Exclusive: California Cultured plant based cocoa start-up joins the World Confectionery Conference
Alex Shandrovsky, of California Cultured, will be speaking of its key mission aiming to make an impact in the global cocoa sector.
The dynamic line-up for the 2024 World Confectionery Conference is near completion with the addition of Alex Shandrovsky, of California Cultured, a US start-up business that has specialised in plant cell culture, focused on cocoa development, writes Neill Barston.
Located in West Sacramento, the company is among a small band of tech ventures around the world that are seeking to utilise latest scientific techniques to deliver plant based alternative sourcing solutions for key crops for the confectionery sector.
The enterprise is set to join a distinguished array of businesses for this year’s conference in Brussels on 12 September at the NHow Hotel, focused on sustainability, innovation across the full spectrum of the industry, across equipment, systems, ingredients and finished product areas. Our early bird visitor rates being available until Monday, 15 July from the following direct event website link.
Notably, the firm made global headlines earlier this year after securing a major agreement with Japan’s largest chocolate company, Meiji ltd, striking a ten-year deal to supply flavanol cocoa powder to the business and its range of packaged goods.
As its founder Alan Perlstein (pictured centre, below) noted in a recent interview with the Vegconomist vegan magazine: “There is a progressively growing supply gap in the cocoa industry. This is the beginning of the future of chocolate,” of the prospects for the ambitious start-up, which believes that there is a place for alternative forms of manufacturing within the industry alongside conventional crop production.
Alan Perlstein and the California Cultured team. Pic: California Cultured
Having recently joined the company’s ranks as an international business development manager, Alex Shandrovsky explained to Confectionery Production that he is greatly enthused at the prospect of joining this year’s event, which celebrates Confectionery Production’s 90th anniversary, featuring our annual awards and networking reception.
Prior to joining California Cultured, Alex ran a successful Food Tech Investment advisory , helping clients raise major investment for their respective industry ventures. In addition to leading international business development at California Cultured, he is the host of Vegconomist Investment Climate Podcast, uncovering sales playbooks of successful foodtech founders who have raised funds in the last year. His favourite chocolate is 70% Dark Chocolate with fruity notes.