Nil Zacharias

For those interested in making angel investments into plant-based foods companies that continue to grow sales very nicely quarter after quarter, here's a great crowdraise investment opportunity into Lever VC portfolio company Blackbird Foods: https://lnkd.in/ery9MMDy

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The global orange 🍊 juice industry is in crisis. The Florida industry has all but disappeared, and Brazilian groves are plagued by disease, rising costs, and unfavorable growing conditions, leaving global orange juice supplies at their lowest point in decades. Orange 🍊 juice prices 💰 are skyrocketing, consumer demand has been falling for years, and operators across the value chain are left wondering what’s next? Listen to the Liquid Assets team of Stephen Rannekleiv , Bourcard Nesin and Jim Watson talk with Rabobank’s citrus expert Andrés Padilla as he shares the takeaways from his latest report on the global orange 🍊 juice industry and its future, click on the link below to listen 🎶 🎧. While these events create significant supply challenges, they also create opportunities for brand owners and manufactures, to relook at their product portfolios with product innovation💡to reflect these new market realities. The beverages team at Kerry is here to help with market leading and innovative taste solutions, to help either best utilise orange 🍊 juice in a different way or enter new and adjacent product categories, please do get in touch to find out more. #orange #orangejuice #citrus #beverages #Kerry #Rabobank #liquidassets #Raboresearch #climatechange Erlon Pereira Farrah Gilsenan Marc LEJEUNE Breda Kelly John Savage Sean Ging Carol Dunne Sheelagh Pentony John Craven Mark Gallo Lars Jensen Paul Villis Gilles Halotel Mark Allen Ton Mesters Rabobank RaboResearch Francois Sonneville Sudip Sinha Nina Riggins Scott Glennon Leigh-Anne Vaughan Juan Gabriel Aguiriano Nalda

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The #UNSTUCK crit (short for critique) is back. Here Zoran Svetlicic and I review sustainable food launch news from the consumer perspective (those people often forgotten in the alt protein world but who make or break a successful product launch) and capture valuable marketing lessons to be learnt. We dive into the upcoming #Nutella plant-based launch, #Smugdairy blended range and #CodAlmighty from The Vegetarian Butcher. Notable mentions go to Heura Foods and Oatly. This is also our 10th article 🎉 on the missing consumer mindset and skillset to take sustainable foods mainstream. We're planning the next 10 and we love getting questions where people need help to get unstuck . . . what should we dive into next? https://lnkd.in/gaNEdeb7

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Interesting article in the The New York Times re: Ultra processed foods (UPFs) - gift link below for anyone without a subscription. I've said this in previous posts, but I think that the natural /better-for-you industry should tread carefully in overly demonizing these foods - in part because they are often more affordable to many, many people and in part because the current science shows correlation between eating UPFs an increased health issues - but no clear causal relationship (to date). Furthermore, the definition of UPFs is still fluid. Is packaged whole grain bread a UPF? Technically yes. Is that the same as eating a bag of chips? Probably not. So how SHOULD this industry handle this ever-changing dialogue? In the same way that we should all be eating: By celebrating the value and diversity of whole foods - but acknowledging that eating a packaged cookie as a part of one's diet isn't going to kill anyone. I'd rather sell not just co. because it's the best damn stuff on the market - and have our lack of junk & nutritious ingredients as added benefits. So that anyone who picks it up know's it's for them, too, no matter where they start or how they eat. https://lnkd.in/eBRTT67Q

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🥩 Meat vs 🥗 Plant-based vs 🍄 Fungi vs 💯 Cultivated --> As the alt protein market shifts, where do we draw the line between them as combinations emerge? GOOD Meat (Eat Just, Inc.) is always good for a headline, and this week they announced they're the first-ever cultivated company to release products in retail after launching a cultivated chicken product in the frozen section of Huber's Butchery in Singapore. 😲 Seemed cool at first, but we then learned the products contained 3% cultivated cells and 97% plant-based ingredients. Yes, you read that correctly. Three percent. 📢 Sonalie and I share our thoughts on this in this week's episode (link in comments), and I end up going on a bit of a rant as, it turns out, I really don't think much of this announcement. There are questions around the reason for doing this (just to be the first, investor pressure, etc?), if there's value to being the first to retail, if 3% is all that's needed to completely change the experience of the product vs 100% plant-based, etc. ⁉ But a really interesting question that was raised is at what % inclusion does a plant-based or mycelium/fungi product become a cultivated product? Where do we draw the line in the sand? 1% 3% 10% 25% Etc. Etc. 🤔 Does adding 3% of cells really make it go from plant-based to cultivated? How do we justify a specific number being meaningful? Is it simply whatever number that results in consumers being open to switching from conventional animal products? Will that number vary by meat type (I'd have to imagine so)? Will the masses be happy with, or interested in, anything less than 80%+ (I pick 80% because 80/20 beef/fat is very common - at least in the US)? 🤔 I think the % that matters is whatever number that will result in the masses of consumers being open to switching away from conventional animal products - but, again, we don't even know what that number is, and at this point it could very well be 100% What do YOU think? Genuinely want to hear everyone's thoughts. _______________________________________________________________ Separately, this week's episode also hits on: 🌱 Peter McGuinness of Impossible Foods shares thoughts on the plant-based sector w/ Bloomberg. A lot we agree with, such as the failure of the initial messaging in the space and what needs to change. Sonalie also makes me sound like a lying monster for saying it's okay to make the messaging of a mission-driven company NOT centered around the mission! Fun haha 🥚 I share how I'm extremely excited by this new about The Vegetarian Butcher and The EVERY Company, as it's what the space has been created for; HOWEVER, I do need to call out here that I may have gotten over-excited, as I may have missed the point that it's being used as a CMC replacer vs conventional egg. Need to learn more! Arturo 🇰🇷 Sonalie shares the positive of the week, which is the amazing government progress/support for sustainable foods in South Korea - could be the next Singapore!

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Despite the challenges of the last three years, there are commercial and economic opportunities presented by the plant-based sector as does the environmental, health and societal imperative to diversify our protein supply with more familiar and convenient alternatives. This report provides quite a detailed in-depth explanation of the plant based sector in Australia in both retail and foodservice. The Australian foodservice sector presents the most immediate opportunity for plant-based meat manufacturers to continue to grow in coming years. Wiith relatively small penetration of plant- based meat in just a few segments of the foodservice category, such as in QSRs and fast casual outlets, a large share of the foodservice market remains untapped for the plant-based meat industry with the potential to generate sustained and long-term growth across the next decade. Thanks to the team Food Frontier for this detailed analysis of the Australian market. https://lnkd.in/ggQ9r4Rb FoodFrontier-2023-State-of-the-Industry-report

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If you are trying to understand climate and investment in agriculture, I recommend you read Emily Bass and Alex Smith's recent report on GHG, Agriculture, and R&D investment. When you add the health benefits of food, climate and health, and the GDP impact of US technology exports, it is worth thinking about how an order of magnitude increase of public and private investment may improve climate, health, and GDP. And may serve as a hedge in global stability.

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Consider how dog food is marketed. The end user cannot read the claims made on the package. Fido doesn’t care if it is organic, grain-free, made with whole grain, or deboned chicken is our #1 ingredient! Fido is going to eat it, more than likely, if you give it to him. Dog food, like most products, is marketed to the purchaser, not the user. I think the Dog Food Marketing principal contributes to the abundance of restaurant tech solutions intended to help operators better understand operating metrics. These products are marketed to C-suite management teams (I should know, I am one). When you focus on the spreadsheet possibilities of performance enhancement, it’s understandable that tools designed to provide “additional insights” sound like they could be helpful. And since we C-suite restaurant execs are the ones writing the checks for new tools, we support their proliferation. What’s the old saying? To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. How about looking at this differently? If you are trying to lose a few pounds, it’s not likely that your first step would be to buy a more accurate scale. There’s an opportunity for meaningful improvement in business profitability in using new tools to achieve new levels of efficiency. No, I’m not talking about replacing cooks with robots either. Why not supply our teams with tools to support organization and efficiency? PS. That’s what we are building at Byte Kitchen

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At last week’s ClimateTech Coffee 🚲 Bryan White and I were joined by Kimberly Gilbert, PhD to hear about her work on Carbon Neutralization and Ocean Storage (CNOS) through her company pHathom. Here’s a recap: The ocean naturally absorbs CO2 over time, but we’ve added so much that the ocean has become increasingly acidic. Ocean pH has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 globally over the last hundred years, and as pH drops it becomes harder for coral-based organisms to form shells. To combat this, Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is an intervention that both reverses ocean acidification and removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Challenges with traditional OAE: - When you add the alkalinity into the ocean, it spreads out. It’s hard to measure the change in pH. - You don’t know exactly when the extra CO2 will be absorbed. Modeling and measurement companies are trying to help with this problem. Advantages of CNOS: - Co2 is captured directly at a coastal power plant or refinery, and then the concentrated Co2 is pumped into water that has limestone (and/or other alkaline materials) in it.  - This means the Co2 is dissolved onsite and the pH can be equilibrated onsite, which makes accurate measurement more feasible. Factors that affect progress:  - We’ll start seeing more companies enter in this space as the chemistry and its impacts are better understood and seen as safe  - Local and national permitting are a huge bottleneck - On the international permitting level, the London Protocol has a blanket ban on ocean geoengineering for anything except for research. There were good reasons for doing that, but it’s unclear who decides when that can change and the circumstances under which the ban is lifted. (Note: pHathom is not doing geoengineering; it’s doing water treatment on-site and releasing it back as ocean water) Open questions for the category/technology: - Can they come up with enough low-cost alkalinity sources, and get them in a way that doesn’t cause additional environmental damage or Co2 emissions?  - This approach will require pumping a lot of water. How much will that cost and how can the cost be driven down?  - Putting 100 plants’ worth of bicarbonate into the ocean is likely fine for ocean health relative to the climate benefit, but what is the point where the tradeoffs cross over? Some groups doing good work in this space:  [C]Worthy Carbon to Sea Initiative  University Research: UC Santa Barbara, University of Tasmania, GEOMAR, Dalhousie University, Scripps Join us for the next one in May! Details coming soon, and you can get updates by subscribing to the series page here: https://lnkd.in/g7DTGm2V

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My vocation is to work with dreamers, visionaries, and those (wildly brilliant) out of the box thinkers that are disrupting the natural products industry. Those that focus on making it better for humans, our earth, and are moving towards profitability. My cup overflows with gratitude. This year I am focused on building out services that speak to the current state of cpg. Let's go 2024!!! #sales #leadership #agentofchange

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Cultivated meat: a fairly quick boom and bust seemingly in its waning days already. Although folks want to blame the market, I would suggest the challenges to cost reductions and scalability are fundamental, not simply cyclicality. Its challenges have deep roots in thermodynamics when the competition is based on free sunshine and the natural, autonomous, self replicating, self-healing technology of evolution. There will plausibly be value in IP for other applications, so maybe investors get a few pennies out for their dollars? https://lnkd.in/gd4rYET5

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Pick of the Day (courtesy - again - Green Queen Media) Numbers put things in perspective, 1.1% of overall US food sector sales seems tiny, there is definitely room to grow. Alternative meat and seafood only representing $1.3bio and shrinking means that investors need to buy on the premise that it will experience exponential growth in the years to come. What would be the catalyst? Happy to have your comments on this one. As a side comment, I noted recently that my posts derived from Green Queen Media and in particular articles written by Anay Mridul are the ones attracting most likes (albeit a small number) for me on LinkedIn. This must say something as to the quality of the articles, the tone and the subjects. Well done. #foodtech #alternativeproteins #cultivatedmeat

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Five years ago today, on May 2nd 2019, Beyond Meat began trading on the NASDAQ as a public company. At the time, it was the most successful IPO in more than 20 years, and its market value would soar to over $10 billion, becoming a rarified “decacorn.”   But recently, the alt-protein movement has faced setbacks and adversity, calling into question whether or not the plant-based “revolution” we were promised is indeed coming.     In my newest Third Nature Investments blog, I reflect on being an early investor in Beyond Meat, the environmental and human health benefits of alternative protein, the challenges to overcome, and where we go from here.   Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gFH4tM2i   #systemicinvesting #plantbased #climatechange #altprotein

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What's next for Beyond Meat after another set of grim quarterly figures? - Net revenue: -18% year over year (YoY) to $75.6m, volumes +8% - Net loss: $54.4m - Margins: Gross profit was $3.7m with a gross profit margin of 4.9% - US retail revenues: -16% YoY to $37.1m - US foodservice revenues: -16.2% YoY to $12.3m - International retail: -12% YoY to $12.6m - International foodservice:  -28.7% YoY to $13.6m - Full year 2024 outlook: Net revenues $315-345m, with gross margins in the mid to high teens - Balance sheet: As of March 30, cash and cash equivalents balance of $173.5m and total outstanding debt at $1.1bn #foodtech #alternativeprotein #meatalternatives #altmeat #plantbased #plantbasedmeat AgFunder

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Last week’s top food innovation news 📰🌶️ Backlash hits David Chang over Momofuku's chili crunch trademark, as cease and desist actions draw internet ire. Jing Gao of FLY BY JING advocates empathy-driven operations for emerging food brands challenging market norms. Perfect Day sued by Olon for breach of contract and fraud, seeking $112M unpaid bills and $32M damages. Supermarkets brand fruits and veggies as investors target agriculture. Mosa Meat secures €40M for production expansion after opening world's largest cultivated meat facility. Europe's global investment share rises from 23% to 36% by 2023, despite AgriFoodTech funding decrease, per FoodTech 500. Growing trend links organic certification with regenerative agriculture. USDA's crop insurance restrictiveness prompts call for regenerative agriculture insurance development. #foodtech #foodstartups #foodbiz  #agrifoodtech #chilicrunch #davidchang #trademarkbullies https://lnkd.in/e2aqeDDY

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Curious about ingredient trends driving consumer purchasing decisions? Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) member JamesGratzek shared his perspective on the shift toward more natural, nutritious ingredients and what he calls an "anti-ingredient trend" in a new Brain Food Blog. Read on to learn about the latest trends and innovative ingredients and make plans to hear from James live and in person during the IFT FIRST Featured Session, F&B Ecosystem of the Future: Harnessing the Power of Innovation, Collaboration, and Diverse Thinking. https://lnkd.in/ghPcwSn3 #IFTFIRST #IFTSpotlight 

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Interesting that they've tiered third-party verifications vs. soil health assessments in the regenerative ingredient sourcing policy. It would be good to know if soil health-assessed ingredients command a premium, or if it's become the cost of accessing this retail channel. According to their May newsletter, Farmer Direct Organic in Saskatchewan is "actively seeking partnerships with farmers who are cultivating organic and ROC certified lentils. We have significant demand for ROC and organic lentils into retailer bulk bins, Farmer Direct Organic packaged products and retailer private labels." Their bid for certified organic French green lentils is currently $1.15/lb, picked up on farm (no trucking cost to the farmer) on net clean weight (no payment to the farmer for non-lentil dockage in the shipment). The premium for ROC-certified French green lentils is $.15/lb (all values in Canadian dollars). So from $1.30/lb to the farmer (+/- depending on dockage and location), in theory we could now expose the supply chain margins involved in trading into Whole Foods' retail channel. Historically this has been impossible - but the new money, new demand, new intermediaries, etc. that make up the regenerative movement are a lot more interested in transparency than commercial sensitivities in business.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year, roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. To improve food safety in the Country, the FDA has mandated that by 2026, US and foreign food companies operating in the US food supply chain comply with new transparency and traceability standards. However, a former FDA official warns that many food companies are unprepared to comply. With the deadline approaching, several companies still have to take the necessary steps to improve the American public's protection from contaminated food. Read more about this potential game-changer initiative for the food system in this article by Food Dive. #futureoffood #futureofretail

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