Startup Black Sheep Foods is creating a plant-based version of vegan lamb, which is coming to San Francisco’s Souvla—a Greek chain that has not changed its menu since 2014, until now as reported by Vegnews.
Vegan lamb will be available at all four locations of Souvla, a beloved San Francisco Bay Area Greek restaurant. Made by local startup Black Sheep Foods (BSF), the vegan lamb will be added as a fifth protein option next to existing lamb, pork, chicken, and roasted white sweet potato. Made with a base of pea protein and patent-pending flavor compounds, Black Sheep Lamb will be available in bite-sized pieces and can be ordered as part of Souvla’s signature sandwiches and salads.
The simple menu at Souvla has not changed much (or at all) since it opened in 2014 until now. “Since our inception, we have intentionally never changed the menu, so this is a monumental, forward-thinking moment for Souvla,” Charles Bililies, Souvla’s Founder and CEO, said in a statement.
“We had yet to find a plant-based meat that made sense for our restaurants, but when we tried Black Sheep Foods, we felt it was the right moment to add a plant-based offering to our menu. This will expand upon our vegetarian offerings, which we’re excited to offer our guests.”
Founded by tech entrepreneur Sunny Kumar and biochemist Ismael Montanez, the concept for BSF arose in 2019
In partnership with chef Jason Dickerson, BSF spent two years perfecting its vegan lamb through analytical chemistry, rebuilding the flavor profile of the gamey meat from the ground up. The result is a vegan lamb that carries the same gamey flavor and texture of its animal counterpart without the need to slaughter a lamb. In addition to being a cruelty-free lamb option, Black Sheep Lamb is much more environmentally friendly and uses 98-percent less land, produces 95-percent fewer carbon emissions, and consumes half as much water compared to commercially raised lamb.
