Plant-based cheese producer expands in South San Francisco

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A plant-based cheesemaker wants to expand its Bay Area operations with a new rental deal in South San Francisco.

Nobell Foods, a startup that specializes in making cheese from plant-derived dairy proteins, has leased space in a new office building at 700 Gateway Blvd. in South San Francisco, according to Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm that arranged the lease.

South San Francisco-based Nobell Foods leased 64,200 square feet in the building, Cushman & Wakefield reported.

“We are excited to be part of the growth of Nobell Foods as they relocate to their new headquarters in South San Francisco,” said Marc Pope, a Cushman & Wakefield executive vice president.

Nobell Foods leased space in a building that’s part of Gateway of Pacific, a new life sciences and tech campus that’s being developed by Biomed Realty Trust, which will total 2.2 million square feet when it’s completed.

“South San Francisco is recognized as the birthplace of biotechnology,” said Gary Boitano, a Cushman & Wakefield senior director. Boitano added that South San Francisco is “one of the world’s most renowned biotech clusters.”

Genentech, Amgen, Affymetrix, Freenome, Merck, Roche, Pfizer and Pharmacyclics are among the noteworthy life sciences companies in South San Francisco, city documents show.

Nobell Foods was founded in 2016, according to the Crunchbase website.

“Our cheese stretches, melts, and tastes as great as the ones from cows and goats, minus the animals,” Nobel Foods states in a post on its website. The company added that its efforts are aimed at supporting a “more humane and sustainable food system.”