Munich Startup: What does Plant Magic do? What problem do you solve?
Sebastian Brecey, Plant Magic: With our vegan and functional superfood lattes, we want to make a small contribution towards a healthier diet and more sustainability in the food sector. To achieve this, our products have to be easy to integrate into our often stressful everyday lives and be delicious at the same time. Only then can healthy eating become an integral part of our lives.
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Sebastian Brecey: Only so so. Our flavors such as Matcha, Chai & Co can be found in most cafés today. However, our special recipes are also based on functional ingredients from all over the world that have been used for centuries in Ayurveda or traditional Chinese medicine, for example, or are known as adaptogens and nootropics. This special blend makes our drinks unique and the perfect support in everyday life. In addition, our products are either ready-to-drink (bottles) or ready-to-shake (powder). This connects with the realities of modern target groups. Plant Magic fits everywhere: at home, in the office, or on the go.
What’s more, our Plant Magic Lattes have great nutritional values, are 100% natural, have no artificial additives and are of the best organic quality. They have no added sugar and have a long shelf life.
Plant Magic was created during Corona
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Sebastian Brecey: The idea for Plant Magic came about during the pandemic: During this phase, we became more involved with the topic of nutrition and tried out lots of new healthy, sustainable and functional foods and ingredients in our private lives. During the lockdown, our favorite cafés also had to switch to a to-go operation. Suddenly, the special latte creations were only available to take away in a cup.
This gave us the idea for Plant Magic: milk alternatives combined with delicious recipes and functional ingredients that we all know from our favorite cafés, but are also great for on the go or at home. As a healthy drink with functional benefits (focus, balance) for in-between meals.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Sebastian Brecey: One of the biggest challenges was definitely our market test in 2021, in which we still produced and filled our products ourselves in small batches every week and then delivered them fresh to around 25 local supermarkets in the Munich area. We built the production machines ourselves and learned a lot from the weekly iterations. This gave our products the finishing touches for series production.
More vegan convenience products to follow
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where would you like to be in five years?
Sebastian Brecey: Our lattes were just the start. We will develop more vegan, functional and, above all, delicious convenience products that will help people throughout Europe to eat healthier and more sustainably in their everyday lives.
In the short term, however, our goals relate specifically to our brand new instant latte powders. These are now available alongside our bottled drinks and are great for home use. This is a great and exciting step for our company.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Sebastian Brecey: Munich is not only important to us personally because it is our home. It has proven to be a great choice as a startup location! There is a strong ecosystem in the food sector here: both in terms of development and the exchange between numerous food startups is very valuable – people help each other and are there for each other. The network here offers a good environment.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Sebastian Brecey: As startup founders, our answer naturally tends to be “risk”. Every startup is a risk. It’s more about constantly reassessing the risk and then adapting the strategy quickly and flexibly to the current market situation.