FiveStar Gourmet Foods is setting the trend by partnering with Beyond Meat to bring more salad protein choices to consumers. FiveStar, the nation’s premier salad brand, is introducing a new Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat, featuring plant-based beef crumbles from Beyond Meat, a leader in plant-based meat. The new 7.5-oz complete salad recently debuted in Publix supermarkets. Available to retailers nationwide starting in January, the salad is just one of the many new product possibilities for the culinary giant.

“We are thrilled to be working with Beyond Meat, a company we appreciate and respect. This partnership allows us to be more versatile with our main product lines and enables us to feature plant-based protein as a key ingredient within all of our fresh, prepared categories, such as salads, breakfast and meal entrées,” says Tal Shoshan CEO of FiveStar Gourmet Foods. “From a culinary perspective, the Beyond Beef Crumbles are delicious, innovative, versatile and are designed to look, cook and taste like beef—which our chefs really like. Also, more importantly, a company like Beyond Meat aligns with our core values for innovation and sustainability, using high-quality ingredients to build food that’s better for people and the planet.”

With 25% more toppings than similar salads in the category and only 260 calories, FiveStar continues to push the boundaries in the right direction. The Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat is a premium vegetarian salad featuring Beyond Beef Crumbles alongside fresh and flavorful toppings like fire-roasted corn and roasted red bell peppers with black beans, aged Cheddar and Jack cheeses plus crunchy tri-color tortilla strips—topped with a made-in-house creamy “sweet and spicy” Salsa Ranch Dressing.

"We're proud to partner with FiveStar to make delicious and nutritious plant-based meat more accessible for consumers on-the-go with the launch of the new Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat," said Tim Smith, VP of Foodservice Sales, North America. "We value our partnership with FiveStar as they share our vision for providing consumers with convenient, craveable and better-for-you products."

The new Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat is also “Ultra fresh Sealed”, which means consumers can enjoy a longer shelf life. The salad offers a contactless retail experience and is produced in FiveStar’s state-of-the-art facilities in California and Florida, which are USDA and SQF Level 3 certified.

About FiveStar Gourmet Foods
With an “appetite for excellence,” leading innovator within fresh value-added foods, Southern California-based FiveStar Gourmet Foods, the producers of the Simply Fresh brand, have been producing premium, healthy foods for more than two decades. With processing facilities nationwide, including Naples, Florida, FiveStar Gourmet Foods manufacturers a complete line of retail and foodservice products including Ultra-Fresh-Sealed “grab & go” salad bowls and snacks featuring fresh produce and proteins under the Simply Fresh Salads, Simply Fresh 2Go, and MiniMeals2Go brands using all natural, no artificial ingredients. FiveStar has achieved both organic certification and the highest quality and food safety certification of SQF Level 3.