Powering up a plant-based venture – Off Piste Ltd | New Zealand Food Innovation Network

Entrepreneur Jade Gray has spent more than 20 years building award-winning food and beverage brands in China, but when it came to developing an exciting new plant-based jerky and launching his latest venture, Off-Piste, back on home soil, he locked in the expertise of NZFIN.

Operating offshore for so long, Jade wasn’t familiar with the resources or partners available to help pull off his start-up. He turned to FoodPilot, whose specialist extrusion expertise and facilities supported him in the development of his innovative prototype, which has an uncanny similarity to beef jerky. After six months of product development, Off-Piste moved to The FoodBowl, which enabled Jade to scale up ahead of an October 2021 retail launch.

The impact of the support he received from NZFIN was centred around freeing up headspace, which Jade says enabled him to focus on the bigger picture.

“There’s a lot going on when you’re a start-up, whether it’s your idea, the prototype, the investment, market considerations – you’ve got a bunch of stuff going on and you’re juggling a lot of balls,” he says.