US plant-based chicken brand Daring Foods has made its Australian retail debut, with two of its products now stocked in Woolworths stores across the country.
The Culver City, California-based company is placing its Original Plant Chicken Pieces and Cajun Plant Chicken Pieces on Woolworths shelves, giving the brand its first significant foothold in the Australian grocery market. Woolworths operates more than 1,000 supermarkets nationally and is one of Australia’s two dominant supermarket chains.
Parent company’s home turf
The listing has an added dimension: v2food, which acquired Daring in August 2025, has long been the leading plant-based meat company in Australia. The Woolworths deal effectively brings one of its portfolio brands into its home market for the first time. Daring continues to operate under its own brand and holds a 45% market share in the US unbreaded plant-based chicken category.
Clean label positioning
Daring has built its retail and foodservice presence around clean-label, high-protein chicken pieces produced via high-moisture extrusion. The brand’s simple ingredient list has been central to its positioning in the US, where it is stocked by retailers including Whole Foods and Kroger.
The Australia launch follows v2food’s stated intent to grow Daring internationally. V2food CEO Tim York has said the company plans to stretch the brand into new formats and introduce methylcellulose-free products in 2026, based on new technology developed by v2food.
The Woolworths listing represents the brand’s first confirmed retail presence in Australia and adds a new geography to a distribution footprint that has until now been concentrated in North America.
