Next Meats Co, the alternative meat venture company from Tokyo, is known for commercializing the world’s first vegan Japanese barbecue meat analogues—the NEXT Yakiniku series, as well as the NEXT Gyudon, which is a vegan simulation of the traditional Japanese beef bowl.
The company has recently gained attention for successfully developing an alternative egg product, the NEXT Egg 1.0, and also launching the NEXT Yakiniku in the U.S. and selling out their first release of products in a day.
Next Meats just revealed their plan to start the construction of their eco-friendly production facility called the “NEXT Factory”, in Niigata, Japan, which is the hometown of Ryo Shirai, one of the two co-founders. This factory will be a one-stop hub dedicated to alternative protein products and will include everything from an R&D lab to the production line. This kind of large-scale facility specifically dedicated to the development of alternative proteins is likely to be the first of its kind in Japan*. In a press conference announcing the construction of the facility, founders Hideyuki Sasaki and Ryo Shirai revealed that the NEXT Factory will incorporate DX systems as well as solar panels and other sustainable technologies, and its completion is scheduled for next summer.
Sasaki and Shirai expressed that by building the NEXT Factory, they aim to further stabilize the global supply chain of Next Meats products while lowering retail costs and strengthening the company’s R&D capacities. Shirai, (Co-founder of Next Meats Co. and CEO of Next Meats Holdings (OTC Pink: NXMH)) also voiced his strong determination to give back to his hometown and the Niigata prefecture, and his desire to contribute to and lead the alternative protein industry from Niigata.
