Licious launches plant-based meat brand 'UnCrave'

Licious, India’s largest D2C Unicorn, announced their foray into the alternative protein sector with the launch of UnCrave - India’s first D2C plant-based meat brand. This launch aligns with the company’s strategy of portfolio diversification leveraging its strong core brand equity. Licious aims to emerge as a market leader within the 1st year of launch itself & create relevance for the larger set of meat eating consumers who trust the brand.

Developed from plant-based proteins the offering currently consists of vegetarian chick~n and mutt~n seekh kebabs that are rich in protein and free of all artificial preservatives and trans fat. In the initial phase the UnCrave range will be available in all major metro cities in India.

Over the years Licious has emerged as every meat lover’s preferred destination. Licious has led the way in creating a mainstream consumer language for quality in India ,setting benchmarks backed by world class infrastructure, R&D and innovation. In the last 7 years, Licious has developed a nuanced knowledge of meats & meat lovers alike. These deep insights helped the brand to realise that there is a large section of people who crave meat on the occasions that they can't have it. This is what led to the creation of UnCrave- a plant-based vegetarian alternative to meat that ensures consumers will always have a solution to their cravings.

Abhay Hanjura & Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious, says, “No one knows great quality, fresh meats and seafood the way Licious does. So, when it came to creating the meatiest, tastiest and the most wholesome plant-based meat alternative, we had to take the lead. UnCrave is a lot more than just a brand, it is a promise to our consumers- that Licious will step up & diversify to ensure that they always have a choice of tasty protein."

"We have invested in over 20 months of R&D, in-house, to develop a range of products that closely resembles the taste and texture of meat in a never-before experienced way. We have paid close attention to not just the quality standards, but also the nutritional profile making it a protein-rich vegetarian fare that is also free of artificial preservatives & MSG. With UnCrave, our aim is to introduce the country to newer ways of experiencing meat.”

Commenting on the launch, Simeran Bhasin, business head, Alternative Protein- Licious, said, “Licious is the only Indian company to house both animal and alternative protein under one roof. And we have been able to achieve it because we have always kept our consumers- the Indian meat eaters- as our biggest priority. When it came to developing the UnCrave range we have relied completely on our consumer-backward R&D and innovation process. Our vegetarian chick~n & mutt~n seekhs cook like meat and can address the everyday protein needs - an extremely pertinent need in a protein deficient country like India. A superior, meat-like taste is our biggest USP; that’s why we spell our products with a tilde (~) signifying the products’ similarity to meat in almost every aspect.”

Priced at INR 349 onwards, UnCrave will be available in a chick~n & mutt~n variant in packs of 4. The cook-time for these RTC products are 8 mins and they have a shelf life of 12-14 days. UnCrave can be ordered through the Licious app, web, offline stores and channel partners.