, where we eagerly waited for Nina. Ever since the implementation of the Yoummi food concept, it’s impossible to imagine menus at the Swiss Youth Hostels without vegetarian and vegan dishes.

The Swiss Youth Hostels make a point to make dishes more sustainable in a way that’s to everyone’s liking. For weeks, the cooks at our establishments have been diligently testing the plant-based meat products from Planted – and with great success. Our guests are impressed.

On arrival at the headquarters in Kemptthal, Vicky (Head of Corporate Communications) and Michael (Sales Manager) welcomed us to planted.bistro by Hiltl. This bright, modern bistro, which employees can also use as a workplace, exudes a nutty aroma. What I notice right away are the huge portholes at the back of the room. They give all the visitors a look into the production site.
Planted themselves say that they have no secrets when it comes to producing our food. This is why the production site, where a tonne of plant-based meat is produced daily, is made of glass to some extent, clearly visible to outsiders.

What does our new partner do?

Who is Planted anyway? Planted is a Swiss startup that produces meat made of plant proteins (oat, sunflower, yellow split peas) that is similar to the taste and consistency of animal proteins – without any additives. They want to reduce the negative impact of classic meat production and save animal lives with all-natural ingredients. For them, it’s important to encourage a responsible approach to animal proteins without moralising anyone.

The Planted production site

Vicky then gave us a tour of the entire production site and answered our questions. First, she told us how the idea came to be after a founding member visited the US and then transformed into a project with friends. Planted now has over 200 employees and one in every three people in Switzerland is familiar with the name. In Europe, Planted is the fastest growing startup in this area.

I asked Vicky whether all employees are vegans or vegetarians. She laughed and said that this is always the first question asked. She said that not everyone is strictly vegan or vegetarian, but the majority consider themselves flexitarians. That is, they make it a point to rarely consume meat and often turn to plant-based products. We were also told that, contrary to what we initially believed, vegans and vegetarians aren’t even the main target group. Instead, it’s the flexitarians and meat consumers who are open to trying new things – after all, this is the only way to make a positive impact in terms of sustainability.

After an exciting tour of production, where we frequently ran into friendly employees, we went to the development kitchen, where Michael was waiting for us.

The highlight – the Planted tasting

Andrea, Ayse, Nina and I made sure not to eat too much for lunch to leave enough room for the tasting. First, Michael served us my all-time favourite planted.chicken. As a vegetarian, I love creating a tasty meal with Planted products without having to give anything up.
As a skilled cook, for Michael it’s important to be able to cook everything with the products – that’s why there are seasoned and plain versions of each meat.

In day-to-day life, we’ve often noticed that their logo pops up time and again. Whether in the supermarket, at restaurants or on the Internet, the name is omnipresent. This is the company’s goal, to come into contact with consumers everywhere in day-to-day life.

Next up were planted.pulled and planted.kebab. Mmmm, we tried them all and were impressed with the great taste and consistency of the meat. Michael even managed to convince our meat-lover Andrea of the Planted products. We couldn’t get enough and ate everything all up.

With lots of new impressions, we said goodbye to them both and headed back to Zurich. We’re convinced that Planted is a great product for the Swiss Youth Hostels but also for at home and hope to impress our guests just as much!

Community question

Have you ever eaten Planted products? If so, how did you find them? Tell us in the comments!

Is your stomach grumbling?

How did we arrive at our food concept Yoummi? You’ll find the interesting interview with our F&B Manager Tom here.

Even though she’s not from Chur “obanaba”, Arina is our model Grisonian: She is a fan of the snow, is quite “pachific” and loves Engadine walnut cake & vegetarian capuns. She actively supports our Booking Centre and the Marketing team. On the side, she also writes excellent blog posts.