Beginning in April, Next Gen Foods is rolling out its flagship product, TiNDLE, in restaurants across the United Kingdom. TiNDLE will debut in over 50 sites, partnering with 11 of London’s most iconic eateries and restaurant groups: Aqua Shard, BrewDog, City Spice, Get Plucked, Let’s Do Maki, Neyba, Other Side Fried, Paternoster Chop House, Refuel Your Soul, sketch London, Unity Diner, plus additional cities throughout the UK later this month.
TiNDLE is the first chicken made from plants that was created specifically by chefs and for chefs — a versatile, easy-to-work-with product that has caught the eye of culinary professionals internationally, due to its unique similarities in taste, texture and aroma to chicken from birds. It can take centre stage in any dish, from satay to schnitzel, as well as favourites like fried chicken or chicken cordon bleu.
The popular plant-based chicken has seen rapid success across several culinary epicentres – including the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Dubai – now available in nearly 500 restaurants around the world. From today onwards, Brits can taste TiNDLE in a range of delicious preparations at over 50 select eateries, including:
- Aqua Shard: Located on the 31st floor of The Shard, Western Europe’s tallest building, Executive Head Chef Anthony Garlando and his team offer a Modern British menu from 22nd April, including a fully plant-based TiNDLE Wellington, made with caramelised onions, heritage carrots and a shiitake jus, along with a TiNDLE Ravioli.
- BrewDog: The independent craft brewer, whose mission is to create the most sustainable beverage offerings that serve the planet, will serve TiNDLE on menus at over 40 of its pub locations throughout the country. From 21st April, the popular brew bars will serve two standout burgers: CLUCKY THIS TIME – Crispy TiNDLE chicken burger, avocado, red onion, Cajun mayo & coriander, and CAROLINA CHICKEN – Crispy TiNDLE chicken burger, heritage tomato, red onion & Carolina mustard BBQ sauce. Additionally, chicken can be substituted for TiNDLE in the buffalo chicken burger and all salad bowls.
- City Spice: The award-winning Indian curry house, located on Brick Lane, prepares TiNDLE in four key dishes available from 29th April: a Delhi Railway ‘Chicken’ where TiNDLE is slow cooked with spices to create a spicy, rich curry, a Homestyle ‘Chicken’ Bhuna featuring TiNDLE in a one-pot onion and fenugreek spiced dish, a Gunpowder ‘Chicken’ Dupiaza and Wild Orange ‘Chicken’ where TiNDLE is cooked with Bengali wild orange spices to create an aromatic, sour and zesty curry.
- Get Plucked: With popular international locations, Get Plucked is bringing TiNDLE to its Marlborough location to serve three iconic TiNDLE burgers from 1st May: the Hen Solo, the Oprah Henfrey with fried buttermilk or grilled TINDLE and the Cluck Kent where TiNDLE features in a crispy waffle chicken cone alongside special Get Plucked sauce.
- Let’s Do Maki: A Japanese eatery making made-to-order sushi burritos and bowls will be creating three menu items as of 29th April, including a TiNDLE Katsu Bowl, TiNDLE Katsu Burrito and TiNDLE Sushi Bowl.
- Neyba: The brand-new Notting Hill concept that features celebrated chefs, cuisines and ingredients under one roof, is preparing marinated and seared TiNDLE in two dishes from 29th April, made by Chef Tony Singh such as The Makhani – a rich and luxurious North Indian curry and the Malabar Masala made with 14 luscious ingredients plus TiNDLE.
- Other Side Fried: Recognised for their complete menu of fried chicken offerings (and popular dirty fries and tots), the all-chicken eatery crafts a Vegan TiNDLE Burger available from 29th April, made with a fried TiNDLE patty, lettuce, pickles and a combination of ranch and hot sauce.
- Paternoster Chop House: A British restaurant in the heart of the city will be serving a Vegan TiNDLE Wellington with smoked tomato sauce and pickled mushroom salad with a merlot reduction from 29th April, as well as a spiced BBQ TiNDLE salad, Chilli and garlic ponzu TINDLE balls and a Crispy TiNDLE burger with carrot, turmeric bun and sriracha relish.
- Refuel Your Soul: The French bistro and cocktail bar, which serves a fully vegan menu, have created three unique TiNDLE dishes including a TiNDLE Chicken Forestiere with smoked TiNDLE chicken alongside creamy mash potatoes, sautéed carrots and mushrooms, a TiNDLE Chicken Basquaise with slow roasted TiNDLE Chicken in white wine with mixed spices and a TiNDLE Chicken Rillette with pepper and tomato Provençal confit served on a bed of rice.
- sketch London: The iconic gastro-brasserie in Mayfair, renowned for its eye-catching décor and architecture, offers a TiNDLE coronation chicken sandwich as part of its Spring Vegan Afternoon Tea menu available from 29th April onwards.
- Unity Diner: At the 100% vegan and non-profit diner, TiNDLE will be served from 29th April as a TiNDLE Vegan Fried Chicken (VFC) Burger with bacon and a house salad, a garlic butter TiNDLE Kiev with chunky chips and TiNDLE drumsticks coated in a house blend of Frank’s hot sauce served with garlic aioli.
“Since the very start, we have known that bringing TiNDLE to London would be a critical milestone for the company. It is not only one of the world’s premier food destinations, but also a global hot spot for innovation,” says Andre Menezes, CEO and Co-Founder of Next Gen Foods. “We are thrilled to be working alongside some fantastic restaurant partners and chefs in the UK, who are helping us achieve our goal of bringing delicious – but also sustainable – options to diners.”
Ben Hedley, co-founder of new concept dining and food-delivery site Neyba, said, “TiNDLE has been a mind-blowing experience for our chef team at Neyba. It is not just the texture but also the fibres within the protein and how quickly it absorbs various marinades, seasonings and sauces. TiNDLE is incredibly versatile and has added a whole new dimension to our plant-based offering. We are thrilled to be one of the first restaurant partners for TiNDLE in the UK.”
To celebrate its debut, TiNDLE will be hosting a three-day pop-up shop in Soho, in partnership with Sides, a food brand from YouTube collective The Sidemen, from 27th April through 29th April. Londoners will have the chance to sample complimentary TiNDLE sliders – a favourite recipe by the Sides team – topped with a plant-based garlic mayo, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and pickles, and paired with one of the famous seven Sides sauces. The Sidemen joined forces as a group in 2013, since then they’ve dominated the internet, creating an international audience of over 85 million YouTube subscribers to their channels with a combined following of over 36 million on Instagram.
TiNDLE’s London debut follows the startup’s recent Series A announcement, supported by global investors such as UK-based MPL Ventures, as well as Alpha JWC, EDBI, GGV Capital and Temasek’s Asia Sustainable Foods Platform. The company plans to continue its mission to create a more sustainable food system by expanding into new markets this year, including Germany this Spring and additional locations throughout Europe.
To learn where to currently find TiNDLE in the UK, visit tindle.com/uk-launch or follow on Instagram: @tindlefoods.
Ridiculously good & chef-approved chicken
TiNDLE is a versatile, easy-to-work-with, plant-based chicken that has caught the eye of all-star chefs and culinary professionals due to its unique versatility and similarities in taste and texture to chicken from birds. It features the distinctive flavour of chicken, thanks to Lipi™ – the company’s proprietary emulsion of plant-based ingredients that mirror the aroma, cookability and savoury qualities that typically comes from chicken fat.
Convenient to use and perfect across a range of global cuisines – from Italian meatballs and chicken parmesan to dumplings and katsu, as well as cordon bleu or kebabs – it has gained the attention of all-star chefs across the world including James Beard Award winner and The New York Times best-selling author Rocco DiSpirito and Emmy- and James Beard Award winning personality Andrew Zimmern – who have recently joined the company as business and culinary advisors.
TiNDLE is made of only nine simple ingredients, all of which are ubiquitous and well known to international regulators and food manufacturers. In addition, it is high in protein and fibre and contains no antibiotics, hormones, cholesterol, or genetically modified ingredients.
Rapid growth, global vision
Next Gen Foods was founded in 2020 by Brazilian-born poultry exporter and food industry veteran Andre Menezes, and German native Timo Recker, whose family business made schnitzel and other meat products for three generations. After meeting through an introduction by Rohit Bhattacharya, who is now the startup’s Chief Financial Officer, they decided to work on products that reduce humanity’s reliance on animal agriculture.
The early leadership team – including Chief Operating Officer Alex Ward and Chief Marketing Officer Jean Madden – worked closely with Chief Technology Officer and the brainchild behind TiNDLE, John Seegers, to develop a flagship product through extensive research into what makes chicken taste and perform like chicken. They named their first product TiNDLE as a modern reference to 19th-century Irish physicist John Tyndall, who proved the connection between atmospheric CO2 and the greenhouse effect.
On average, chicken made from plants requires less land, less water, and produces less CO₂ than chicken from birds. Based on a 2020 Blue Horizon report, choosing plant-based chicken over avian meat uses 82% less water, 74% less land and 88% less greenhouse gas emissions.
