Startup Ideas to Eat Less Meat (Part 3 of 4)
I am hunting for the right idea – I haven't found it yet, but I have some leads and open brainstorms to share with you...
This is the third in a four-part essay about the future of meat & dairy.
I should mention here that my job is to find great startup concepts that will have a positive impact on the world, and that’s why I started this thought process in the first place. We need to invent a new future with less animal agriculture – maybe there’s a startup to build to help make it happen, or happen faster? Or I should say another startup to build, since there are already many that are moving fast to change the way we eat.
In the previous post I mentioned that my startup studio, Imagination Machine, embarked on a research project in 2021 to discover a great meat-alternative. I’ll pick up this third essay with the continuation of our story…
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A first startup idea: Flexisteaks
So back in 2021, we were looking for a great concept for a new business. As we researched we were constantly brainstorming ideas for innovations, for new products that people would love. How could we create a product that seemed healthier than fresh meat to people with certain nutrition-mental-models? How could we respond to the family meal-planning tetris?
Most of our ideas led people to say “huh, that’s interesting, maybe I would try it…” – which to us, clearly meant that the idea would not work. People were being polite, keeping an open mind, but we had not broken through the noise of the modern marketplace.
But one of our ideas led people to say, with real enthusiasm, “hey that’s a great idea, I want that! When is it available?”. The idea was this: burger patties (what French people call “steak haché”) that were blends of real meat from good farms with other fresh, tasty non-meat ingredients. We called it “FlexiSteaks”, after the word flexitarian, meaning someone who eats less meat than usual.
One flexisteak was 70% real beef, 30% shiitake mushrooms. Another was 60% beef, 40% sweet potato and buckwheat (called sarrasin in French). Some of our tests were only minority meat, majority vegetables. Some included apples, or hummus, or curry, and other fun flavor combinations.
People loved the idea that they could eat less meat, not zero meat, while also pleasing the whole family. The flavor combinations were appealing, and the ingredients were simple and fresh. Since the burger-patty was pre-assembled, it added zero cooking complexity. Some people who aspired to become vegetarian one day, maybe, loved the idea that they could start down a transition path without making any firm commitments.
But even though the idea performed well, we decided not to launch a startup. We couldn’t figure out a way to make the idea defensible or scalable enough to justify the investment. There’s no technology involved, no patents, no algorithms; there are countless businesses out there who can produce the same thing at scale, for cheaper; it would be far too slow and costly to build our own distribution channels. Overall, even though it seems like a great product, we couldn’t figure out how to make it a great stand-alone business.
So here it is, open sourced. If any of you readers work for food companies, restaurants, or supermarkets, please take the idea and run with it, our tests suggest that people will love it!
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Some innovations that work involve plain-old cooking-with-vegetables
Other innovations that seem to have traction take a similar approach of cooking with real vegetables and beans, no need for “fake” anything.
One of my favorite food startups is Banza in the US, which makes pasta and other products using chickpeas. It is not a meat replacement, but it is an alternative protein – and many consumers will feel better skipping meat if their pasta or grain has added protein in it. Banza is growing fast, apparently reaching 10% of the pasta market in certain retailers, and they’re continuing to expand. I’m eager to see what other innovations come from the Banza team.
Chick-fil-A, one of the largest restaurant chains in the world, also took a non-fake approach. Earlier this year, they went against the fake-meat trend and tested a Cauliflower Sandwich, which apparently performed quite well in the market. Our research suggests this was a smart approach: instead of competing head-on with a fake meat product, better to develop a totally new product that naturally seems healthier to a segment of the market (in this case, because it’s a vegetable!) – even though, in the case of Chick-fil-A, the product was objectively very unhealthy.
One more example: I’m inspired by the Rancho Gordo team in California, who are making beans more appealing with great products and excellent marketing. Beans are, to me, the most promising product-category to potentially replace meat sales, because they are filling, full of protein, and delicious when cooked well. But beans suffer from an image problem: people think they are difficult to cook, hard to digest and less than tasty. Rancho Gordo has been investing for years in spreading a different narrative about beans, positioning as a premium artisanal product and partnering with the best chefs in the country. When they launched their “bean club”, letting people subscribe to get a box of beans every few months, they quickly reached capacity and had tens of thousands of people signed up on a waitlist.
But as we realized at Imagination Machine with our Flexisteak project, these kinds of culinary innovations are usually not good investments for professional early-stage investors. The innovations are difficult to defend against copycats since there is no technological IP, the operations are slow and expensive to scale, and the profit margins are slim. Successful businesses can be built, like Bonzo and Rancho Gordo, but the risk/reward ratio of an early-stage investment makes it difficult to justify.
Too bad, since more-cooking-with-vegetables is the kind of trend that can likely make a difference. The trend is happening in restaurants and kitchens around the world, but too slowly.
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Six more attempts at startup-ideas to help reduce meat consumption
I remain hopeful that startups, and tech innovation, can play a small part in defining the sustainable food future and getting us there quickly. We did not find the right idea when searching in 2021, but I continue to think about it.
If a great idea comes along, then I am here, waiting, with the capital and team already lined up.
Here are some not-quite-ideas, some proto-leads on startups to build. I would love your feedback…
What products or services would target the relapsed-vegans-and-vegetarians? This is a segment of the market that is highly motivated, and has clear reasons why veganism/vegetarianism did not work for them. An interesting entrepreneurial approach would be to study this segment and design products for them.
Is there a possibility to help introduce less-meat & no-meat options onto restaurant menus? Perhaps this could be a way to fund new restaurant entrepreneurs, or a wholesale ingredient supplier, or a restaurant “accelerator”, or a consulting service to introduce “flexisteak” options on menus, or a club of clients who band together to reward restaurants that play along…
Are there more businesses to build that valorize and distribute beans? Rancho Gordo is an inspiration, and there are surely riffs and variations on their concept that could expand the market even more, especially if specific nutrition-mental-models were targeted.
Is there an opportunity to refresh the Tempeh category? Tempeh is a traditional fermented-bean food that tastes delicious when homemade and artisanal, and usually tastes pretty bland off the shelf in a supermarket. Fermenting beans makes them easier to digest. This could be a great meat replacement without competing head-on.
The Shift Project proposes a new European label for environmentally-friendly animal farms. Is there a private brand to build here?
As mentioned in the previous essay, I think there are many alternative-to-dairy products and companies to build by targeting specific products and use-cases within the dairy segment, which is very diverse. Several startups are attacking this opportunity with some early success. There are surely others to build, as well.
If you are inspired to think more about any of these leads with me, please get in touch!
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In the next and final post, I’ll share my biggest conclusion at the end of this research project, the one idea that I believe has the most potential to make a difference.
Two supermarkets I'd keep you eye on are Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Both are doing interesting things in the certified vegan space. (Trader Joe's beefless bulgogi is amazing).
I'd also keep your eye on Blackbird Foods. They are in the frozen pizza space (as well as seitan-based "meats" and "wings"). Their frozen pizza is the best I've had, including non-plantbased offerings I've had from before becoming an ethical vegan.
In terms of "lapsed vegans", you really are referring to lapsed plant-based eaters, as veganism is an ethical stance, not a diet. I think if you look at the reason that people start adopting a plant-based diet, you would find that those that are "vegan for the animals" are less likely to lapsed than those who are "plant-based for the planet" who are still less likely to lapse than people who started eating plant-based for a diet or health reasons. In other words, if eating plant-based is an ethical stance, as opposed to a diet, it is more likely to remain adopted.
Hi Rob !
I think in first it's a mistake to present fake meat to peole Who loves meat. The meat is the meat, an other products Who want to bring the same taste and nutrients it's an other thing. A Person Who loves meat would comparate automatically the meat with the fake meat with a very critical jugement. To approach this kind of profil it's an idea to bring a new product with a new taste, Which can served with vegetables and cereals or in a burger like your idea Flexisteak.
I'm very convinced that is to the government to do something like educate people and suggest an alternative tasty and healthy that could be less expensive than meat.
This is an other topic, how give an healthy diet affordable for all the population without processed products or without toxic substance. I think We have to learn of blue zone to improve our vision about health and The impact of food.