Could you do without meat for one dinner per week?

The new plant-based chicken alternative is the brainchild of two meat-eating Kerrymen, Richard Sharp and Shane O’Connor.  The pair teamed up with the idea of building a sustainable business that helps consumers to reduce their carbon footprint incrementally whilst still enjoying the great taste of BBQ chicken. They are asking people to try to ditch meat for one night a week.

O’Connor, a former BBC producer, describes himself as a meat-eating, BBQ-loving foodie who is trying to take a healthier and more sustainable approach to his diet. Sharp, a former International Sales Director in pharmaceuticals and recruitment, feels this is the right time, the right product and in the right market,

“According to the CSO, Irish people are eating more and more chicken. In 2021, 42% of the total meat eaten by Irish consumers was poultry, followed by pork at 34%, beef & veal at 21% and mutton at 3%. We know that customers want healthy alternatives that are good for the environment. We are offering them that, with an alternative that tastes like chicken but is helping them to contribute to global sustainability…. even if they only eat it once a week!”

Launched just 8 months ago, the Seriously Sound plant-based chicken alternative is already available in three of Ireland’s largest supermarket giants, Aldi, Dunnes and Supervalu as well as a number of independent retail outlets.

The Kerry-based start-up may be new, but the idea itself has been cooking in the mind of its foodie co-founder, Shane O’Connor, for 10 years!

“I believe in creating healthy food that tastes great, is good for us and is good for the environment. The Seriously Sound Food Co and our new plant-based chicken alternative ticks all those boxes. We are tapping into a market that is growing exponentially. We are not preaching to people to ditch meat entirely, but rather take incremental steps by going meat-free once a week.”

The company has launched a healthy and tasty chicken substitute at a time when a recent survey of 4,000 Irish people carried out by the EPA found that 35% of respondents chose meat substitutes over meat in the past year because they wanted to take action on climate change.

Produced in Ireland, this tasty new chicken alternative comes with a mouth-watering Carolina BBQ sauce inspired by the great BBQ evangelists of the Southern United States. Each bite has been created to tantalise the tastebuds and offer consumers a real healthy plant-based alternative – that tastes just like the real thing.

The Seriously Sound Food Co is supported by Enterprise Ireland and is currently growing their team in both Ireland and the UK. The inspiration for the product was born from company co-Founder Shane O’Connor’s love of all things BBQ,

“I would travel the Southern States of the US visiting BBQ shacks from Texas to Louisiana. I delved deep into BBQ culture, met with some of the worlds leading BBQ experts and tasted some of the world’s best meats. I knew we could create a plant-based alternative that retained all of the flavours of Southern-style BBQ chicken.”