Photo credit: Andria Lo/Voyage Foods 

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Promising greater stability for operators amid sky-high coffee prices, US alt-food manufacturer Voyage Foods has launched a commercial partnership drive for its synthetic coffee range. 
 
Targeting US foodservice operators and CPG manufacturers, the California-based brand says its ‘bean-free brew’ is 40% cheaper than mass-market coffee and ‘offers a simple, affordable swap’.
 
Highlighting that price of robusta has risen more than 60% over the last year, Voyage is positioning itself as a commodity coffee alternative less prone to severe price fluctuations and decoupled from deforestation linked to coffee cultivation. 
 
“Given the current dynamics of the coffee market, food and beverage suppliers are uneasy about supply-chain volatility as well as fulfilling their triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit," said Adam Maxwell, CEO and Founder of Voyage Foods, in a press release. 
 
Underlining Voyage’s mass-market coffee focus, Maxwell added: “There will always be a place for premium, fair-trade, single-origin coffee, and that's not our target – we intend to make the biggest possible impact, and we'll do that by supplying an eco-friendlier, ethically made alternative to commodity coffee.”
 
Voyage’s synthetic coffee is formulated from roasted chickpeas, rice hulls, and caffeine derived from green tea. It is available in a variety of caffeinated and decaffeinated formats including roast and ground, liquid, liquid concentrate and instant.

With a greater focus on price, Voyage has taken a different approach to synthetic coffee competitor, Atomo, which markets its product’s lower carbon footprint compared to conventionally cultivated coffee alongside more pessimistic forecasts on the future viability of global production. 
 
Atomo, which raised $40m in June 2022 and received a substantial investment from Japanese beverage giant Suntory Holdings, has so far secured a handful of US coffee shop partners and struck its first major retail deal with Bluestone Lane in April 2024. 
 
Founded by Adam Maxwell and Kelsey Tenney in 2021, Voyage Foods first launched a peanut-free spread range in 2022 and produces cocoa and hazelnut alternatives marketed at allergy sufferers.  
 
The business raised $52m in a Series A funding round in May 2024, taking its investment total to $94m. Voyage also has distribution agreement with Walmart, which stocks Nut-Free Spreads at more than 1,200 US supermarkets.