No Cows Were Harmed in the Making of This New Vegan Ice Cream Brand

Perfect Day, an alternative dairy protein manufacturer, has joined forces with a longtime product developer in the dairy industry to create a new sustainably focused food brand called the Urgent Company. The company recently unveiled its first product — Brave Robot ice cream, which, like all of its brands, will be manufactured, packaged and sold in a more environmentally friendly way.

The innovative vegan ice cream brand uses Perfect Day’s dairy-identical, but animal-free whey protein recently launched in the US. The ice cream is made by inserting a cow’s DNA sequence as a blueprint into yeast-based microflora. The resulting protein product can be used to make vegan versions of dairy-based food such as milk, cheese and ice cream.

Related: Could Plant-Based Cream Cheese Be More Popular Than a Dairy-Based Spreadable?

Perfect Day founders Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi first met Paul Kollesoff, their Urgent Company co-founder and general manager, when he was working for the Irish dairy company Glanbia.

Not much came of the conversation until three months ago, when Pandya and Gandhi reached back out with the idea for a new consumer food company. The company would take advantage of latest in plant-based, or genetically modified, proteins use the latest in packaging technology, logistics and other innovations to reduce the entire carbon footprint of a consumer product goods (CPG) company.

Brave Robot’s commitment to sustainability does not stop there. Beyond the use of alternative proteins to replace the ecologically disastrous meat and dairy industry, their innovations reduce overall carbon emissions by giving The Urgent Company  the ability to move products into the market more quickly.

The Urgent Company has managed to create its ice cream business from inception to product launch within a three-month time frame and only eight full-time members on its team.

Brave Robot launched with eight flavors: Vanilla, Buttery Pecan, Blueberry Pie, Raspberry White Truffle, Vanilla ‘N Cookies, PB ‘N Fudge, Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk and A Lot of Chocolate, according to VegNews. With plans to expand in the Southwest region through August and September, the ice cream is currently available at retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area. By August, the brand will also be available online for nationwide shipping in the US.