To break into the pizza business, Pleese Cheese
NEW YORK For Kobi and Abev Regev, pizza is a staple food since they live in New York City. They considered themselves pizza experts, but Regev did not like how conventional cheese affected his diet. Pleese Cheese is an alternative, clean label, plant-based cheese that he and his wife created after experimenting with numerous recipes and diet adjustments. The moniker Pleese Cheese comes from Regev’s time spent residing in New York.
“In addition to being a portmanteau for plant cheese, people have told me they find New Yorkers to be impolite,” he explained. “(And) I felt it was funny to make kids say please when they order pizza; I believe it gives the food a more appealing international flavour.”
Pleese Cheese is attempting to enter the pizza industry.
Please grate cheese.
Pictured: Cheese Pleese
January 19, 2024By Brooke Just Entrepreneur in Food NEW YORK For Kobi and Abev Regev, pizza is a staple food since they live in New York City. They considered themselves pizza experts, but Regev did not like how conventional cheese affected his diet. Pleese Cheese is an alternative, clean label, plant-based cheese that he and his wife created after experimenting with numerous recipes and diet adjustments. The moniker Pleese Cheese comes from Regev’s time spent residing in New York.
“In addition to being a portmanteau for plant cheese, people have told me they find New Yorkers to be impolite,” he explained. Additionally, I found it amusing that youngsters have to say “please” when they buy pizza; I believe it adds
a more universal appeal.
Pleese Cheese is a plant-based version of the traditional cheese made from potato, coconut oil, and fava bean protein.
Regev stated, “As parents, we were attempting to make it as clean label as possible when you looked at the ingredients.” “We are continuously making improvements and looking for areas where we can cut ingredients as more become available. There are many ways that others economise, and it is crucial for us to avoid doing the same.
Regev and his wife altered their diets for health reasons, and in the process, they came up with the idea for their next project.
Although we were both from New York City and knew we could survive without milk and meat, we couldn’t live without
pizza,” stated Regev. We developed a hobby out of trying to figure out how to build a plant-based, aesthetically pleasing pizza. We had to go through several iterations.
The couple’s initial creation was a cheese with a nut basis, but Regev anticipated a challenge in the market.
“I knew this cheese tasted better and looked right, but what about people who are allergic to nuts?” he remarked in his head. “We are considering individuals with allergies to dairy products, but what about those with allergies to nuts? After quitting my comfy sales position to work behind the counter at a pizzeria, I realised there should be more discussion about nuts in schools since the kids kept asking me if there was soy in the oil and if there was maize in the dough. Are nuts permitted in New York schools? When I called the school district, they informed me that they would not accept cheese with nuts in it.
Foodservice is the main focus of Pleese Cheese’s go-to-market strategy, but Regev hopes to expand
into the retail market.
“We find that foodservice is where people are most interested in trying our product,” he stated. “We have discovered that local pizzerias in New York have among of the lowest entry barriers. Everyone’s favourite food is pizza, therefore I think our biggest win will be merely making it more widely available. We know we’ll have the most fun when we make our first foray into retail, but we want to be strong in one area before attempting another distribution strategy.
According to Regev, their goal is to enter the retail space in 2024. They plan to start small, in New York, and then go farther away in 2025. Pizzerias may sell the product to customers.
“We’re examining Whole Foods and Sprouts,” stated Regev. However, I may visit several supermarkets in New York City and get to know the managers there. Living in New York City, I’ve observed that businesses that aren’t Whole Foods may not have many options or substitutes; those are the establishments where I would like to make a difference.
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Regev claimed that after taking part in Rabobank’s FoodBytes! Virtual pitch competition in October 2020, their company was given more credibility and was no longer just another mom-and-pop store but was now being considered seriously by bigger organisations.
He remarked, “It has been really exciting to hear that someone I met through the experience called us the little startup that could.” The most fulfilling aspect of that chance, in our opinion, has been knowing that people with large budgets like us and what we’ve been able to accomplish. That statement keeps us moving forward even when things are slow.
Sales at the company were also boosted by the competition.
We recently concluded the trial programme, so in order to expand our sales network, we took our own recipe and scaled it up for the first time. We debuted in five or six locations, and they sold out right away, according to Regev.
Customers who are vegan or lactose intolerant are the target market for the product, but Regev also wants to appeal to “armchair health-conscious consumers.”
“I believe our real differentiator will be the customers who enjoy lounging in a La-Z-Boy,” stated Regev. “I fall into the type of customers who aspire to be really healthy but approach it quite casually—which is a sizable group in and of itself. That seems to be where
We are a unique organisation.
“My target market is those who, for whatever reason, wish to alter their diet yet still have access to delectable comfort foods. Many of these other businesses only concentrate on vegetarianism and ignore other factors.
An additional target market for the product is children.
“I’ve never been more concerned about ingredients in my life—I have two young children, ages five and three,” Regev remarked.
The business produces its product in collaboration with a co-manufacturer.
Regev stated, “We developed a proprietary recipe, put it through extensive testing, tested it in New York City streets, and tested it in front of kids, because kids are the most honest people in the world.” “We collaborated with a co-manufacturer to produce a product we liked.”
Growing within the restaurant business is the primary goal of Regev’s scaling strategy.
“Hopefully, we can really grow in numbers with this national distributor (Ace Natural),” he stated. “(And) devote my attention to and energies expanding in this field to turn into the go-to answer and provide constant support to my clients. We will fully launch into consumer brands once we achieve the size in cafes.