Shake Shack, the American fast food chain based in New York City, is trialing its first-ever non-dairy chocolate shakes as well as chocolate frozen custard with plant-based milk company NotCo.
The non-dairy treats will be available at the Astor Place, Midtown East, Harlem, Upper East Side and Battery Park City Shacks for a limited time and are part of Shake Shack’s efforts to include more sustainably sourced menu items.
“Shake Shack will be the first US food service partner to feature NotCo powered products on its menu,” a spokesperson from Shake Shack said on May 17. “With a mission to reinvent the food industry by creating plant-based replacements for animal products that are so delicious you can’t taste the difference, there was no greater test than Shake Shack’s infamous hand-spun daily frozen custard and milkshakes.”
Using a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), chef expertise and research and development teams, NotCo has been able to replicate the same textures, flavors and consistency of dairy and egg products to provide a plant-based and more sustainable alternative.
“Shake Shack is a brand that I’ve always loved, and grew up enjoying,” said Matias Muchnick, CEO and Co-Founder of NotCo. “Their food is unfussy, consistently delicious, and high quality. In a way, Shake Shack has created the perfect blueprint for what we want to emulate with our plant-based foods, and we’re so excited to be kicking off this journey into Food Service with their team.”
Leaders from Shake Shake expressed their excitement about the partnership with NotCo, as well as the future of non-dairy products.
“We have been looking at the plant-based space for a while and are so excited to be partnering with an innovative food-tech leader such as NotCo,” said Jeff Amoscato, SVP of Supply Chain and Menu Innovation at Shake Shack. “Non-dairy custard and shakes have been something our guests have wanted and we are looking forward to seeing where this test takes us.”
