With thanks to: Eugenia Barcos at Nestlé, Maximillian Bogenmann at Endless Food Co, Tal Govrin at Kokomodo, Ilanit Bar-Zeev at Vanilla Vida, Daan Raemdonck at Koppie and Klaus Kienle at FoodBrewer

Ready to dive in? 🍫☕🌿

The big picture

• Most of us can agree that chocolate, coffee, and rich flavours like vanilla or saffron are some of life’s greatest pleasures. But these indulgences are becoming increasingly fragile.

• Many of the world’s favourite ingredients depend on a small number of regions that are under growing pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss, and unstable supply chains.

• Most chocolate is made from cocoa grown in West Africa. Coffee production is concentrated in tropical regions across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. And spices like vanilla and saffron come from extremely limited geographic areas, making them vulnerable to shocks.

• Extreme weather, crop diseases, aging farming populations, and competing activities such as illegal mining or deforestation are already disrupting harvests. Add growing global demand, and the result is a perfect storm for supply shortages and rising prices.

• Cacao is both a driver and a victim of climate change. While extreme weather reduces cocoa yields, expanding cocoa farms drives deforestation and biodiversity loss, further contributing to warming.

• Coffee faces similar risks. Researchers estimate that suitable coffee-growing land could shrink dramatically by mid-century as temperatures rise and rainfall patterns shift.

• Meanwhile, ingredients like vanilla and saffron are among the most labor-intensive crops in the world. Vanilla orchids must be hand-pollinated, and saffron requires harvesting thousands of flowers to produce a small amount of spice.

• The result: some of the world’s most beloved flavours are becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to produce.

  Fortunately, startups are working to reinvent these ingredients from the ground up.

🤔 Why we should be paying attention

Many indulgent ingredients face a mix of economic, environmental, and social challenges.

1. Cocoa prices have surged dramatically in recent years due to harvest failures in West Africa.

2. Coffee crops are increasingly threatened by climate-driven pests and diseases.

3. Vanilla prices can swing wildly depending on harvest conditions in Madagascar.

4. Saffron remains one of the most expensive spices in the world due to labour-intensive harvesting.

• These industries also face structural challenges.Most cocoa farmers live below the extreme poverty threshold defined by the World Bank. Millions of children are estimated to work on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions. Meanwhile, cocoa farming has contributed to illegal deforestation in protected forests.

• Coffee farmers face similar pressures from low commodity prices and volatile markets.

• At the same time, demand for indulgent foods and beverages continues to grow worldwide. Cacao, coffee, and flavour-rich products are deeply embedded in global culture — and consumers are unlikely to give them up. Making these industries ripe for innovation.

🔍 How is it shaping up?

Startups are tackling the problem from several angles: recreating ingredients without traditional crops, developing resilient alternatives, and improving supply chains.

🍫 Cocoa-free chocolate

One way to separate cacao from its problematic supply chain is simply not to use cocoa.

Several startups are developing cocoa-free chocolate alternatives using ingredients such as barley, carob, legumes, or fermentation processes that recreate chocolate’s taste and texture. These products are also gaining attention because cocoa markets have become increasingly unstable.

“Cocoa procurement is characterized by a disconnect between farm gate prices and global market speculation which creates strong volatility for chocolate manufacturers,” says Klaus Kienle, Co-Founder and CPO at FoodBrewer. “Since the demand for chocolate continues to rise and the supply remains difficult to predict, chocolate manufacturers are diversifying their cocoa supply to prepare for the long-term, even as we currently see price relief for cocoa.”

“While focusing on competitive pricing and supply chain stability, we’ve also taken a strong stance on providing nutritional upgrades. Low sugar, high fiber, and no palm oil have always been core to our product, THIC. (This has helped us differentiate from pure scale & price play competitors- giving us added value when cocoa markets fluctuate up and down),” explains Maximillian Bogenmann, Co-Founder at Endless Food Co.

Companies are also exploring cellular agriculture to grow cocoa cells directly, producing chocolate without traditional farming. Some see this as a way to maintain the “real cocoa” identity of chocolate while bypassing land-use and labor challenges embedded in traditional cacao production.

Two aspects make Food Brewer’s approach distinct, Klaus says. “First, we bring a wholistic solution for a predictable and reliable cocoa supply. Today we sell our cocoa-free ingredients and mid-term, our scaled cell cultured cocoa, will become available—addressing those companies who want to stick to actual cocoa.”

He adds that Food Brewer is also focused on scaling production faster than many cultivated-food startups. “We leverage proven brewing technologies from our collaboration partner Krones/Steinecker. This allows us to efficiently produce today in thousands of liters in our pilot scale facility, while executing on the 50+m3 roadmap.”

Companies are also exploring cellular agriculture to grow cocoa cells directly, producing chocolate without traditional farming.

“The biggest thing with cellular agriculture is that it does not create substitutes. In fact, cultivated ingredients are the real thing - grown directly from the authentic cells of cacao. It’s not imitation; it’s innovation that produces nature’s essence,” adds Tal Govrin, Co-Founder and CEO at Kokomodo.

14 companies to watch in this space:

• Beyond Good (USA) making cacao at the source

• California Cultured (USA) grows cocoa from plant cell cultures

• Celleste Bio (Israel) cell culture technology for cocoa

• Endless Food (Denmark) upcycling technology to safeguard chocolate

• Fermtech (UK) replacing cocoa in chocolate

• FoodBrewer (Switzerland) cocoa and coffee using cultivated plant cells and cocoa-free ingredients

• Foreverland (Italy) produces cacao-free “Freecao” using carob

• Kawa Project (USA) cocoa alternatives from coffee waste

• Kokomodo (Israel) cell culture technology for cacao

• NuKoKo (UK) mimics cocoa fermentation using locally sourced beans

• Optimized Foods (USA) working on fats and cocoa

• Planet A Foods (Germany) cacao flavours using precision fermentation

• Voyage Foods (USA) cocoa-free chocolate

• Win-Win (UK) cocoa-free chocolate

These approaches aim to dramatically reduce land use, water consumption, and deforestation while creating a more stable supply.

☕️ Coffee alternatives

Coffee may be the next major ingredient under pressure.

Coffee trees are extremely sensitive to climate conditions, and experts estimate that a large portion of suitable coffee-growing land could disappear by 2050.

Startups are developing coffee alternatives that replicate flavour and aroma without relying on coffee beans.

In response, startups are developing coffee alternatives designed to replicate coffee’s flavour and aroma,without relying on traditional coffee beans. Some are positioning these products not as replacements, but as drop-in ingredients that brands can blend with conventional coffee to reduce supply chain risk.

“Koppie is unique in that we create a “bean” alternative, that can be roasted, ground & brewed just like coffee, from just 1 naturally fermented ingredient. This makes it so much easier for coffee companies to create a hybrid product with us,”

12 companies to watch in this space:

• Amatera (France) accelerating the natural evolution of coffee plants

• Atomo (USA) molecular coffee made from upcycled ingredients

• Another Food (Singapore) cell-cultured coffee

• California Cultured (USA) cultured coffee

• Coffeesai (Israel) cell-cultured coffee

• Cult Food Science (Canada) cultured coffee

• Koppie (Belgium) fermented and roasted peas to mimic coffee

• Food Brewer (Switzerland) cocoa and coffee using cultivated plant cells and cocoa-free ingredients

• Compound Foods (USA) bean-free cold brew

• REST (Denmark) an alt coffee spin out from Kost Studio

• Pluri (Israel) cell-based ingredients, including coffee

• Prefer (Singapore) fermentation-based coffee alternatives

• Voyage Foods (USA) bean-free coffee

🌶️ Reinventing rare flavours

Some of the world’s most beloved flavours — such as vanilla and saffron — are also under pressure.

“Historically, food manufacturers have been forced to rely on these synthetic substitutes not out of preference, but out of necessity. The natural vanilla supply chain is structurally broken and highly volatile. Approximately 80% of the world's real vanilla is grown on a single cyclone-exposed island: Madagascar. Because the industry relies on traditional, weather-dependent field cultivation, the market suffers from massive price swings—going from $50 per kilogram to $600 per kilogram and back within a single decade,” explains Ilanit Bar-Zeev, CEO at Vanilla Vida

Meanwhile Saffron production requires harvesting tens of thousands of flowers to produce just one kilogram of spice.

To address this, startups are exploring precision fermentation and biotechnology to produce these flavours more efficiently.

15 companies to watch in this space:

• Amatera (France) accelerating the natural evolution of plants to create the perennial crop varieties of tomorrow.

• Ayana Bio (USA) plant cell cultivation for high-value botanical ingredients

• BlueRedGold (Sweden) plant cell technology for saffron compounds

• Cellibre (USA) synthetic biology platform for terpene and specialty molecule production

• Chi Botanic (USA) plant cell fermentation platform for vanilla, citrus, and botanical compounds

• Conagen (USA) precision fermentation platform producing flavour molecules including mint and pepper aromatics

• EvodiaBio (Denmark) engineered yeast producing aroma compounds for beverages

• Isobionics (Netherlands) fermentation-derived terpene production for flavour and fragrance

• Krokos Bio (USA) biotech production of saffron compounds

• MycoTechnology (USA) fungal fermentation producing flavour-modulating compounds

• Saffron Tech (Israel) high-tech saffron production using controlled environments and biotechnology

• SPICYCELLS (Slovakia) cellular agriculture approach to producing rare spices

• Terra35 (France) biotech platform for sustainable vanilla flavour production

• Vanilla Vida (Israel) plant-cell-based production of natural vanilla ingredients

👀 Big Food x Startups

🍬 Nestlé Launches Cocoa‑Free Chocolate with ChoViva

In a landmark moment for alternative chocolate, Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, launched a cocoa‑free chocolate line under its Choco Crossies brand, using ChoViva, a sunflower‑based fermented ingredient developed by German startup Planet A Foods.

• The new Snack Vibes range, rolling out in Germany in April 2026, comes in three flavour varieties (Classic, Hazelnut, and Salted Popcorn Caramel) and contains zero cocoa.

• ChoViva is created by fermenting and roasting sunflower seeds (and grape seeds) before blending them with plant fats and sugar, then conching them into a chocolate‑like mass.

• This move reflects both supply‑chain pressures from rising cocoa costs and climate risk and changing consumer tastes — especially among Gen Z snackers who are more open to non‑traditional ingredients.

• Why it matters: This is the first permanent cocoa‑free product from a global confectionery giant, showing that alternatives once confined to startups can now appear on the shelves of mainstream brands with massive distribution reach, a potential tipping point for alternative chocolate adoption.

📌Cargill Embraces Cell‑Based Chocolate with Kokomodo

Another major signal that Big Chocolate is serious about alternative cocoa technologies, food industry giant Cargill has partnered with Israeli cellular agriculture startup Kokomodo to advance cell‑based cocoa ingredients at industrial scale.

• The collaboration, supported by the European Union’s EIT Food innovation fund, will test how lab‑grown cocoa derived from cacao cells performs in real‑world applications like confectionery, beverages, and dairy.

• This effort is part of Cargill’s broader “portfolio mindset” to build choice and resilience into cocoa supply, complementing investments in other alt‑cocoa players like Voyage Foods’ cocoa‑free ingredients and partnerships in fermentation and cell culture.

• The aim is to accelerate research, boost sensory performance, and improve scalability in a cocoa market that has seen years of supply volatility and record high prices.

• Why it matters: This is one of the clearest examples yet of a major ingredient supplier betting on lab‑grown cocoa, and it bridges the gap between startup innovation and incumbent manufacturing muscle — a trend that could reshape how foundational ingredients like cocoa are sourced in the future.

Tal Govrin, Co-Founder and CEO at Kokomodo tells us: “We aim to transform the global cacao market to capture both indulgent and functional applications, ensuring a stable supply amid growing climate volatility.

Chocolate makers can craft premium products without changing their recipes, using consistently high-quality cacao free from heavy metals, with customisable flavor profiles enabled by tailored cell cultures.

Wellness brands can create functional products rich in cacao’s signature bioactives and nutrients (such as antioxidants, magnesium, and more), preserved and even enhanced through precise cell culture bioprocessing.”

🍫 Celleste Bio Unveils World’s First Cell-Cultivated Cocoa Butter Alternative

Another major milestone in the shift toward next-generation chocolate ingredients, Celleste Bio has unveiled what it describes as the world’s first cell-cultivated cocoa butter alternative.

• The ingredient is produced by growing cocoa-derived cells in controlled fermentation systems, allowing for the creation of cocoa butter without relying on traditional cacao farming. The company says the process is designed to deliver a consistent, scalable supply of cocoa fat while reducing exposure to agricultural volatility.

• The development is backed by a collaboration with Mondelēz International, signalling that major chocolate manufacturers are actively exploring cell-based ingredients not just as a long-term bet, but as a potential near-term supply chain solution.

• The launch signals growing momentum behind cell-based approaches to cocoa, particularly for high-value components like cocoa butter, which is widely used in chocolate, confectionery, and cosmetics. By focusing on structured fats rather than full cocoa substitutes, Celleste is targeting one of the most supply-constrained and price-sensitive parts of the cocoa value chain.

• Why it matters: Cocoa butter is one of the most critical and supply-constrained components in chocolate production. Celleste Bio’s approach highlights how cellular agriculture is moving beyond experimental ingredients toward specific, high-value inputs that could help stabilise global supply chains.

🚀 Opportunities

Rising prices for traditional ingredients could create a window for alternatives.

If cocoa, coffee, and rare spices continue to become more expensive or volatile, food manufacturers may be increasingly willing to experiment with alternative ingredients.

Opportunities include:

• Hybrid products: Blending traditional and alternative ingredients could significantly reduce environmental impact while preserving flavour.\

• Scale up potential: “As we produce cocoa on commercial scale, using much more affordable technology inspired by the brewing industry, we can elevate the whole plant cell culture industry to a next level. Unlocking opportunities for wider food security and sovereignty strategies, as well as nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharma applications”, notes Klaus Kienle at FoodBrewer

• Localised production: Fermentation-based ingredients can be produced anywhere, reducing dependence on specific climates or regions.

• Nutritional improvements: Some alternative ingredients contain less sugar or allow for improved nutritional profiles compared with conventional formulations.

• Natural Ingredients: “There’s an urgency for food and beverage companies to transition to natural ingredients with the acceleration of regulatory,  reputational and commercial pressures worldwide. Vanilla Vida’s ability to produce natural vanilla at scale expands the market almost 10X,” adds Ilanit Bar-Zeev.

❗ Risks and remaining questions

Despite the excitement, several challenges remain.

• Scaling production: Many technologies — especially fermentation or cellular agriculture — must scale from lab experiments to industrial manufacturing.

• Replicating key properties: Ingredients like cocoa butter have unique melting characteristics that give cacao its signature texture. Replicating these properties remains technically challenging.

• Achieving price parity: Alternative ingredients must eventually compete with conventional commodities on price.

• Consumer acceptance: New ingredients will need careful communication and positioning to gain widespread adoption.

• Finding the right partners. “To have an impact, we need to position this product in the right way, so it can grow and reach mainstream adoption. 
  It shouldn’t be seen or positioned as a downgrade. If it’s the same taste, healthier caffeine levels and more sustainable, what’s not to like?” asks Daan Raemdonck at Koppie.

• Finding suitable CMOs for our field is challenging. “Most are either focused on precision fermentation -  often not ideal for plant cell processing- or operate at pharmaceutical standards with pricing far beyond food grade needs. As a result, there’s a clear gap in large-scale plantcell cultivation. This remains a challenge, but we are actively addressing it and are proud to have strong partners on this journey,” concludes Klaus Kienle at FoodBrewer

💡 The bottom line

• Few people want to imagine a future without chocolate, coffee, or rich flavours like vanilla and saffron.

• But the industries behind these beloved ingredients face growing pressure from climate change, fragile supply chains, and social challenges.

• Fortunately, a new generation of startups is working to reinvent these ingredients, making them more sustainable, resilient, and scalable.

• If current trends continue, the future of indulgence may not come from traditional farms alone, but from fermentation tanks, molecular flavour design, and entirely new food production systems.

• And the recent turmoil in commodity markets might be exactly the catalyst these alternatives need to break into the mainstream.

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