Accelerating Growth in Plant-Based Food
Helping plant-based food companies grow, scale, and lead
Challenge & solution
Feeding the Future with Scalable Plant-Based Innovation
By 2050, the global population will surpass 10 billion—intensifying the need for sustainable, scalable food systems. The current model of intensive animal protein production is environmentally unsustainable, contributing to climate change, resource depletion, and water pollution.
At Food XLerator, we help solve this global challenge by accelerating the plant-based protein transition in Europe and North America. We partner with innovative foodtech companies that offer viable, market-ready alternatives to animal-based products.
Whether you’re a startup, scale-up or a company entering new markets, we help drive sustainable growth, market traction, and consumer impact—fast.
Join us in shaping the future of plant-based food innovation.
Founder
Yuri Schaap, BSc
Yuri is a seasoned food industry professional with 15+ years of international experience in the flavour and ingredient sector. He drove strategic growth for leading meat and plant-based protein processors, delivering strong commercial results and building trusted partnerships across Europe and beyond.
Rooted in Zeeland, a key agri-food region in the Netherlands, Yuri founded Food XLerator to support and scale the next generation of plant-based food innovators—with a strong focus on North America, and Canada in particular.
Mission & Vision
Mission:
Our mission is to accelerate the growth of innovative, tasty and nutritious plant-based food solutions—driving positive impact in Europe and North America.
Vision:
We envision a food system that is healthier, more sustainable, and accessible to all—where plant-based nutrition plays a leading role in balancing the global protein equation.
Partners
The Protein Community
FoodDelta Zeeland
FoodDelta Zeeland is the knowledge & innovation network for the Zeeland food sector—often described as a “triple‑helix” collaboration between businesses, knowledge institutions, and government, uniting to innovate and transform the region’s entire food value chain.
Netherlands-Canada Chamber of Commerce
Foodvalley Member
Foodvalley is the primary knowledge-intensive agrifood ecosystem in the Netherlands. This ecosystem is characterized by many world class innovative agrifood and food-related solutions and by the cooperation between companies, knowledge institutions, education and governments.
News
Plant-Based vs. Lab-Grown Meat
After months of unclarity, finally there was the news last week around McDonald’s McPlant platform. McDonald’s has reached a global strategic agreement with Beyond Meat (hereafter BYND). McPlant Platform The press release mentioned the following: ‘…As part of the agreement, Beyond Meat® will be McDonald’s preferred supplier for the patty in the McPlant®, a new plant-based burger being tested in select McDonald’s markets globally. In addition, Beyond Meat and McDonald’s will...
The Future is Plant-Based
At the very early beginnings of my career I was still finding out what my vocation was. Let alone my WHY!? My father once taught me that if you cannot determin your calling as is, then start by striking or defining what you don’t like. Consequently, I think it was during my 3rd job I found what my calling was; food! See one of my previous posts. How I grew up As a young kid in the early 80s (born in 1977), beside playing sports outside, I spent hours and hours in the kitchen watching my...
Giants Joining Forces in Plant-Based
On the 26th of January, it was announced that two giants are joining forces in the plant-based foods space. PepsiCo & Beyond Meat aim ‘to develop, produce and market innovative snack and beverage products made from plant-based protein’. The JV is named PLANeT Partnership, LLC. Financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed. PepsiCo & Beyond Meat The partnership is said ‘to leverage Beyond Meat’s leading technology in plant-based protein development and PepsiCo’s world-class...