Fast Company Full Article
jack & annie’s
For unlocking the versatility in jackfruit
Jackfruit, a breadfruit that resembles a spiky hedge apple as big as a rugby ball, might not scream “meat substitute” to many Americans. But the odd-looking fruit, termed “vegetable meat” for ages in India, is uniquely suited to absorbing flavors while lightening texture. That is why Annie Ryu became obsessed with it on a medical school rotation there, and she has been cultivating relationships with smallholder farmers since to build out a viable supply line back in the West.
Ryu’s Jackfruit Company now sells shredded versions of the fruit’s flesh—plain and sauce-smothered, in retail and commercial settings—and it operates a consumer-facing arm sold in grocery stores nationwide, called Jack & Annie’s. In November 2024, the company partnered with Performance Food Group, America’s second-largest food distributor, for a wholesale burger that is half beef, half jackfruit. It claims that in tests, the patty has been preferred 100% of the time to all-beef counterparts, but it has about half the saturated fat, cholesterol, calories, and carbon footprint.
Meanwhile, jack & annie’s burger patties, meatballs, tenders, and sausage links are now holding their own against the offerings from big plant-protein players. In 2024, amid a sea of bankruptcies in the broader plant-based industry, sales climbed for the retail subsidiary, which become the chain Sprouts’ number-one frozen alt-meat brand. Ryu also completed an oversubscribed funding round in a marketplace where just 2% of capital currently goes to women-led companies.