Proform Foods to be wound up after failed restructuring

Proform Foods – manufacturer of MEET plant-based protein products – will be wound up three months after it fell into voluntary administration.

According to a notice published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the company is now set to be wound up voluntarily, after a resolution was passed to that effect at the end of August.

In May, Gayle Dickerson and James Dampney from KPMG Australia were appointed voluntary administrators to manage Proform Food Group Pty Ltd and its subsidiaries, which include the MEET, Protein Plate, and Bad Hunter brands. The company had around 30 employees as of that time, and had continued to trade during the voluntary administration process.

At the time, Dampney, Restructuring Partner at KPMG Australia, described Proform as a well-established business in a sector that has compelling medium term growth prospects. The administrators undertook a sale process for the business, however, a successful restructuring of the business was not achieved.

Proform had described its plant-based meat products as the “closest alternative to animal meat in the market today”, emphasising the products’ meat-like taste, texture, and 4.5-star health rating. The company also boasted a proprietary and patented protein process called ‘PHMC Proform High Moisture Cooking’ technology, which Proform considered its competitive edge.

Fellow plant protein manufacturer Australian Plant Proteins (APP) also went into voluntary administration at the end of June, with experts attributing the situation to a lack of public support for the sector. 

In 2006, Proform founder Stephen Dunn formed a $2.5 million partnership with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, to develop technology to produce plant-based protein at scale. He then founded Proform in 2008, with over $8 million being invested in R&D followed by the commissioning of an $11 million manufacturing plant in late 2020.

In December 2021, Harvest Road – the agrifood business owned by Australian mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest – made a strategic investment in the company to take a minority stake and accelerate its growth. A report from Smart Company estimated the investment figure at the time as around $5 million.

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