A mechanical engineer aims to revolutionize plant-based meat options with Rebellyous Foods

written by Rachel Gallaher

In 2011, Christie Lagally—the founder and CEO of Seattle Food Tech, doing business as Rebellyous Foods, a food manufacturing technology company—moved to Seattle to work for Boeing. A mechanical engineer from 9 to 5, Lagally spent part of her free time volunteering at the Humane Society. “I worked in the aerospace industry for fifteen years, but I didn’t eat animals,” she said. “I cared about the issues of climate change and animal welfare, and I was thinking about finding a way to make an impact in that area.”

One day, Kristie Middleton, a director at the Humane Society (and current vice president of business development at Rebellyous Foods), started discussing plant-based meat alternatives—specifically chicken—with Lagally.

“We talked about the fact that animal-based chicken is a relatively cheap and loved product at schools and universities and asked why we can’t make a plant-based version at the same price?” Lagally said. Looking further into the problem, “it turned out that there were a lot of [issues] in the manufacturing process. As a mechanical engineer, I knew I could find a solution.”

At Boeing, Lagally had spent her days finding solutions to help efficiently produce airplanes at a maximum profit. She figured she could apply the same concept to the meat industry, focusing on making products at scale—and having a bigger impact. In 2017, Lagally launched Rebellyous Foods to produce high-quality, plant-based chicken nuggets, patties and tenders on a large scale. While the company sells its products at select grocery stores, its current focus is the USDA National School Lunch Program, through which it services 241 U.S. school districts and reaches three million kids a year. “Nearly 90 percent of our sales go to the National School Lunch Program,” Lagally said. “And because our product has no antibiotics, is low-sodium and low in saturated fat, kids are going to feel better eating it.”

The fact that plant-based meat alternatives are often more expensive than their animal-sourced counterparts is a head-scratcher for most people. “The reason is that we don’t have the necessary manufacturing tools to make plant-based meat,” Legally said. “Around 95 percent of plant-based meat is made in meat-processing facilities that aren’t designed for plant-based products.”

For the past five years, Rebellyous—which has raised around $30 million since its launch—has been developing what it cheekily calls the “Mock 2,” plant-based meat production equipment to make the dough that goes into its products. At the time of press, the equipment was about to be deployed with the capability to make 2,500 pounds of dough an hour. “We designed the right tools for the job, and it will help reduce our manufacturing costs by 60 percent,” Legally said.

While the bottom line is always a factor, for the longtime vegan and animal lover, making a high-quality, affordable and accessible plant-based product was the biggest of her motivating factors. The school districts—and, more importantly, the kids—help keep things on track. “Our product has to be nutritionally within the boundaries of the school lunch program requirements: high in protein and low in sodium and saturated fat,” Legally said, adding that “kids are the toughest consumers. You’re not going to get away with making a low-cost nugget if it doesn’t taste good.”