Galy Launches WunderHaus Chocolate Made With Cell-Cultured Cocoa, Targeting Professional Kitchens After Self-Affirmed GRAS

Galy, the Boston-based biotech startup best known for growing cotton from plant cells, has moved into cocoa. Its new brand, WunderHaus, sells chocolate made partly with cocoa grown in bioreactors instead of on trees. It is aimed at professional kitchens rather than supermarket shelves.

Galy has self-affirmed its cocoa powder as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) in the US and has notified the Food and Drug Administration of that assessment, seeking a “no questions” letter, Green Queen reports. The first foodservice partner is Troquet on South, a restaurant in Boston’s Leather District, with other restaurants and hotels testing the chocolate for their winter menus.

From cotton platform to cocoa

Galy was founded in 2019 by CEO Luciano Bueno and chief scientific officer Paula Elbl and is backed by investors including Bill Gates and Sam Altman, according to Green Queen. The company uses plant cell culture, which grows plant cells in tanks instead of soil, to reproduce agricultural commodities that are under pressure from climate change and land use.

Bueno told Green Queen that chocolate companies approached Galy about cocoa, and that once the company put more effort into it from 2025, it took the crop “from lab to commercial scale” in less than a year. The process starts with a small piece of a cocoa bean. Its cells are multiplied in brewery-style tanks, then the harvested material is fermented and roasted outside the tanks and ground into cocoa powder. Production uses repurposed infrastructure in Essex, Massachusetts.

A hybrid product for chefs

For now, WunderHaus is a hybrid product. Bueno said the current range combines Galy cocoa with conventionally sourced cocoa ingredients, which he described as part of building a “scalable, resilient supply chain in collaboration with cocoa producers.” The company says it is exploring partnerships with growers in Africa and Latin America.

The WunderHaus website lists two couvertures, AURI 35 (milk) and SEQUOIA 70 (dark), and two baking chocolates, HEARTH (milk) and FORGE (dark), all sold as pistoles. Galy is pricing WunderHaus in line with conventional premium chocolate. Bueno argues that controlling cultured cocoa production lets the company plan supply more predictably and offer more stable pricing and longer-term contracts than harvest-dependent sourcing allows.

Troquet on South is hosting a WunderHaus launch dinner on 23 October: a three-course, wine-paired menu by chef Aaron Lhamon at $250 per person, according to event listings. Green Queen reports that Troquet has placed one of the brand’s first purchase orders and that the foodservice launch there is set for December. Galy has no retail plans yet.

UAE next, sustainability data pending

Outside the US, Galy has applied to the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) for a 2027 launch in the UAE. That plan is supported by an initial purchase order from a Dubai-based chocolatier. Bueno said the company is also considering seeking EU novel food authorisation in 2027–28.

Galy has not yet completed a life-cycle assessment for its cocoa. Bueno said about 80% of the process is shared with its cotton platform, and preliminary internal estimates suggest resource-use reductions of around 80% or more compared with field production. He stressed that these figures still need cocoa-specific validation.

Why it matters

Cocoa supply has become a board-level risk for confectioners after global stocks fell to a decade low in 2024 and prices hit record highs. Galy joins a growing group working on cell-cultured cocoa that, according to Green Queen, includes Food Brewer, Kokomodo, California Cultured and Celleste Bio, with Barry Callebaut also exploring the technology. Starting with chefs and a hybrid formula lets Galy earn revenue and gather performance feedback before the larger tests: FDA’s response to its GRAS notice, an independent environmental assessment, and whether cultured cocoa can be produced at volume and at a price that works for mainstream chocolate makers.