Real-vegetable burger brand Actual Veggies has made the Inc. 5000 for the second consecutive year, ranking No. 614 overall and No. 30 in Food & Beverage on the strength of 561% revenue growth from 2022 through 2025 — the fastest pace of any plant-based meatless company on the list. The Denver-based company surpassed $20 million in revenue in 2025 and projects $30 million for 2026, with products now stocked in more than 15,000 retail locations including Whole Foods Market, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Albertsons.
Where the Growth Is Coming From
The brand's trajectory reflects a broader consumer shift away from highly processed meat analogs and toward minimally processed, ingredient-forward alternatives. Actual Veggies entered retail in summer 2021, launching in more than 350 Sprouts stores at a moment when much of the plant-based category was fixated on mimicking the texture and taste of beef. Its founders took the opposite approach — thick burgers built from vegetables, legumes, grains, and spices that consumers could see and identify. According to SPINS Natural Expanded channel data for the four weeks ending May 17, 2026, the brand reached the No. 1 position by dollar sales in the entire plant-based meat category within the natural channel.
"When we entered retail, the category was focused on fake meat. We made the opposite bet," said Hailey Swartz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO. "We believed consumers wanted real food and that vegetables could be the hero. Consumers are shifting in our direction."
Retail Expansion and New SKUs
Recent milestones underscore both the brand's distribution momentum and its willingness to test new formats. This summer, Actual Veggies launched its first organic product — a 10-count Organic Black Bean Veggie Burger sold exclusively at Costco across multiple regions — signaling a push into value-club retail and higher-price-tier natural products simultaneously. The brand also introduced Dinosaur Nuggets, a vegetable-packed item targeting family meal occasions, now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market and select Kroger banners. Expanding SKU range across multiple retail tiers is a telling strategic move: it broadens the addressable shopper base without abandoning the brand's ingredient-transparency positioning.
For foodservice operators and retail buyers tracking the plant-based category, Actual Veggies' growth offers a data point worth noting. The broader alt-protein category has seen softening velocity for ultra-processed meat substitutes over the past two years, while whole-ingredient and vegetable-forward products have held or grown share. Actual Veggies debuted on the Inc. 5000 in 2025 at No. 561 after recording 732% three-year growth — meaning its absolute revenue scale has grown even as its growth rate moderates, the natural trajectory of a brand crossing meaningful revenue thresholds.
For a deeper look at how real-food positioning is reshaping the meatless segment, see our ongoing beverage and food innovation coverage. The brand's back-to-back Inc. 5000 appearances, combined with club-channel entry and family-SKU launches, suggest a company building for durable retail shelf presence rather than a single-format niche.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
