Hamburg, January 2026 – “Five years ago ‘Plant-based as the New Normal’ was our vision. Now it’s more and more a reality,” explains Dr. Matthias Moser, Managing Director of the Food Ingredients Division of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, recalling the founding of Planteneers five years ago. The young start-up set itself the goal of actively helping shape the future of the industry with concentrated research, creative ideas and untiring pioneering spirit. Today the company has locations on three continents. A team of 50 committed staff develop plant-based convenience solutions for a clientele whose standards continually rise. Customers can now choose from among over 1200 formulations for a wide bandwidth of plant-based products in all categories.
“In our company group, from the beginning we asked ourselves what the nutrition of the future would look like, and realized that plant-based raw materials are the foundation for a sustainable world food supply,” says Dr. Moser. “Based on the experience in plant-based foods we had gained since 2013 with Hydrosol, five years ago we were already confident that we could make a significant contribution to the nutrition transition, with attractive plant-based foods that consumers like and that are priced to make it easy to switch to new plant-based nutrition.”
Meeting Rising Consumer Expectations
With Planteneers, the owner-managed Stern-Wywiol Gruppe has established a specialist in plant-based alternatives that offers a wide range of products. With its functional systems manufacturers can offer plant-based alternatives to meat, sausage and fish products, as well as cheese, dairy products and deli foods. Among Planteneers’ special highlights are marbled steaks developed in collaboration with filling and portioning system manufacturer Handtmann. Planteneers is also one of the leading providers of innovations in the fish alternatives space. Its most recent development in the field of dairy is a plant-based alternative to cheese slices that offers the classic smooth, elastic texture and a high protein content of up to eight percent. This is something new on the market, with which the “Plant Based Pioneers” again address the two strongest purchase drivers – enjoyment and health. “Products have to taste good, otherwise they simply don’t have a future,” notes Dr. Moser. “In addition, they have to meet rising consumer expectations. Plant-based alone is often no longer enough; products must fulfill additional criteria. They need to have a certain protein content, there needs to be fiber, and ideally products should be clean label.”
Planteneers responds to these rising demands with intensive research and development. Dr. Moser: “We look into new raw materials earlier, more systematically and more intensively than others. One example is mycelium, which will play a decisive role going forward. Another is new functional systems that enable lean and clean label products. We are very active in these areas and try to always be a step ahead, in order to keep existing and win over potential customers. It’s a privilege to be able to work with some of the big names in the meat and dairy industries and together bring successful products to market.”
Actively Shaping the Market
Planteneers has become one of the leaders in the industry, as evidenced by the Protein Forward Summit, which the company initiated and hosted last year for the first time. Dr. Dorotea Pein, Director Technology and Innovation Planteneers, notes: “Representatives from the entire value chain in the field of plant proteins accepted our invitation. That was very impressive, and it’s a milestone that I personally am very proud of.” The summit showed that the company doesn’t just present new ideas and perspectives, but also plays an active role in shaping the market. The collaboration within the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe is an advantage, as Dr. Pein explains: “With plant-based alternatives we depend on flavorings to meet customer expectations as to the taste experience provided by the products. Our sister company OlbrichtArom is an invaluable help here. It is equally important to enrich products with vitamins and minerals in order to offer healthy nutrition in the plant-based space. Here, we work closely with SternVitamin. Upstream, for example when it comes to raw materials, with SternEnzym we have extensive in-house specialist knowledge which we can access at any time. Through this networked collaboration we – and ultimately our customers – benefit all along the value chain.”
Looking to the Future
On this basis, current and future trends can be addressed much more easily. “Alternative proteins from plants, yeasts, fermentation and cellular agriculture will play a greater role in the future. We’re already working in all these areas to develop the right functional systems for the resulting final products. Alternative proteins are projected to develop in much the same way as organic products already have. In the years ahead they will gain higher status and a firm place in nutrition.” Mycoproteins are a current hype and Planteneers is convinced that the market will grow. “We think prices will drop sharply as production capacity expands,” says Dr. Pein. “Then mycoprotein will become a raw material widely used to make protein products for the center of the plate. The technology really has the potential to produce affordable protein that can feed the world.”
Planteneers’ experts predict that factors like clean label, raw materials bases and a balanced, wholesome diet will come more into focus in the future. “The snacking trend will also continue, especially in cities and among people who no longer cook as much”, says Dr. Pein. “Outside of that, health will be the major focus of the future.” And not just in Germany and Europe. Plant-based is also gaining ground on other continents, including the US. In order to gain market presence early on with suitable solutions, and meet customer requirements locally, two years ago Planteneers opened a subsidiary in Illinois. The company is also active in Asia, with preparations made for a Technology Center in Singapore. This sets the stage for the future in this highly dynamic market.
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PRESS RELEASE Planteneers_5 Years of Planteneers