Komo Brings Walnuts to Plant-Based Pasta Sauces
Komo’s hearty vegan Bolognese sauce made with walnuts is one of the only products of its kind on grocery store shelves. It’s hearty, comforting and convenient, three product attributes that Komo’s founder and product developer Jeffrey Ma insisted on with the launch of the product.
Ma helped start Komo, which produces ready-to-eat sauces, lasagna, shepherd’s pie and more, all plant-based, and all with wholesome ingredients.
“A lot of plant-based foods on the market today are moving away from wholesome ingredients, whereas we think consumers really care about wholesome ingredients,” Ma said. “So we use a lot of walnuts, lentils — we don’t try to stay away from allergens or whole foods, instead we really lean into them.”
For the Bolognese — an obvious comfort food and one of Ma’s favorites — the idea was to make something easy for consumers to use, whether it was used as a pasta topper or in a sloppy joe sandwich as a meat alternative.
“We always wanted to add texture. Texture is really important, and that heartiness is really important, so in our Bolognese we use chopped walnuts to add healthy fats, a protein, as well as that texture,” Ma said. “That gives our Bolognese a bit of bite, which consumers really love. We love to call out the product as a walnut bolognese upfront because we know consumers are looking more toward whole foods, and calling out walnuts gives that feel to the product.”
Ma said the meatless bolognese tastes like a traditional Bolognese, which was one of his goals when developing the product. To date, the response has been very positive, especially when consumers notice the ingredient list.
“We’re leveraging the walnuts and the legumes. There’s a lot of hype around cultured meats, and our brand is really going back to real food and real ingredients,” Ma said. “We’re focused on that. That’s a trend that will never go away.”
Learn more about Komo Bolognese Sauce.
