The co-founder of Veganuary, Matthew Glover, looks set to be very busy again after his vegan fried chicken startup VFC, scored £2.5M in funding. And the investment landed just three months after the brand launched.
VFC, a partnership with restaurateur Adam Lyons, currently offers two plant-based chicken products that are derived from wheat protein. They are not a million miles away from the Seitain chicken created by the very popular London takeaway Temple of Seitan.
Up until now the products have been mainly available through online order. The investment will enable the pair to expand its offering to retailers in both the UK and globally. VFC has already enjoyed success in Spain,
The money comes from Veg Capital, which coincidentally Glover is the MD, and Johnson Resolutions.
The pair hopes its brand will appeal not only to appeal to those who want to taste fake chicken, but also those who are passionate about animal rights. With the slogan ‘thanks colonel we’ll take it from here’ the pair are hoping to attract consumers of fast-food chicken brands and encourage them to eat vegan food. The VFC website has a running total of the number of chicken lives that have been saved by people choosing VFC over animal farmed meat.
“We are focused on driving efficiencies through our business that will allow us to compete directly with chicken on price, taste and convenience. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how well the launch phase has gone. Now, with this funding, we can really scale up, and drive up that all-important Chickens Saved figure,” says Glover.
VFC says that by the end 2023, it hopes to achieve sales of £20M , a target that is equivalent to three million chickens, and £50M goal by 2025, or a saving of 7.5 million chickens.
“The launch phase has been phenomenally successful, with sales far exceeding our expectations, incredible foodservice and retail interest, as well as inquiries from more than 50 countries. All this has shown us two things: we have a brand and a product that people really love, and that we are ready to shift up a gear,” says VFC Director of Sales Stewart McGuckin
