Blended products have been the top driver behind product innovation and increasing the consumer-facing portfolio for Rochester, N.Y.-based Leep Foods.
Leep Foods is a gourmet fresh regenerative mushroom company focusing on specialty varieties, said Leep Foods CEO Jeff Adair.
Adair said the company grows shiitake, blue oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms.
“In our unique process, we grow on American hardwoods in a small facility, giving our organic mushrooms a ‘superfood’ quality,” he said, noting that Leep Foods is currently sold in 600 retail, wholesale, restaurant and foodservice outlets across the northeastern U.S.
Leep Foods introduced shiitake mushrooms this year, along with blended meat products that include beef and chicken sausage blends that are 70% meat and 30% mushrooms.
“In 2021, we introduced a line of blended products using our mushrooms and premium meats,” Adair said.
The first launch was a three-stock-keeping unit line of fully cooked chicken sausages: Italian Style, Apple Ginger and Smoked Andouille. Leep Foods then launched a blended burger with just two ingredients: Angus beef and Leep mushrooms.
Adair said the retail business for Leep Foods has grown in 2021.
Retail accounts for about 80% of Leep Foods sales, he said. The wholesale business started to rebound in the second half of 2021, he said.
Retailers can maximize mushroom sales, Adair said, by highlighting health benefits and helping the consumer understand how to prepare lesser-known varieties.
With labor that is adequate for the company’s needs, Leep Foods expects to increase its 100% organic mushroom production in 2022, compared with 2021, Adair said.
“Submerged fermentation technology will be a source of expansion for our company as we look into opportunities in dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals and animal feed supplements,” he said.
