You are currently viewing Vegan Food Business Strategist Plant Based Solutions Agency Founder David Benzaquen Show 043

Vegan Food Business Strategist Plant Based Solutions Agency Founder David Benzaquen Show 043

The post Vegan Food Business Strategist Plant Based Solutions Agency Founder David Benzaquen Show 043 was first published via mitchellchadrow.com

0:00you’re listening to the listen up show
0:01doorknob entrepreneur pocket I’m
0:03Mitchell Chad row your host today on
0:05show 0 for 3 today we’re here with David
0:08Penzer Quinn founder of plant-based
0:11solutions a degen food business
0:14strategist brand management and
0:16marketing agency for plant-based
0:18consumer product companies headquartered
0:21in New York we are a brand management
0:24and marketing agency acting as an
0:26outsourced chief marketing officer for
0:29consumer products that are plant-based
0:31friend is your business it’s your
0:36families your life let’s get started
0:38David started out in the business
0:41working for an animal protection
0:43nonprofit and as a natural products
0:45broker but in 2012 he founded the plant
0:49based business the company offers a
0:52range of services for pre market
0:54startups through two huge global brands
0:57including opportunity assessments
0:59business planning and forecasting new
1:01product development marketing research
1:03brand creation and a full range of
1:05marketing planning and execution in this
1:07show will discuss branding product
1:10development finance and operations push
1:12marketing versus pull marketing berroco
1:15versus agency models and scaling revenue
1:18overhead and expenses the pros and cons
1:21of working with distribution companies
1:23and brokers digital marketing social
1:25marketing in-store samplings an event
1:27packaging design and using employees
1:30versus outside contractors and much more
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2:00provide you with full transcript for
2:02each interview my ebaugh 30 tools to
2:04start up the startup checklist and many
2:07other education and training materials
2:09all back at mitchell chad road calm
2:13/ sign up now enjoy the show hey David
2:17welcome to the show thank you so much
2:19for having me Mitch so I’m excited to be
2:20here no that’s great David what is the
2:22one thing that contributes most to your
2:24success so it’s really about landing
2:26where I want to go and then working
2:29backwards you out how to get there I
2:30have been my career wanting to influence
2:33through the word the world and make it
2:35better for people’s health the
2:37environment animal protection and by
2:39figuring out how people come to come to
2:42eat come to experience those behaviors
2:45I’ve been able to map out what areas in
2:48my career to enter and that’s been more
2:50exciting for me than anything has been
2:52to figure out where I can make the
2:53biggest difference so how did you
2:56actually come up with this idea how did
2:58you tell any idea yeah so I worked for
3:02nearly a decade in the animal protection
3:05nonprofit world and I was very
3:07passionate about that work I felt that
3:09the people I was working with were
3:11incredibly impactful and compassionate
3:15and hard-working but I realized that
3:17everybody who was working in the space
3:19was using the same approaches to solving
3:22the problem of how our eating behaviors
3:25affect the world and it was also through
3:28a method of push marketing rather than
3:30pull marketing we were so tell us a
3:32little bit about the difference between
3:33the two and how that accurately helped
3:35you you know come up with the idea sure
3:39so push marketing involves educating
3:42somebody about what they should do and
3:44whether its buying a product or changing
3:47a behavior and then hoping they’ll do it
3:49and unfortunately education has been
3:52proven in consumer psychology research
3:54to be one of the least effective ways to
3:57change behavior on the converse pull
4:00marketing is where you make something
4:03that is attractive and desirable and put
4:05it in front of somebody and allowed them
4:07to embrace it in an empowering way
4:10through their own free will so by
4:12leaving the world where I was educating
4:15people by the problems with our food
4:16system and moving to a place where I’m
4:18making delicious better options
4:21accessible and desirable through
4:23marketing and branding I’m able to
4:25attract people to try these things
4:27and be excited about it on their own and
4:29they’re much more likely to change the
4:31behavior our startup round for all your
4:33hosting needs head on over to Mitchell
4:36Chad Road calm / hosting Mitchell Chad
4:39road calm flash hosting for all your web
4:42hosting need who do you use to host this
4:45website so now you started the business
4:47back in 2012 and so we’re almost five
4:51years into it in June and so how do you
4:54actually make money selling what is your
4:58business model sure so we work in three
5:01ways we offer hourly consulting for
5:05early-stage entrepreneurs who aren’t
5:07quite ready to jump into the plunge of a
5:09bigger commitment we do project-based
5:11work where we will have a flat fee for a
5:13certain amount of work like putting
5:15together a business plan or packaging
5:17design or something of that nature and
5:19then for our larger clients we will work
5:21on a retainer where we are acting as a
5:24significant member of the executive team
5:26helping to plan their strategy and
5:29manage all of their marketing in the
5:31world so who are your typical customers
5:34or your end or their end users who would
5:37be your typical person that would
5:39approach you for work to give us an idea
5:42in terms of you know how that looks sure
5:46so our typical client can range anywhere
5:48from a brand new entrepreneur who’s
5:51looking to start a business with a
5:53plant-based food products or or
5:55supplement product to something of that
5:57nature or it could be somebody who has a
5:59very established business we’ve worked
6:02with some of the largest food companies
6:03in the world to develop new product
6:06areas in the plant-based space and we
6:09can work with them at any stage to help
6:11them get ready for market or to be
6:13successful in their execution yeah can
6:15you give us an example of one successful
6:19brand that you’ve been able to help that
6:22may be readily known to the audience
6:25sure so one brand that we worked with
6:28for a long time is called garden and
6:31they are a plant based protein company
6:33that makes over 30 different meal
6:36options for eating more plant-based
6:38protein from plan
6:40chicken and beef and pork and fish
6:42alternatives in the frozen aisle of your
6:45supermarket and we helped with them with
6:47field marketing with social media
6:50marketing PR and events and all that
6:52kind of thing so you don’t actually have
6:55your own product you actually help other
6:58entrepreneurs get their product to
7:01market it would that be accurate that’s
7:04true for the for most of our business we
7:07actually do have some companies that we
7:09become so involved in that we become
7:11significant shareholders and then metis
7:14the businesses with them so one company
7:16that I’m thinking of is called ocean
7:18hugger foods and the flagship product is
7:20tomatoes sushi we met the founder who is
7:23an incredible chef and he was looking
7:26for business partners who could help
7:27with the business side of his work and
7:30he wanted to focus on the innovation so
7:32we now partner with him to manage his
7:34business but primarily we are consulting
7:36and supporting other entrepreneurs with
7:39their products so talk to us a little
7:41bit about your revenue that you’re
7:43bringing in I don’t know if you have
7:45partners or not I don’t know how many
7:46employees you have but talk to us a
7:48little bit about the actual company and
7:50the structure and and and what your if
7:53you can talk to it what what the the
7:55revenue base is so I’d rather not speak
7:59about exact numbers but we are a small
8:01company we started in 2012 and we have
8:04focused on keeping our overhead low in
8:08order to bring the most efficient and
8:09effect and viable prices to early-stage
8:12entrepreneurs the traditional marketing
8:16agency model is one where there are so
8:18many employees to be able to provide the
8:21variety of services that a company will
8:23need and the newer model which is
8:25embraced by many startups is to keep
8:29overhead low by having a small internal
8:31staff and find the best resources in the
8:34market to be able to contract with on a
8:36per case basis and that’s the model we
8:39have internally my colleague Mary
8:42McGovern and I’ve on the business Mary
8:44comes from 25 years managing brands for
8:47the largest food companies in the world
8:48like Kraft and she and I set all the
8:51strategy for our clients and then if
8:53they need
8:54in social media marketing or digital
8:57marketing or in-store samplings or
9:00something of that nature we work with
9:02partners who can execute that I don’t
9:03get it yeah so at any given time clients
9:07are coming to you for a one type type
9:09project engagement or do you have other
9:11clients obviously that are retaining you
9:13on an ongoing basis if you can’t give
9:15actual revenue numbers can you talk to
9:17us a little bit about at what an average
9:20customer engagement is like and what
9:22that looks like so that the audience has
9:24a better understanding about this niche
9:26sure so I can tell you that on an hourly
9:31basis for example my rate is 250 dollars
9:34an hour if that’s helpful and when we’re
9:36doing a project a retainer based work we
9:39are calculating how many hours each
9:42person on our team would be devoting to
9:44something and discounting it for a
9:47bigger commitment and then that becomes
9:50the fee associated with that project or
9:52retainer our client you know what what
9:56it costs to work with us ranges so much
9:58based on what a client is doing we’ve
10:00had clients for them we’ve done projects
10:02for you know a few thousand dollars
10:04total and we’ve had clients for them we
10:06are a retainer for many times that so
10:10let’s talk about the one that provides
10:12the highest retainer how did you
10:14actually help them from their
10:16distribution strategy get into the
10:19various whether it be retail markets or
10:22distribute their product out into the
10:23into the you know the world so with
10:28those clients for whom we are on
10:30retainer in a significant way it is
10:32primarily a situation where as I
10:34mentioned earlier we are outsourced
10:36chief marketing officer so rather than
10:38there needing to hire on a very large
10:41staff very senior people that could help
10:44them with expertise in advertising and
10:47in every kind of marketing and then
10:49branding our team can come in at a
10:52significantly lower cost than it would
10:53be to bring in all of those people at a
10:56senior level and manage all of that we
10:59also can bring in the best resources in
11:01the market more efficiently not just
11:03because they’re not on our payroll but
11:04because as an agency we are able to
11:07negotiate
11:08exclusive rates with other agencies or
11:11other freelancers that a client could
11:13not do directly and our markup is very
11:15low so if I am working with John and
11:19John will have to hire me for branding
11:20or packaging design I think go get
11:23packaging design from one of our great
11:24creative designers at a fraction of the
11:27cost that they were charging directly
11:29and she ends up paying less to work with
11:32me and them with my project management
11:35institute integration then he would just
11:37to get the design work directly from
11:39them so how are these customers actually
11:41getting to you how are you getting the
11:43word out I mean obviously you’re doing
11:45interviews like this I’ve I’ve listened
11:47to you on other podcasts and I’ve read
11:49some articles but how do you get the
11:51word out about your company and how do
11:53the client actually come to you so
11:56primarily it’s been through word of
11:58mouth I do a lot of networking it’s just
12:01my nature to go to a lot of events and
12:03conferences and meet everybody I can I
12:05just love doing that but primarily our
12:08clients come through word of mouth we
12:10work very very hard to ensure that every
12:12client leaves happy and you know
12:15inevitably things you know road bumps
12:17can happen and when they do I am always
12:20committed to making sure that they are
12:22solved and that nobody these unhappy so
12:25that route that allows us a great
12:28reputation where people are constantly
12:29referring us business and we’ve been
12:31very fortunate for that in fact as we’ve
12:34grown I’m having to turn down a lot of
12:36work so that we can focus on projects
12:38that are not only more lucrative salsa
12:40more more impactful in the world and so
12:44we are trying to focus ourselves on
12:46doing more outbound marketing to go
12:48after the projects that we’re most
12:50excited about but the work just keeps on
12:53coming in to keep us busy well tell me a
12:56little bit about that business model
12:57because you know there are other
13:00entrepreneurs out there that want to
13:03scale up and you know it sounds as if
13:06there’s too much business how do you
13:08make the determination as to when to
13:10either hire more people or to basically
13:14limit it because you know in terms of
13:17growth businesses there’s a lot of
13:18people that obviously do want to grow
13:20considerably and they do want to
13:22Gail up so how do you how do you balance
13:24that when do you make the determination
13:26as to when to do that or just stick to
13:29you know where you’re at and that was
13:31another reason for me asking about the
13:33revenue numbers because i think that
13:35people are curious not just because of
13:37you talking about the numbers itself but
13:40to get an idea in terms of you know if
13:42they want to either go into this niche
13:44or if they were thinking about growing
13:46their own businesses you know what that
13:49actually looks like short so i think
13:51that to be honest the agency world can
13:54be a very difficult one to scale part of
13:58the challenge is that when one is early
14:00and is working with a lot of contractors
14:02their margins are very thin and that
14:05means that the more work you can keep
14:07in-house the more money you can make
14:09however if you’re early and you don’t
14:12have the revenue to be able to hire a
14:14big staff internally you have to use
14:15outside contractors so that balance
14:17between finding which people to bring in
14:20house so that you have efficiencies on
14:22individual work and which people to keep
14:25out so that you don’t have to carry a
14:28payroll as a very hard very hard balance
14:30to strike and it’s something that we’ve
14:32been learning as we’ve been going early
14:34on in my business we had a large
14:36internal team that was earlier stage in
14:40their careers and focused on a lot of
14:42executional marketing so we did social
14:45media in house we had a staff of 15 or
14:4720 people who are going into stores and
14:50things samplings or events and that was
14:52a challenge because in order to comply
14:55with the law we’ve had a huge payroll
14:57tax and a lot of benefits we had to
14:59carry and we had to deal with managing a
15:03large team and all the complications
15:04that come with that but because the work
15:07wasn’t very highly valued our margins
15:10were extremely thin as an example I
15:12believe very strongly in honoring the
15:15people I work with so I was paying my
15:17teen twenty dollars an hour most of them
15:19were part-timers who were students or
15:21cater waiters or actors in their other
15:23career and I was paying them twenty
15:25dollars an hour which was significantly
15:27more than they were making elsewhere but
15:29it’s because I believe in doing that and
15:30our margins were so small that we were
15:32only charging about twenty five or
15:34twenty seven dollars an hour
15:36which after payroll taxes and benefit
15:38meted out to almost nothing so so where
15:40were you where are you at now in terms
15:43of the number of employees that you have
15:45internally versus let’s say contractors
15:48on the outside and then to follow up on
15:50that I know that earlier in your career
15:52before this company you were a broker in
15:54this particular area and you had
15:56mentioned about the agency model so
15:58maybe talk to us a little bit about you
16:01know how you’ve evolved over these last
16:03several years and where you’re going
16:05into the future where do you see the
16:06business and the niche yeah so as we
16:10changed our model to focus more on
16:12strategic work where we could provide
16:13greater value to our clients and create
16:17greater greater margins for ourselves at
16:19the same time we have we have through
16:22attrition allowed the team to dwindle
16:25down we moved away from doing all the
16:26execution work and focus entirely on the
16:29strategic work and now my company
16:31internally is Marion and I and the two
16:34of us bring a lot of experience and are
16:36able to provide a lot of high-level
16:37value to our clients at a significantly
16:41reduced payroll costs and it would have
16:43been if we had all those people we had
16:45previously and we’ve been doing that
16:47model for about three years now in terms
16:49of the evolution of our business and and
16:52it’s in and as your is she a co-founder
16:55or is she in terms of just your
16:57structure because we talked a little bit
16:59about partnerships and you know bringing
17:02in people that maybe complement our own
17:04strengths to to sort of help us in other
17:06areas so what does she bring and how is
17:09it structured versus maybe were your
17:12strengths life sure so Mary is an
17:14employee and she is involved like a
17:18partner and something someday that takes
17:21that that I consider extremely essential
17:23to the business she brings 25 years and
17:26experience managing us in the largest
17:28company so she started at General Foods
17:30which later became craft and she worked
17:33at Ocean Spray and Duracell in extremely
17:36senior positions managing bransworth
17:38literally billions of dollars and when I
17:42started this business I didn’t have the
17:44traditional background that many people
17:46in marketing and branding have and so in
17:48order to
17:49cut my teeth and proved that we had the
17:52chops to do this work bringing somebody
17:55with such brilliant and such experience
17:57was really helpful to establish
17:59ourselves and show people that we were
18:00serious about what we do so at any given
18:04time how many clients realistically
18:06given the fact that it’s just you and
18:08her on the inside and you rely on let’s
18:10say outside contractors or other people
18:12to help you realistically a business
18:16that’s obviously scaling up versus a you
18:19know a solo practitioner if you will how
18:22how many clients can you you know can
18:25you handle at one given time or in a
18:27year’s time at their own retainer sure
18:30so we tend to have between two and three
18:32significant retainer clients at a time
18:34and then three or so project basis works
18:40that are you know two three month
18:42projects and then a couple one-offs
18:44order things at a time and so can you
18:46give us an idea in terms of I know that
18:49you had talked to just generally about
18:51some of the numbers in terms of your
18:52hourly rate and but you know I’m a
18:55company I want to go into this niche
18:57which is obviously you know the vegan
18:59market and i’m looking to sort of bring
19:02my product to market get it in
19:04supermarkets etc what can i expect what
19:08are the expectations and someone like
19:10myself coming to you and saying gee I
19:13like for you to help me soup to nuts
19:15bring this to market what would I be
19:18expecting to to pay someone like
19:21yourself in doing that so I tell folks
19:24beyond just our cost I tell folks that
19:27have been looking to launch a food or
19:30supplement or cosmetic product into the
19:32natural channel so into health food
19:34stores in those kinds of places if you
19:36want to launch really effectively in one
19:38region and then scale from there I tell
19:41people that they should expect to spend
19:42a quarter million dollars if they want
19:45to launch like let’s say you wanted to
19:46tackle whole foods and the natural
19:48health food stores in the Greater New
19:50York National area for six months and
19:52the strategy i recommend to people is
19:55that you take that smaller number of
19:57stores you get into them and you focus
19:59entirely on driving sales as
20:01aggressively as possible in those areas
20:03so you can prove that with enough
20:05support the sales could multiply
20:07dramatically as you expand into other
20:10stores and then you go raise capital if
20:12you need to you don’t want to so but
20:14yeah one of the questions that I had for
20:16you personally was you know how you
20:17actually came up with the idea which we
20:19talked about and then how you actually
20:21tested your own idea in terms of what
20:24you were doing but how do you how do you
20:26make that leap of goodwill or good faith
20:28to say to a potential customer coming to
20:32you you know spend X number of dollars I
20:36mean you know before you know fully
20:39launching to you know to break into the
20:43business I mean a quarter of a million
20:44dollars you know how do you help them
20:46sort of test the idea first so that’s
20:50the great thing about doing a proof of
20:52concept but we’re also doing a lot of
20:54research on the marketplace and on the
20:57competitive set of products they’re in
20:59so somebody comes to me and says I want
21:01to launch for granola I might tell them
21:03that the very challenging business to be
21:06in because it’s such a saturated market
21:08and I’ll probably encourage them to
21:10consider other options if somebody says
21:12to me they want to create the first you
21:15know I had somebody come to me and want
21:17to create the first probiotic protein
21:20powder a long time ago before it was so
21:22popular now I thought that was a
21:24brilliant idea and those kinds of things
21:25are so innovative and so in demand there
21:29might be a greater opportunity so one of
21:31the first things we do with the company
21:32is analyzed the marketplace to
21:35understand how big the demand is and how
21:37big the opportunity is and also assess
21:40what the competitive environment looks
21:43like and what the best ways to reach
21:45consumers were be maybe they would sell
21:47through stores may be online maybe to
21:49other businesses and understanding those
21:52opportunities and what lies ahead so
21:54they can plan accordingly is essential
21:57decided to decide if the business is
21:58viable and worth pursuing and so we work
22:00with them to make that determination
22:01first yeah you know the the flip side of
22:05success is struggles and sometimes
22:08failures and we sort of you know have to
22:10restart back up again so can you tell us
22:13a little bit about some of your own
22:14struggles in
22:16learning the business back in 2012 and
22:18how that’s kind of changed over time
22:20absolutely I’m very transparent about
22:25these things because I love working with
22:26early-stage entrepreneurs to explore and
22:29figure out how they can fail quickly and
22:31often until they don’t anymore so I
22:33started as a broker actually because in
22:36order to prove myself in this business I
22:39needed to do something that people were
22:41willing to hire me for and brokering is
22:44commission-based sales work and so
22:46because you only get paid on your
22:48success people were more than happy to
22:50hire me for that as opposed to hiring me
22:52for works that they would have been
22:54paying upfront without knowing the
22:55results and in the natural food industry
22:59the typical broker gets about ten to
23:02fifteen percent of the products that
23:05products they sell to a store so as an
23:08example I’m selling a product that I’m
23:10selling for three dollars that will
23:12retail for six roughly and it’s a case
23:14of six units and i sell one case a week
23:18to a store then it’s an then it’s a $18
23:22paste that i’m selling and i’m making
23:25ten to fifteen percent of that but it
23:27might take me an hour to to chase down
23:29the manager of that store on the phone
23:31or in person and get in the reorder so i
23:34might be making a dollar eighty or two
23:36or three bucks for an hour to of work
23:39that was a very difficult business model
23:41and the reason that brokers are only
23:44successful if they have dozens and
23:46dozens of lines with some that are
23:48carrying the vast majority of their
23:50revenue the biggest sellers because I
23:52was early I worked with very small
23:53brands in very small stores my clients
23:57were thrilled because we were getting
23:59them into so many stores that nobody
24:00else was paying attention to and because
24:03for them the sales were very good but on
24:05my end I was a disaster and I could have
24:08chosen to pursue expanding that business
24:11and continuing to bring on more and more
24:13clients but I decided that for starters
24:16I actually find that broker model really
24:18troubling because I don’t like the fact
24:20that one can’t pay attention to the
24:22earlier businesses I’m in this business
24:24for innovation and to launch the next
24:27thing that will change the world and I
24:29do that if I have to focus only on the
24:31established brands that are already
24:32making me a lot of money so it was your
24:34goal not necessarily to to grow
24:37exponentially because again everybody
24:40has different goals with their business
24:42I mean realistically between you and and
24:45your employee and and the number of
24:48people that you could just realistically
24:50handle at any given one time you’re not
24:53going to be able to sort of scale up and
24:56be able to handle hundreds of clients so
24:59that might not be your goal but maybe
25:02somebody’s is and so what do you tell
25:04them in terms of you know where they
25:07could take their own business so we are
25:10scaling a lot actually and we will be
25:13doubling our team size within the next
25:15few months we’ve already made some
25:17offers and we expect to bring on two to
25:19three more people by the end of 2017 and
25:22then to continue to grow from there
25:24we’re actually at a pivot point this is
25:27something that might be interesting for
25:28your listeners to think about it we’re
25:30at a pivot point where we are meeting
25:33more people to handle the work but we
25:35are also close to generate enough
25:38revenue where we can comfortably say
25:40that we can bring those people on so
25:41it’s an interesting time where we have
25:43to do as much as we can to bring in the
25:46revenue and soon we’ll be at the point
25:49where we can bring in people and because
25:51Mary and I are extremely senior in our
25:53experience it’ll be very helpful to
25:56bring in people who can assist with some
25:59of the more administrative tasks that
26:01can free us up to bring our high value
26:03high revenue work to clients every so is
26:06this more a hybrid is it an agency then
26:09are you evolving into something else
26:11that that you know talk to us a little
26:14bit about the different business models
26:16chores so we are certainly an agency but
26:20we are also working horizontally in
26:23other industries so we have steaks in
26:26and partnerships with retail
26:28establishments distribution companies
26:30manufacturing facilities and other
26:32things and especially investment funds
26:34where our goal is that we can take a
26:37fantastic plant based product that we
26:39think can change the world invest in it
26:42brand
26:43market launch it sell it distributed etc
26:46so we are horizontally integrating
26:48ourselves so that we can do that and
26:50make a huge difference for our clients
26:52yeah so tell me that the best business
26:54advice you’ve ever received oh man it’s
27:00a great question I think the best
27:02business advice I ever received was to
27:04know when some things not work you can
27:06be willing to pivot I changed my
27:08business model several times from when I
27:10was a broker to doing executional
27:12marketing doing strategic marketing that
27:15certainly been the most effective and
27:17the most rewarding both in terms of
27:19impact and in terms of revenue but
27:22knowing when it was time to stop and say
27:24okay it’s okay you learned a lot from
27:26this you generated a lot of goodwill and
27:29maybe some fantastic relationships with
27:31clients now it’s time to know what makes
27:34sense for your business and that’s been
27:38most important for me has been knowing
27:39when it’s time to change the model are
27:42our startups are obviously bootstrapping
27:44early on and so they have this terrific
27:46idea there obviously have limited
27:49resources so they’re going to they’re
27:51going to be very creative and
27:53resourceful in terms of testing their
27:56their um their product and they come to
27:59you do you ever buy in to their idea so
28:03in other words in terms of cost
28:04structure in terms of how they actually
28:06pay you where you know you’re kind of
28:10there’s some skin in the game for you in
28:12terms of their own success or is it a
28:14pure agency as opposed to them treating
28:17you almost like a broker model where
28:20they’re paying you for the success of
28:22their own product in getting into the
28:25stores and then obviously ultimate
28:27revenue so because we don’t do sales
28:30we’re not working on commissions however
28:32there are times on a case-by-case basis
28:35where we’ll work with companies on an
28:37equity basis or on a cash equity split
28:40or something where we’ll look at
28:41respecting the fact that they have few
28:43revenues or maybe on the other hand they
28:45don’t want to give up any equity we’re
28:47very open to those discussions we have
28:49to make some determinations based on our
28:51own cash flow of course but we’re also
28:53establishing ourselves and building for
28:56a long
28:56growth and value so there are certainly
28:59times where we’re interested in looking
29:01to do that and we can be very flexible
29:03and creative and how we can partner with
29:05people based on their circumstances talk
29:08to us a little bit about for those who
29:10are not really very familiar with vegan
29:13I mean obviously some people eat steak
29:15they love chicken and eggs and all of
29:18that talk to us a little bit about
29:21incorporating the vegan diet into our
29:24own everyday lives for those who haven’t
29:28begun to do that and and maybe want to
29:32start to try whether it be for health
29:34reasons because of their approach to
29:37animals but just talk to the the
29:39everyday person who can sort of
29:42incorporate vegan into their lives sure
29:45so I’m very happy to have been eating
29:48this way the last 15 years have been
29:50vegetarian for nearly 20 years I made
29:53the decision to originally change my
29:55diet for reasons of concern for animals
29:58but I’m extremely passionate about the
30:00incredible impact we can also have on
30:02the environment and on our own human
30:04health I think the thing that was most
30:06inspiring to me about it was that I was
30:09looking to make a difference and I cared
30:11about a lot of issues from women’s
30:13health and rights and peace and you know
30:16in international affairs and all kinds
30:18of things but what inspired me and
30:20empowered me about this work is that by
30:23making a single choice oneself even if
30:26it’s just for one day if I choose not to
30:28eat a hamburger and to eat a veggie
30:30burger for lunch today I’m saving an
30:32animal’s life I’m reducing my
30:34cholesterol and my risk of cancer
30:36diabetes and heart disease and I’m
30:38reducing the amount of greenhouse gases
30:40in the world significantly and every
30:42single time I make that choice with my
30:44fork and my dollar in the supermarket I
30:46can have a tremendous impact without
30:48needing to convince the president not to
30:50go to war in Iraq or to you know try to
30:53get all men to not abused women like
30:55there are certain things that we can’t
30:57do exclusively on our own but this is
31:00one where we are so empowered and it’s
31:02so fun they’re amazing foods out there
31:03you can explore all the new options and
31:06that’s why I love it so much but how do
31:09you how do you
31:10though the true message to give each
31:12person that you’re coming across because
31:14some people are doing it for health
31:16reasons other people aren’t doing it
31:18because of some of these other things
31:20and so how do you how do you sort of you
31:23know finesse it that you don’t turn
31:24other people off that you know are not
31:27into it because of you know political
31:29reasons or because of Cruelty to Animals
31:31even if they do love animals how do you
31:33how do you sell it even though you’re
31:36not a sales organization per se sort so
31:40like I said I did come from the
31:41education and advocacy worlds but the
31:44biggest reason I’m doing what I’m doing
31:45now is because I realized that the
31:47products that we represent speak for
31:49themselves they’re delicious they’re
31:51beautiful they’re affordable they’re
31:53healthy and they’re easy to find and
31:55that’s what excites me is that I can say
31:57to somebody you don’t have to change
31:59your identity you don’t have to decide
32:01that you’re never going to eat something
32:02again here’s a delicious awesome product
32:05put in your mouth try it out what do you
32:07think wouldn’t it be great to have this
32:08for dinner on Thursday maybe you’ll have
32:10it for dinner once a week that’s the
32:12conversation where we can meet people
32:14where they’re at not make them feel
32:16judged and let them know that we are
32:18supporting them with awesome options to
32:21make choices in a very low stress way
32:25that can be good for them in the world
32:27and there’s no pressure or expectations
32:29around it yeah and I think that when you
32:32want to try to sort of bring this to the
32:34masses and obviously make it catch on
32:37more I think that that’s a you know a
32:39populist way of doing it so in terms of
32:42the marketing research in this
32:44particular space how big is the market
32:46and you know people are always worried
32:48about coming up with good ideas in this
32:50particular space so to talk to us a
32:54little bit about you know the
32:55opportunities for others whether it be
32:57your own business or other people
32:59listening in terms of coming up with an
33:02idea in this particular vegan niche
33:04absolutely so the space is booming and
33:08you asked about the numbers the biggest
33:10reasoning is booming it’s not because of
33:12people who are going exclusively
33:15vegetarian or vegan that number is
33:17growing but the biggest growth is in
33:20people who are looking to incorporate
33:21this into their lives in a small way
33:23which is
33:24tastic so in in 2013 mintel which is a
33:28large market research organization did a
33:31very large study and they found that
33:33between one and two percent of the
33:35population is vegan meaning eating no
33:37animal products of any kind between five
33:40and seven percent of the population is
33:42vegetarian so no meat fish or poultry
33:45and then 16.7 percent of the population
33:49almost wanted over one and six people in
33:52the country are eating vegetarian for
33:54more than half their meals they’re what
33:56we call flexitarian and that’s where the
33:58real economic opportunity is and it’s
34:01also where the real impact is if I’m
34:03selling a veggie burger to a vegan I’m
34:05not making much of a difference but if
34:07I’m selling one to somebody who eats me
34:08I’m changing the world so in addition to
34:12that extremely large number over forty
34:14percent of Americans in that study said
34:17that they were aiming to reduce their
34:19meat dairy and egg intake significantly
34:21over the next year so the opportunity is
34:24huge we find that in the marketplace
34:27every day that a man for these products
34:28is skyrocketing just to give you an idea
34:30in the last few years we’ve had clients
34:33who have been invested in by leaking the
34:36wealthiest man in Asia by Jerry Yang by
34:39Bill Gates by the folks from Twitter who
34:43started the obvious corporation obvious
34:45ventures some of the richest and most
34:48strategic investors in the world are
34:50recognizing that this is the time to get
34:52into this space because we just don’t
34:55have the stability and the resources to
34:58continue farming animals the way we have
35:00and producing healthy plant-based
35:03proteins to feed the masses is really
35:06the only way we can go forward that’s
35:07why they’re betting big on minutes and
35:09you’re seeing it in the big meat
35:11companies to Tyson has invested in a
35:13vegan meat company they have started a
35:16several hundred million dollar funds to
35:18continue that growth and the CEO himself
35:20has said we’re not hedging this is the
35:24future and we’re getting in front of it
35:25so when we see leaders like the head of
35:28Tyson saying that they need to pivot
35:30away from me and towards plant proteins
35:33there’s no question that this space is
35:35exploding so I kind of look at
35:37us as a food business strategist so
35:41whether someone’s interested in vegan or
35:44some other aspect of the food chain what
35:47do you tell them in terms of resources
35:50things that they can sort of leverage
35:52and use just to get started every day to
35:56begin yeah I think that it’s extremely
35:59important that we recognize there are so
36:01many different ways to go to market and
36:04when I mentioned that quarter million
36:06dollar figure that’s an insane amount of
36:08money but thats related to how people go
36:11to market if they are going to try to
36:13compete with the biggest brands in the
36:15world on the shelves of supermarkets
36:17where there are 60,000 different
36:20products in the same store and there are
36:22so many different ways to sell to
36:24consumers so you can have a restaurant
36:27you can sell at stores you can sell
36:29online you can sell it farmers markets
36:31each of these models has different costs
36:34and different opportunities for revenue
36:35and what I’d say is the more but the
36:38more closely you interact with the
36:40consumer and the more directly you
36:41interact with them such as Sally at a
36:43farmers market or something of that
36:44nature the higher your profit will be
36:47but the less scalable the business is so
36:50if you would like to have a really big
36:52impact on a few people which is
36:55certainly admirable and you can do that
36:57through a restaurant or through catering
36:58or through farmers markets you can have
37:00even do that and you can make a very
37:02healthy margin and you can have a very
37:04sustainable happy business if you want
37:07to be the next coca-cola of healthy food
37:09then you’re going to have to invest and
37:11go and make sure that you are selling
37:13through additional channels such as the
37:15retail stores so that you can need to
37:17reach a much broader audience but the
37:20reason you’re going to need so much
37:21money to there’s so many middlemen you
37:23have to get onto the shelves you have to
37:26get distributed there you have to get
37:27sold into the store etc to not just
37:30convincing the consumer you’re
37:32convincing all the trade partners to so
37:34I think the biggest thing to realize is
37:36that there are many ways to make an
37:38impact and one should decide what their
37:40goal is if they want to be the next
37:42coca-cola or if they just want to have
37:43that personal connection where they can
37:45change a few people’s lives yeah you
37:47know very good when when looking at
37:49resources though in
37:51terms of you know testing their own idea
37:54before obviously you know going into the
37:57market going to a farmers market or
38:00doing those one-on-one type of things is
38:03really an effective way to test their
38:07idea when you agree absolutely and there
38:11are a lot of resources for people to do
38:13these things on a small scale whether
38:15it’s testing by selling and locally
38:17they’re sharing with friends and family
38:18there are also in all major cities in
38:20the country now food incubator kitchens
38:23we’re rather than producing your
38:25brownies at home and China Selden
38:27illegally because of health code
38:28violations you can rent either for a few
38:31hours for a day for a month a small
38:34shared kitchen where you can produce
38:36your product legally and with the
38:37expertise and efficiencies of the teams
38:40there so that you can produce it and get
38:42it out there that’s that you have a few
38:44ideas of in terms of you know are there
38:47commercial like almost franchisees where
38:51you know they allow people to come in
38:53and do this for a C and a flat fee per
38:56month yes so in new york city where I
39:00live there are several you can go to
39:02Brooklyn foodworks the organic foods
39:05incubator the entrepreneurs face and a
39:07kitchen hot bread kitchen there are a
39:09number of them in LA there’s local food
39:12lab they’re really everywhere and there
39:15are fantastic places because not only do
39:17you have the kitchen space at a low cost
39:20rent you forget it’s it’s bigger that’s
39:23not constant you also have workshops and
39:26educational sessions they’re putting on
39:27and they can teach you from their own
39:29experiences and your network like a
39:31co-working space where you can speak to
39:33other entrepreneurs who are facing the
39:35same challenges so it’s a really great
39:37opportunity to get involved and get to
39:40know what it’s like to start such a
39:42business that’s great and we’ll have
39:43links to all of those reason where’s
39:45David just mentioned our fastpitch
39:47Mitchell Chad Road calm / books for
39:51books audiobooks guest recommendations
39:54and the books that I read to start off
39:56each day sponsors are fastpitch my book
40:00club recommendations I get Mitchell Chad
40:03Road calm / book
40:05to see more of my recommendation and
40:07recommendations of our guests just go to
40:09Mitchell Chad Road calm / books it’s
40:12your number one resource for book
40:14reviews and recommendations so we we
40:17read a lot of books that motivate us
40:19that inspires can yet can you recommend
40:21a book for everybody in the audience
40:23made to stick and the e-myth day as far
40:26as productivity is there an app that
40:28helps you in business family or life
40:30that you can recommend insightly our
40:32wrap-up round Mitchell Chad row.com /
40:36photos for all your graphic design needs
40:40in our wrap-up we want have our audience
40:43take away three things that you feel are
40:46the most important ideas that you can
40:49provide to them one first research
40:51everything about the industry you want
40:53to go into when I started my business I
40:55did 115 informational interviews in one
40:58year to meet everybody throughout the
41:00food business and map out my path to
41:02success too as I mentioned before be
41:04ready to fail take it take the bull by
41:06the horns and pivot when needed and
41:08three really know your margins because
41:10you’re always going to have expenses you
41:13don’t expect and be ready to have to
41:14account for those and to have to change
41:16your rates as you find that out and
41:17how’s everybody going to stay in contact
41:19with you David so i can be reached at
41:21david at plant based solutions com and
41:25our website plant based solutions com
41:28we’re on twitter facebook and linkedin
41:29and we look forward to hearing from
41:31everybody is there anything imparting
41:34that you’d like to let the audience know
41:36that you think that we haven’t talked
41:38about today yeah the amazing thing about
41:40the opportunities today in the world is
41:43that young people and people in general
41:44are looking to make impact and for so
41:47long we assumes that going into the
41:49career space one could either make
41:51impact or make money there’s a new
41:53movement called effective altruism i’m a
41:55proud practitioner and i really believe
41:58that there are creative ways and
42:00non-traditional ways to make both impact
42:03and money and sometimes they’re even
42:05more effective than going to do the
42:07traditional charity work with the same
42:09cups so i encourage people who want to
42:11make a difference and be successful in
42:13their careers to go to websites like the
42:15center for effective altruism or 80,000
42:18hours and
42:19about how they can combine their
42:21passions with their needs to survive
42:23David awesome thank you so much for
42:26everything thoroughly enjoyed it and I
42:28know the audience will as well and we’re
42:29really looking forward to hearing more
42:32about your success in the future you’ll
42:34come back and you’ll let us know
42:35wonderful thank you so much for having
42:36me hey take care now bye bye in closing
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