The U.S. Maker of Fake Mayo Pitches China on Fake Eggs
Eat Just, formerly known as Hampton Creek, has outlasted its scandals and is betting now’s the time to expand in Asia with its mung bean product.
Just Egg is made with protein extracted from mung beans.
Photographer: Hugo Yu for Bloomberg Businessweek
On a recent Monday morning in a Shanghai conference room, four executives from a major Chinese food producer and distributor sat socially distanced from one another, pulled down their masks, and tried some fake eggs. In a makeshift basement office in San Francisco, 15 hours behind, Josh Tetrick, the chief executive officer of egg-substitute maker Eat Just Inc., watched via Zoom. His head chef in China presented the Shanghai execs with eight ways to serve the ersatz ovum, Just Egg, which is made primarily from mung beans. The hope was that one would be tasty enough for the Chinese company to sell online and at fast-food chains.
The eight options included Tetrick’s two favorites. The Inside-Out Egg is a faux omelette stuffed with lettuce, a hash brown patty, and spicy mayo; the Pinwheel Egg is essentially a fake-egg burrito with rice, fried onions, and pickled radishes. Both bombed. Still, the pitchees picked a winner, and while Tetrick stresses that no deal has been signed—hence the anonymity—he says Eat Just, better known as Just, is moving on to the next round of talks.