How Solein® is sprinting into health and performance nutrition
Interview with:
Chief Sales Officer Juan Manuel Benitez Garcia and Senior Product Development Specialist Sini Möttönen
Big changes in food and nutrition don’t happen overnight. But even small sprints can reshape entire industries if they are meaningful enough. At Solar Foods, the R&D team is already delivering real, tangible products powered by Solein® – a protein with the potential to transform the way we fuel our lives.
Consumers are increasingly gravitating around protein – one of the most fundamental parts of the human diet. Walk into any grocery store, and you’ll find high-protein yogurts, shakes, bars, and powders promising strength, energy, and endurance. The global health and performance nutrition market is worth billions. Yet, despite the demand, the future of nutritional protein is up for grabs. There are several options, but many come with compromises. They either lack certain nutrients, have a high environmental footprint, or present taste and functionality challenges. They might also face supply, price and quality volatility. Not so with Solein® – the nutritious protein made out of thin air.
For Juan Manuel Benítez-García, Chief Sales Officer at Solar Foods, health and performance nutrition is the perfect starting line for Solein’s market entry. “Consumers are always looking for better protein sources,” he explained. “They are willing to pay a premium for the right performance, nutrition, and sustainability. And, most importantly, they demand products that work.”
“You can have the most sustainable, innovative ingredient, but if it doesn’t deliver the right consumer experience, it won’t succeed.”
– Juan Manuel Benítez-García, Chief Sales Officer at Solar Foods
Snack, sip or scoop
To help customers envision how Solein performs in consumer applications, Solar Foods develops product concepts demonstrating Solein’s capabilities in different kinds of products, specifically designed for the health and performance nutrition category.
The company has already launched a series of ready-to-market product concepts, easily modified to fit different consumer needs and use cases. These include convenient high-protein snacks Solein® Protein Bites and the ready-to-mix (RTM) powder Solein® Shake.
Each concept proves what Solein can do functionally. From outstanding nutrition to great taste and texture, to unmatched sustainability, they meet, and even raise, consumer expectations.
The Solein® Protein Bites – Nut Mix Edition is a chewy, bite-sized snack bar with peanut butter, hazelnuts, and a chocolate-flavoured coating. Nutrient-dense and versatile, by adjusting the amount of Solein and other ingredients it can meet varying consumer needs—whether for muscle support, daily snacking, or dietary restrictions.
Solein® Shake – Salty Caramel Edition is a ready-to-mix protein powder for daily protein needs. High in protein and sugar-free, the Solein Shake is suitable as a daily protein supplement for supporting an active lifestyle and different nutritional needs. By increasing the amount of Solein, the shake is also ideal for boosting performance as well as muscle growth and maintenance.
“Solein is especially well-suited for these kinds of products, whether they are designed for healthy snacking or to boost performance in demanding protein needs,” Benítez-García noted. “It blends into formulations easily, tastes great, and delivers all nine essential amino acids along with iron and vitamin B12. You don’t need to combine multiple protein sources. Solein does it all in one.”
All gains. No pains.
Solein uniquely suits different ready-to-drink (RTD), ready-to-mix (RTM), and protein snack applications because it:
- Delivers complete nutrition – Solein contains all nine essential amino acids, plus Vitamin B12 and iron, with a smaller environmental footprint than any other protein.
- Integrates seamlessly into products – Delicate in taste, it vanishes into foods, creating a smooth, creamy texture without any dairy.
- Offers a future-proof protein supply – Unlike animal-based proteins like whey protein, which face supply constraints, Solein can be scaled up without relying on agriculture.
Fast-paced innovation to meet market needs
And the work doesn’t stop there – Solar Foods’ R&D team is continuously developing different kinds of products for various use cases. This is what’s at the core of the product innovation at Solar Foods: carefully listening to what customers and consumers want and creating product innovations to meet those needs.
“In today’s fast-paced world, also innovation must happen fast. Without trying you’ll never know what will work. Solein is a completely new ingredient, and the possibilities are endless – our team is continuously exploring new ways to use it, creating new products and fine-tuning them to show the world what Solein can do and what role it can take on people’s plates. That’s in the DNA of Solar Foods – fearless innovation and the capability to make it reality”, Benitez-Garcia said.
Innovation in practice: Case MISTA Growth Hack
One moment to really show what the team is made of was the MISTA Growth Hack – an event which brought together 14 pioneering startups and major food industry players such as AAK, Bühler, CJ CheilJedang, Danone, Givaudan, Ingredion, JPG Resources and SIG to work together to develop next-generation protein solutions. The event was fast-paced and intense. In just one week, teams went from concept to tasting-ready prototypes. A process that would normally take months or even years in traditional food product development.
The event offered a demonstration of Solar Foods’ speed in product development as much as innovation. “Be it large brands, mid-sized innovators, or startups pushing boundaries, the ability to quickly co-develop with potential partners is essential. No company can do everything alone, and MISTA proved we can move at the speed of the industry – and even faster”, Benitez-Garcia said.
Sini Möttönen, Senior Product Development Specialist at Solar Foods said: “The event felt like a bazaar of innovation. We weren’t just talking about ideas. We were building them in real time with leading food companies, flavours houses, and ingredient suppliers.”
Brewing the Solein coffee protein shake
At MISTA, Solar Foods developed a high-protein Ready-to-Drink Coffee-Flavoured Shake, an example of what Solein-powered products could look like on store shelves. “We wanted to create something that fits naturally into the American market,” said Möttönen. “The mild umami flavour and naturally creamy texture of Solein complemented the roasted notes of coffee flavour, creating a drink that was both delicious and functional, disrupting the traditional coffee drink.”
“It had the richness of a coffee shake, but with a complete nutritional profile and no animal-based ingredients.”
– Sini Möttönen, Senior Product Development Specialist at Solar Foods
The next lap will be even faster
For Benítez-García, the event marked an important milestone for Solar Foods. “This wasn’t about theory. It was about showing real-world applications. We proved that Solein is ready to go beyond R&D and into the market.”
Möttönen continues: “Our experience with MISTA showed that meaningful innovation can be focused and impactful. The process doesn’t need to take months or years.”
“We listen carefully to what our customers want, and we’re ready to create tailored product concepts in a matter of weeks.”
– Sini Möttönen, Senior Product Development Specialist at Solar Foods
MISTA also provided a platform for meaningful conversations with leading brands. Benítez-García continues: “Global food leaders are actively looking for the next breakthrough in protein innovation, but in the food industry, it’s not enough to have the best technology. You need a product that consumers will love to eat and drink. That’s why we let people experience a Solein product for themselves. And the response has been very positive.”
With Solein commercially available in Singapore and the United States and the novel food approval expected in the EU next year, Solar Foods is scaling Solein production. The company’s first production facility, Factory 01, is in operation and Factory 02 is already in its pre-engineering phase. And as product concepts like the Solein Protein Bites, Solein Shake and the Coffee-flavoured drink show, Solar Foods is ready to support customers taking Solein-based innovations to the shelves. The marathon is long. But Solein is sprinting ahead.
