Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to the consumer VC. I am your host, Michael,
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and on this show we talked about
the world of venture capital and innovation in
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both consumer technology and consumer products.
If you're enjoying this content, you could
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subscribe to by newsletter the consumer VC
DOT sub stackcom, to get each new
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episode and more consumer news delivered straight
to your inbox. Our guests today are
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seth Goldman and Spike Mendelssohn, co
founders of eat the change and plant Burger.
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Eat The change is a snack company
that's on a mission to create chef
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crafted and nutrient dense snacks that are
kind of the planet. Plant Burger is
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a plant based Burger restaurant concept that
currently has eleven locations. Prior to going
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into business together at Seth is well
known for being the founder of honesty,
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and chef spike Mendelssohn was one of
the top chefs on the show top chef
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and started quite a few restaurant establishments, including the vicar we, the Pizza
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Santa Rosa Tacaria and my personal favorite, good stuff eatery. I'm on the
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record that good stuff makes the best
Burger I've ever tried. I was so
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excited to have both seth and chef
spike on the show, not only because
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they are legends, but they also
started each of their businesses where I grew
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up. Seth started honesty and Bethza, which is where I was raised,
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and many of spike's restaurants are in
DC in this running areas. They are
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hometown heroes of mine. This was
a thrill to have them on. Without
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further ADO, here is seth Goldman
and Chefspike. Seth and spike, thank
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you so much for joining me here
today. How are you both doing?
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Great, like glad to be with
the coming out of the three hundred and
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one area code here. Yeah,
three hundred and one, representing exactly three
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hundred one and two four. Oh
right, that's right, that's right.
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I thought it too far out number. I didn't quite make the batch for
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two three hundred and one. So
why does start from the very beginning with
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both of you? What was your
initial attraction to entrepreneurship and, as well,
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food and beverage? You know,
I come from, you know,
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many generations of family that have been
in the food business, specifically restaurants.
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But yeah, I mean I grew
up in it. I you know,
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I was the kid you read about
washing dishes as parents restaurant and bussing tables
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and getting in trouble and that I
just grew up in the business. In
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fact, the funny part is is
I growing up in the business and makes
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you not want to be in the
business because you're like, you know,
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you're working weekends, you're working late
nights. The holidays were always stolen from
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me as a child because I was
working on my family's restaurant. But over
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time I've found that it was a
passion that I really loved. I think
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it was culinary school that kind of
inspired me just enough to be more curious.
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Well meaning that had gone to colinary
school, but I had already had
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a very young career and food and
beverage business and a colinary school I was
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surrounded by people that had never picked
up a knife before really. So that's
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literally all the confidence I needed to
kind of tackle this and listen, I
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went on to have a great career
and now I'm working was set in the
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CPG space and we also have a
brand new restaurant that we're growing and it's
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a fun our business is entertaining,
so it's good times. Yeah, and
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for me I had. I definitely
didn't have that kind of back or my
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parents were professors, which certainly doesn't
strike you as entrepreneurial, but my dad
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was always creating different programs, whether
it was academically or nonprofit, and so
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we had a little family business which
my brother and sisters handed down to me,
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which was selling golf balls that we
found in the woods and we live
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not far from a golf course and
so, you know, then I throw
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in sell lemonade to the golfers as
well, and that was as sort of
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basic as it was. It was
actually a little business and just got my
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appetite for selling, and then I
did a hunch of nonprofit work as well
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and creating things there too. So
I've always thought of myself as actually I've
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always thought of myself more as an
activist, and then entrepreneurship is just the
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vehicle I've chosen to act on the
things I care about. I love that.
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I love that. What do you
feel like is maybe like the common
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thread when you think about maybe starting
something new or just as you kind of
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maybe reflect a little bit on each
of your careers? I think it's always
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about really building an incredible team and
community around what you're doing. You know,
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you can never really go at it
yourself unless you have a really you
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know, a really good group of
people behind you. So I always love
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start up mode because, and now
I've been in startup B with seth and
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it's great. We get to kind
of meet New People and Hire New People,
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be part of the team and build
the community and start from scratch.
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And I find if you do that
right from the start it can be very
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indicative of the success you're going to
have in the future. Sometimes, you
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know, if you don't take care
of that and build a real good team
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and real good community from the beginning
at it comes back to kind of to
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catch catch up with you. So
I agree with spike. You Gott have
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a great team. But for me
the common thread is it's always issues I
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care about. Like I think myself
as an activist. So what are the
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issues I care about? Well,
certainly climate change, health, public health
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and economic opportunity. And then how
do you structure a business to address those
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things? And so one of the
neat aspects for me, which is new,
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was with respect to the plant Burger, the restaurants that were launching.
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is where we were already employing more
than a hundred people and so thinking about
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creating economic opportunity here in the United
States. That's that's an issue I've always
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cared about and of course, have
had employees, but thinking about how do
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we help, you know, entry
level employees make up make a living and
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make a life, and how can
we support them on that journey? Yeah,
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I love this and this combination,
you know, Spike talking about how
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it's so important of working with the
right people and loving, you know,
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who you work with. Maybe that's
like a common thread, and then seth
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also talking about maybe externally on the
on the activism front, to do of
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how not only working with great people
but also giving back and being able to
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help other people as well, which
I think is also, you know,
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really cool and very inspiring. I
have to ask, how did you guys
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each meet one another and what was
kind of a moment where you wanted to
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work one another? Obviously step in
the CPG space, you know, Spike,
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coming from, you know, extensive
in the restaurant space. First of
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all, Mike, we have to
get you to plant Burger, because I
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know you're a big good stuff fan. Well, we need to also equally
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blow your mind with what we're doing, a plant burger. So you'd be
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a good test. You know,
sething I met by chance on a panel
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and really simple as that. And
Seth was gracious enough and to bring some
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honesty and some beyond meat burgers and
snuck come under my seat. is how
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we tell the story. And he
said, I heard your you know,
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I heard your kind. I think. He said like I heard you're like
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the Burger Guy or Burger King or
something like that, and was like Oh
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yeah, and he had no clue
my wife was Vegan actually and that internally
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at home we're struggling on Burger nights
with the family, because she wasn't too
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happy with me. But I took
the product home and we I cooked it
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and and then my entrepreneurship took over
first and foremost. You know, I
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kind of reached back out the set, but then we were, you know,
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through just kind of slowly working together
and I'll I'll throw it to him.
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We were actually developed a really fantastic
friendship and, you know, have
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both of our families involved in the
businesses here and there and it's great.
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Yeah, Spike, pitch me on
the idea. He said. Look,
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he brought me order a good stuff
he'd read and we had a bunch of
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beyond burgers and he cooked up some
just a amazing recipes, but all would
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beyond meeting them and them and he's
like we should make a restaurant and I'm
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like wow, that's amazing. I
love what I'm tasting. I have never
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been involved in I've no clue to
how to build a restaurant. Obviously Spike
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does, I said, and I
had also some I was actively, you
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know, an employee of Cocacola through
my work with honest tea. I was
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actively an employee of beyond meat as
executive chair of the board. So I
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just couldn't get involved in a restaurant
venture at that time. So I found
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some great proxies, my wife,
who's always been a really smart, savvy
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brand builder, and then we recruited
our son, who has been in phenomenal
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marketer, especially around plant based IETS, and they joined the business and I
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kept a close eye on it all
and as when I was finally able to
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separate and create new opportunities for me
with honest tea and and with beyond meat,
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I got involved as a cofounder plant
Burger and we started to look at
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our sourcing and we went visited a
mushroom farm and I started seeing spikes recipes
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and my son came up with this
great phrase eat the Chaine you wish to
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see in the world, and that
was such an inspiring phrase. I'm like,
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that's a phrase we could rally around
and we could build a brand around
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as well. And then spike approach
spike. He's so he pitched me on
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the restaurant business and I pitched him
on the seepeach. That's awesome. That's
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awesome. I also love that.
I guess spike, you know, as
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you were pitching a set, to
kind of come on and start this with
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you. I guess that if you
couldn't get set, since he was so
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busy other things, you then have
to recruit his entire family, right.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, hundred
percent. What I love about their art,
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like sets. In my relationship,
at how it started, it happened
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very organically, like from start to
finish. We didn't aggressively push each other
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to work with each other, just
organically really, you know, and when
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the moment came to and, you
know, set kind of reapproached me that
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he was kind of ready to do
something. It just happened to be the
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right time for all of us.
So and again, like after after stress.
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It's like, you know, we
are both advocas and we care about
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the food system. I like to, you know, Cook Delicious Food and
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things. But it's been such a
fun ride with Seth and his family.
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I mean, you know, Jonah
is wish she was here. I think
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he might still be in Israel right
now. Are on his way back,
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but but he is absolutely crucial to
our business. He's kind of everything that
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we want plant Burger to be about. Is What Jonah is the soul of
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the brand. Yeah, yeah,
it really is the soul the brand.
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So it's just amazing to see it
all come to fruition, you know,
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totally totally. So let me talk
to me a little bit about like the
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Founding Journey of Plant Burger to obviously
the inspiration was, you know, kind
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of going back and forth thought beyond
meat and what you could do with a
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plant burger. Why did you decide
to do it as a restaurant as opposed
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to like a CPG company like beyond
and kind of had you a thing about
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like picking locations and all that kind
of you know, starting point for a
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restaurant. It's funny. So Spike
and I had a lunch with the person
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who actually became our CEO of the
business. We're just talking about it and
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after lunch we were just walking around. But says that I'm seeing all these
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restaurants with for our built where it
had been restaurants saying, you know,
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for to let you know for rent. It's like close down, like Oh
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man, this restaurant business can be
brutal. And you know these there's even
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though the the sign says for lease, somebody's paying the rent, you know,
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because their business went out of it, you know out of business.
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And I was trying to think of
a way to contain the risk. I
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said, why don't we reach out
to whole foods? They have something called
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a friends program where they'll let you
start up a restaurant inside of a whole
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foods and it's obviously if it's a
much lower risk way to do it.
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You don't have to do the build
out, you don't have to pay a
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monthly rent, you just pay a
portion of sales. And I said that's
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if we want to explore this concept, let's let's start there. And of
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course we use beyond meat on the
menu. So we weren't we weren't making
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new burgers. We're just using beyond
meat as the featured protein on the menu.
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And so obviously I had I have
a little track record with whole foods
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through my years of experience working with
them, and reached out to the regional
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president and we serve dislike spiked it
to me. We served in Burgers and
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he said this is amazing, we
ought to try it. And what's so
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exciting we went in. Our first
store was in silver spring whole foods.
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We went in there too. They
had had a raman shop that was doing
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about threezero dollars a week in sales
and we're in there now and you know
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that store averages over three thousand dollars
a day in sales. So you know,
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obviously with that kind of success,
whole foods was open to us expanding
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and we have done that. We
had now have ten plan burger restaurants,
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but we also have opened up our
own free standing store as well. But
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it was a great way to prove
out the concept for with a lot less
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risk and you know, obviously also
really making sure our customers is close to
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us, because we know someone who's
a whole foods is just proportionately inclined to
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be at least, if not plant
based, sort of health oriented in their
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diet and looking for the kind of
things that plant Burger offers. How do
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you think when you're designing new product
that our plant bas how do you kind
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of think about what's better for you
versus better for the planet? Specifically with
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Plant Burger, let's just say it's
a better for you burger from the point
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of view of a couple things.
I mean, first, it's loaded with
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protein. There's very little cholesterol in
the actual burger, but it's better for
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the planet, right. The processing
of the plant to create the Burger is
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far greater or better for the planet
from many different aspects, and I'll let
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seth, you know, Lean into
those a little bit because I do love
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listening to set talk about the redoing
of food and the undoing your food at
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time. So you know, south
I'll go up to you on that one.
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YEA sure. Yeah. So,
first of all, I think not
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surprisingly, the meat industry throws that
term out a lot. That's super processed,
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but fankly, you know the way
we make a product like a beyond
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meat, the way it's made is
the same piece of equipment used to make
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pasta. So if somebody has a
concern about the processing of beyond meat,
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they should have the same concern about
the making of Pasta. It's just pressure,
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water and heat used to make a
beyond burger. It's obviously the ingredient
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panel has more words on it than
a piece of meat does. But if
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you get under the hood and look
at the process to to deliver patty of
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hamburger meat or any other slice of
meat, that is a lot to that
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process that would people would find appalling. And you know, I always say
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beyond meat, you know, offers
people tours to see its facility. You
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can't get into yeah, meat packing
facility, certainly not with a camera anyway,
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because there's so concerned about what people
see. But what's interesting is with
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respect to plant Burger, yeah,
we wouldn't position it as a it's not
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a health food restaurant. It's a
delicious Burger restaurant that is plant based.
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To make up a beyond Burger US
ninety nine percent less water and ninety three
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percent less land and ninety percent fewer
greenhouse gases created to make a product that's
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equivalent to you know, a beef
patty. On the eat the change side,
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it's a much different approach. So
I call making a product like beyond
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me. That's a redoing of a
category. It's using science and technology and
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and culinary art to create a new
product. At eat the change, our
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consumer package product, we're I'm doing
food. We're taking super simple recipes and
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create and delivering food in a new
form. So at eat the change we've
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just launched these carrot snacks for kids
and you. What you might want to
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contrast them to is what are called
fruit snacks. That talk about a redoing.
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That's a process, the process to
create fruit snacks. The fruit is
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a fartestant relative. You know,
I would say a cherry, a cherry
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growing on a tree, would not
recognize what is called a cherry fruit snack,
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whereas our carrot snacks and what we
done, and what spike really did
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in ingenious way, was found a
way to take carets and make them flavorful
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and Chewy and and shelf stable in
a way that could fit in a kid's
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lunchbox. And the first ingredient in
that carrot toe was a carrot and the
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second ingredient is apple juice. So
that's a very simple and transparent way to
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make a food. So you know, yes, there's a process to make
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those, but it's the processes take
carerots, soaked them in apple juice and
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then dehydrate them. So people shouldn't
always be afraid of the word process.
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It's there's a frankly, there's a
process to making Apple Pie. There's process
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in its own is not a bad
word and I think the meat industry has
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successfully, you know, you tried
to scare people with that term. I
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have to also add, Mike.
I mean we're never going to really get
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away from what we deem as processed
foods. Like what kind of set said.
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We we have so many people to
feed in this world, so being
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able to develop a better for you
process food and better for the planet also
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very important. Is kind of what's
happening in our world right now. We're
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really seeing a shift on up how
our food system works, how farming works,
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how distribution look works, and there's
a lot of people that are concerned
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about our climate and most people don't
really have an opportunity to take advantage or
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know how to contribute right and one
thing we are always say a plant burger
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and eat the change is you can
contribute with your appetite, the foods you
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choose to to urchase and buy and
the brands you choose to support. It's
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really important, you know. So
right now, actually, the month we
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just launched, but today actually,
I don't know if you did your challenge
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that that did mine. Absolutely.
Yeah, but it's called the incredible planet
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challenge and it's put on by eat
the change and it's leading up to Earth
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Day, a where we inspire people
to look at what they're, you know,
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their daily appetites and switch things up
a little bit. So today's challenge
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was, you know, switch out
dairy milk for plant based milk. As
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simple as that, right. You
know, a couple other challenges will be
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look recreate a meal that you love
in a plant based way, for instance.
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So I think people are starting to
see, I know they are,
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that you can really make a difference
by the foods you choose and there they
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could be very much better for you
as well. So and just to go
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back, Mike, to where I
would I don't want to make it sound
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like I don't look at ingredient panels
or think about how food is made.
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I do, even in my personal
choices. But what I would pay attention
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to our ingredients. So you know, I always look out for the organic
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sea whenever I can. I avoid
certainly try to avoid GMO ingredients. I
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try to avoid artificial ingredients or artificial
sweeteners. So those are choices I think
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are makes sense. But just avoiding
foods that's processed, I don't think that
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always leads to a healthy outcome for
the consumer or for the planet. How
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did you decide to start eat the
change and kind of what is it?
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What was kind of the harding point
for it? Yeah, well, so
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we've been working on the restaurant.
I saw spike doing incredibly creative recipes in
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the restaurant on and I was actually
sort of at this unusual point in my
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life because I, as I said, just left on his tea and was,
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you know, transitioning my role beyond
me. So there's this kind of
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window where I think about okay,
I always, as I said, identify
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as an activist. which path do
I take? And so part of me
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was like, well, if I'm
an activist, maybe I should be going
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into politics. And then I kind
of looked at the political arena and not
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just the quality of the dialog,
but what people were talking about like that,
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I don't know if that's if I
care about getting things done, I'm
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not sure politics is the most effective
way to get something done. He kept
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coming back to climate change being such
an imperative issue and thinking I wish I
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could find a way and I you
know, I I think it will be
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at the defining issue, certainly of
my generation, like what were you doing
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when this happened? And I want
to I want to feel like I did
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something and I'm doing something. And
so then I have the okay, well,
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what would be the brand? What
would be the product? And so
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the brand, as I said,
just kind of hit me when Jonah came
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up with this phrase eat the change. I'm like, that's the brand.
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Well, what's the product? I'm
like, how to think about that?
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And I kept seeing spiked do all
these creative things. I said, well,
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that you know, I don't know
at the time what the exactly what
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the product will be, but I
know who the right person is to help
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create it. And so you know, with Spike Eves we had done this,
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as I said, visit with the
mushroom farmers and I said how,
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said the spike, how could you
make mushrooms like into a delicious consumer snack
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and they basically get that was kind
of the assignment. It was pretty pretty
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open open ended, right. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty open ended.
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And and you know, I decided
to go back and you know,
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I've always looked at portobellows and Cremini
mushrooms as the giveaway in the back in
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the day in the restaurants. is
like if someone was vegetarian and they came
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in, you'd cook him something with
a Portobello, right. It was like
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the easy thing. It imitates me. It's juicy, it's it's sears.
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So we start getting some portabellows and
CREMINIS and Bud Mushrooms in the office and
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we start producing this really amazing jerky
and the Jerky had everything in it.
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It had molasses, had brown sugar, it had you know, it was
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one of you know, such a
tasty, very sweet jerky. And said
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loved it. Right, and and
I loved the idea. But then he
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kind of up the Auntie with the
challenge and he said, okay, this
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is great, but if we're going
to call ourselves eat the change and we're
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going to have these planet commitments,
we're going to have to eliminate some of
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these ingredients that you use, right. So we eliminated the top six cash
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crops really that contribute to our most
of our food. I think, Seth,
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what is it? Fifty seven percent? Fifty three? Yeah, fifteen
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seven percent of all agriculture production is. So we potatoes, corn rice and
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sugar cane. Yeah, I'm like, well, for serious about biodiversity,
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let's leave those out of all of
our recipes. So then I said,
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well, Seth, now you just
left me with just with mushrooms again,
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which was funny. You know,
I never shy away from a challenge of
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courser. With my background of on
top chef and and iron chefs. It
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had been something that no one had
ever really challenged me to do, right,
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to kind of just throw out this
group of ingredients so I've been using
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so much, and just see what
else is out there. And you know,
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it's a little work and some research. We were able to get it
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done. We developed five really delicious
Keews of Mushroom Jerkey. You know,
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as sweetener as we use to Goba
Syrup, we use some maple syrup and
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we were really able to produce a
really delicious snack that is also we also
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can straight on whole food. So
that's the other thing about eat the change.
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Right, we love food and its
native form. Right, it's a
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this is a little bit of what
Seth was saying about the undoing of food.
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Right. Why do we have to
process Jerky and, you know,
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molded and so forth? So we
take a different approach. Not that that's
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wrong, but but that's kind of
how we got started. It's amazing.
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With eat the change. How do
you measure as well? Maybe some of
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the impact, since I know that
is very that is very coore to the
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mission. So it really is.
What we sell, everything we're selling is
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planet based and so we literally infuse
it in the product. So just as
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an example, the mushrooms, when
it keep pillars, we go back to
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project draw down, which talks about
eighty solutions to address global warming and they
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rank them and that one of the
top things. So it would it respect
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to food, their top to are
reducing food waste and swishing to plant based.
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So of course everything we sell this
plant or Fung Gui based. And
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then with respect to food waste,
with the mushrooms, we use the whole
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mushroom. We use this the stem
of the mushroom, we don't worry if
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it's bruised or oversized or undersize,
the kind that wouldn't make it to a
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retail show. We're taking it all
and then going back to food waste,
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we also look for crops that are
super water efficient so there's no water waste.
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And so were and it turns out
that both mushrooms and carrots are some
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of the most water effshing crops on
the planet and that's just a great fit.
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The other thing we looked at whether, as respect how do we create
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the product, is avoiding any waste
as we make the products. So what's
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interesting like we initially we're trying to
do a carrot chip, and when you
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do a carrot chip you can't use
the small parts of the carrot, you
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know. And so what's so neat
about where we are with the carrot choose
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as we use the whole carrot,
every little piece and every big piece,
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you know, exide from the Greens, we're using all of the carrot and
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and so there too it's great to
avoid the food waste. So we're really
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trying to take all those into account. And so for us, selling more
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of these products means we're displacing other
products that are not as planet friendly.
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That's awesome. I think that you
you're both in quite a unique position in
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that you're building a national brand where
you have these limitations, right, eliminating
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the six cash crops and looking at
very efficient vegetables and fruits. How do
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you also think about on the education
side, on on educating the consumer,
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what we're doing with this campaign,
the the incredible planet challenge which, by
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the way, you can find it
eat the CHANGECOM. This is a really
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fun way to enroll all types of
partners are their brands and lots of chefs,
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all helping them understand that our daily
dietary choices represent our single biggest impact
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on the planet, and so we've
chosen all types. So it's social media.
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Last week we cut a recorded a
sea shanty, which you haven't seen.
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It is unlike anything. Oh yeah, it's our annual sea shanty.
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Now actually it's a second second here
additionally to one seth just said. We
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look for those opportunities everywhere because,
you know, the ethos of of our
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brand is education in the food space, right, and you know, I
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just look back at how many.
You know we just finished expo west and
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it was two days of non stop
interacting with people, looking at stuff,
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and you get to educate people.
You get to say, Hey, listen,
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this pouch of carrots, which,
this is a true fact, you
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know, equates to one whole serving
of carrots in your lunch box, you
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know, and parents are like Whoa. And then another fact that we give
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them as like hey, slightly cook
carrots are far more nutritionally available than rock
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carrots. So you're even giving more
nutrients with these slightly quick carrots. So
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there's bits and pieces where we can
always educate, whether it's on the packaging,
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on social handles or things like an
incredible planet challenge. That that,
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I think, is really at the
base of what we do. So but
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it doesn't come. You know,
it's not an automatic I mean it's interesting.
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We even had a chat with a
buyer who was looking at the carrot
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choose. He's like, well,
you know, when I buy these snacks
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for my customers, they're used to
seeing everything be the same shape. Have
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you thought about taking the carrots and
maybe doing little dinosaur cutouts or something like?
393
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Now that's the whole yeah, yeah, I remember that. I remember
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that. Like little bunnies. You
mean oh no, that's not it was
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the food waste and and part of
it. You have to help people attend.
396
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We're not used to people aren't used
to it looking at something that's natural,
397
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but that's the whole point. Yeah, I mean it's just like you
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know. Usually, you know,
it's like people aren't used to looking at
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ugly fruit right right when those are
just as nutritious, and usually there the
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last in the shelf to actually get
picked. What's been the reaction so far
401
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of either she's? I mean I
tried Carret shoose. I know your time
402
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earlier. I tried carr shoes at
Exbo and really love them. I thought
403
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they were great. But what's been
the reaction so far when you I know
404
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you talked about like that one buyer
that wanted to do dinosaurs. But from
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buyers, from from consumers? And
No, I know you just launched it
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at x Bo or just prior to
it. What's kind of been like the
407
00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:11.920
the feedback so far really positive.
And it goes back to something I've always
408
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.440
said, which is you have to
be able to bring out a product as
409
00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:19.200
an entrepreneur, a cpeche entrepreneur,
you have to have something that's breakthrough different.
410
00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:23.039
We we initially going back to my
days an his tea when we were
411
00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.359
asked to develop a kids snacking on
his kids snack. We were looking at
412
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:30.519
could we make a fruit snack that
has ten percent lower calories or maybe some
413
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:34.960
fiber, and we look down there, but it's like that's not breakthrough better,
414
00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:40.079
that's just a little marginal increase.
And so what's so neat about this?
415
00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:42.240
I basically is said the spike.
I want us to have a presence
416
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.440
in the kid's aisle and the kids
lunchbox. How do we make a product
417
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:51.759
that is going to take that opportunity? And and that's where spike totally came
418
00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:55.160
with something just breakthrough different. It
wasn't just incrementally better, it was a
419
00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:59.680
totally new proposition. So that's,
I think, the right mindset. Market
420
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.559
place is too competitive for an entrepreneur
start up to just bring out a marginally
421
00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.039
better product. Got It, and
is that? Is that also your approach
422
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.079
as well to launching new products?
Like how do you even think about as
423
00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:15.160
well about like different categories and kind
of like the whole Pike Development? Yeah,
424
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.000
I've no interest in US doing anything. That's in me too. That's
425
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.559
the world. Life's too short,
the world's too competitive to do that.
426
00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:26.920
So we won't enter a category if
we can't create help create it, you
427
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:30.039
know. So look at plant based
Jerky. It's been it's a super,
428
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:34.559
super small category in there hadn't been
an organic mushroom jerkey out there and so
429
00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:40.359
when we put your spikes chef crafted
touch on it, all of a sudden
430
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:42.559
it's it makes it available to a
much wider audience. As we look at
431
00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:47.839
other new innovations, we have to
go where others aren't going and then if
432
00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:49.039
we can, you know, and
the same with honesty. We went out
433
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:52.720
back in one thousand nine hundred and
ninety eight. You looked at that beverage
434
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.119
shelf and it was everything was a
hundred calories. And so you know why
435
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.279
wasn't interested in offering an eighty five
calorie drink and saying Oh, this is
436
00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.480
better that, that's that's too close
to the competition. So we went out
437
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.039
with, you know, initially,
just seventeen calories, parade ounces and and
438
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:08.960
people just understood its. Same with
beyond meat. I mean the world did
439
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:15.759
not need another bad veggie Burger.
Beyond me change the whole approach. It
440
00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:19.839
was moving to plant based protein in
a way that replicates the taste of meat.
441
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:25.319
That was unlike anything else that was
out there. That makes class sense.
442
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:26.920
I also want to say, Spike, what's been the transition like as
443
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:32.880
well? You build so many great
restaurants and obviously you're a top chef.
444
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:36.960
What's it been like as well,
making like the transition or also creating your
445
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.920
own CPG product? What's been kind
of different about about that part of it?
446
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:44.519
Listen, I love a challenge and
I love being creative and I love
447
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:48.680
doing things differently. It's a little
bit dreamy as a chef to be able
448
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:52.880
to have such a well one,
you know, such a great guy like
449
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.119
set, to be in business with
and learn the space. I'd say if
450
00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:59.359
I was going at this and alone, I'd be at a very different space
451
00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:02.680
right now, you know. So
it's great to learn. It's kind of
452
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:04.920
dreamy too, kind of as a
chef, be able to put product and
453
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.960
feed it out to the masses.
You know, it's your restaurant, you
454
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.039
get people to come in and it's
great, but being on the shelves,
455
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:15.559
you know, with such great reach, it's something that's really rewarding. And
456
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.799
then the business challenges have been something
that have, you know, have also
457
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:23.119
been great to kind of tackle.
You know, I love problem solving,
458
00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.400
of you know, and especially during
the pandemic, I don't have to tell
459
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.200
you, is extra stressful. Try
to figure it out how to grow a
460
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.119
product through a pandemic, and that, you know. I've been on the
461
00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:37.160
road a lot and last year two
so we've been going to copackers and and
462
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:41.640
Co packers and just learning about the
entire process. It's something I'd never been
463
00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:45.839
exposed to. So for me it's
it's it's great. Did you raise outside
464
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.559
capital for eat the changer plant?
We did. That said, we put
465
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.359
a lot of our own, you
know, resources into it as well.
466
00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:55.839
Yeah, you know, you are
part of it. The reason that the
467
00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:59.359
health. It's healthy to raise outside
money because you want to just make sure
468
00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.079
your idea are grounded in reality.
So, like with eat the change,
469
00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:06.240
one of the first people I presented
this to was my cofounder from honesty bury
470
00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:11.279
nail buff and Barry is not someone
to sugarcoat his tea or his words,
471
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:15.640
and so I wanted to make sure
Barry thought this was a viable business.
472
00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:18.000
And it was great. You know, he spoke to spike and actually,
473
00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:19.359
after speaking to spike. He said, I want to put more money in.
474
00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:22.920
So we really wanted to make sure
these ideas held up. But that
475
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:26.839
said, you also want to be
betting on your own ideas and and you
476
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.960
know, down the road we may
take in money from others, but no
477
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.440
one will have any doubt that we
are personally committed to this. This is
478
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:37.559
not a hobby or a pastime,
this is something we're you know, we're
479
00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:40.880
betting on. Did you ever approach, you know, investors and maybe you
480
00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:45.319
got passes on investing in these two
opportunities? or how did you also maybe
481
00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:51.640
do like your diligence process to kind
of understand whether you want to actually work
482
00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:55.960
with this person? I mean,
like, listen, I'm not only have
483
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:57.920
I learned from my parents, but
I've also learned from my own experience in
484
00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:03.119
the business. When you don't choose
the right partners, it can end up
485
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:06.440
being such a headache. And you
know, at the end of the day,
486
00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:07.319
you know you want to work,
you want to make a difference,
487
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.599
you want to make a profit,
but you really want to have a great
488
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.440
time while you're on this. You
know, on that on that journey to
489
00:31:15.480 --> 00:31:17.799
do it right and you want to
be able to do with the right people
490
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:19.640
and I go a little bit off
on my gut, obviously, and I
491
00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:22.799
do a little research and and you
just take your time. Like I said
492
00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:26.839
Seth, that I you know,
we we kind of, you know,
493
00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:30.839
did some you know, we spent
a good year and a half just getting
494
00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:33.440
to know each other, you know, and I was able to launch beyond,
495
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.000
you know specifically, you know,
with working with Seth. I was
496
00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:38.960
be, you know, able to
work with beyond meat a little bit,
497
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:44.599
launch their sausage and cook for them
here and there, and, you know,
498
00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:48.039
you just get to know each other
and I think people rush way too
499
00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:52.880
fast into partnerships because they just see
the dollar signs. And yes, like
500
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.759
the money behind it. You do
need but there's money with the right type
501
00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:00.480
of experience and then there's money with
the wrong type of experience. And and
502
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:04.920
you should always try to align money
with the right type of people that you
503
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.799
want involved in your business and not
just take a money grab. So so,
504
00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:10.680
yeah, those are my two cents
on it. Yeah, yeah,
505
00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:15.640
no, I appreciate that. So
what is, you know, the the
506
00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:21.720
goal for Plant Burger? You said
you have ten now locations in whole foods.
507
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:28.000
You're now you also have one standalone
location. Is it to become to
508
00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:30.960
go national? Like how are you
thinking about kind of like the next phase
509
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:36.079
for plant? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean we have to grow in a
510
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.519
way that suits, you know,
our growth plan, obviously, and how
511
00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:44.200
we want to execute. So as
of right now, we have fantastic opportunity
512
00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:47.680
with whole foods to grow into more
stores, especially regionally here on the East
513
00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:51.920
Coast, where where we're at.
We did open our first brick and mortar
514
00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:54.799
store in New York City and we
have another three to four leases that we're
515
00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:59.799
signing for brick and mortar. So
we're clustering up here on the east coast.
516
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.759
But but I mean to answer it
you know directly, Mike. We
517
00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:07.839
we want to take this brand across
the globe. We see this as a
518
00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:14.519
master brand, a brand that can
really disrupt our nation's fast food improve,
519
00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:16.920
you know, farming practices and diets, and I think this is this is
520
00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:20.680
kind of what we lean into,
this is what Platt Burgher is for us.
521
00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:24.599
We really want to you know,
we're only as if as effective as
522
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:28.160
we grow. So we want to
take it. You know, we want
523
00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:31.920
to go big. What's one book
that has inspired each of you personally and
524
00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:36.000
professionally. You know, we have
written a book called mission in a bottle,
525
00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.240
which is about the building of honesty
and it's told in graphic form,
526
00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:43.720
so it's a really fun and accessible
way to hear the story. One Book
527
00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:47.400
I'm reading right now which I'm really
enjoying, is enginewies book, My life
528
00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:52.920
in full. It's not as much
about a start up, it's really about
529
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:55.680
her navigating the world of business as
a woman of color, you know,
530
00:33:55.720 --> 00:34:00.440
from a different country, and ending
up leading Pepsi. It's really inspiring.
531
00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:02.880
Those are a few and then just
another book I love, but doesn't really
532
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:07.440
apply to business as much as is
the call the wild. I just love
533
00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:09.920
being reminded that we all have these
wild instincts in us and and I always
534
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:13.880
tell entrepreneurs you got to listen to
your instincts. You can't. You know,
535
00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:16.880
so much of business is suppressing your
instincts and I think, especially as
536
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:21.559
an entrepreneur, you've got to listen
to your instincts as you navigate and and
537
00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.320
for me it'd be Danny Meyer,
you know, wrote a book called setting
538
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:30.880
the table and it was very spirational
for me because I had had my blinders
539
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:34.239
on for quite some time and just
be able to read a book that really
540
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:36.920
shed a lot of light on what
happens on the front of the House and
541
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.800
as it entrepreneur and how to blend
those. I thought that was such a
542
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:43.119
good book. And then I did
love Tony Schay's book, the Zappos Book.
543
00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:45.400
You know, I took away a
lot of inspiration about building community there.
544
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:47.760
I think he was, he's one
of the best to do it at
545
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.000
Zappos. But then most recently set
you give us the good extra Guok love
546
00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:55.400
is free, GUAC is extra if
by Monty Moran, who was a CEE
547
00:34:55.519 --> 00:35:00.599
of capotle. Yeah, by MONTY's
exactly, and by Bondy, and it
548
00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:02.159
was a great book. We actually
read it as a group, as a
549
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:06.960
company, and broke it down a
little bit. My last question for both
550
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:12.679
of you is what's maybe your favorite
piece of advice that each of you have
551
00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:16.519
received? You know, my best
advice I've ever received in my career was
552
00:35:16.679 --> 00:35:22.039
to be authentically myself, and I
think it did me a lot of justice
553
00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:25.400
because it was given to me at
a very young age. Just to be
554
00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:30.440
authentically yourself. And you know,
it's funny, I always over the course
555
00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:32.199
of my career people are. He's
like Hey, who does your brand?
556
00:35:32.360 --> 00:35:36.360
Who Does your brand, like your
personal brand, spike, and like who
557
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:38.519
who does this and that, like
they're so good. And the funny part
558
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:44.320
is is I never had like one
conversation about my brand. You know what
559
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:46.159
my brand is, or to divine
it, as it opposed it to me
560
00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:52.559
personally, and I've always just felt
just be authentically yourself and and that's what
561
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:54.760
you should showcase and that's who I
am. What you see, what you
562
00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:59.760
get. So a good one for
me is round the business like you're going
563
00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:02.000
to own it forever, run it
in a way that you can always be
564
00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:06.440
proud of. That is always about
the long term, you know, you
565
00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:08.519
never want to wake up one day
and say, Oh my God, why
566
00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:13.360
am I doing this stuff? I
don't believe in, you know, and
567
00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.280
so for me, this business,
I spike knows why we at. My
568
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:20.920
wife and I have three sons that
were so proud of and feel like a
569
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.039
really well grounded and I think,
you know, with a brand to I
570
00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:27.360
feel like it's the brand stands for
what I stand for. It all the
571
00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:30.000
things I care about, or as
much as as many things as I care
572
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.320
about, as I can infuse in
the brand I've tried to do and never
573
00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:37.159
make that short term, opportunistic decision
in exchange for, you know, a
574
00:36:37.239 --> 00:36:43.199
long term sacrifice of what you stand
for. I really appreciate both those piece
575
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.920
of advice. Seth and Spike.
Thank you so much for your time.
576
00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:47.599
It's been a lot of fun.
Great to be really right that. Great
577
00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:50.400
to be with you, Mike.
And there you have it. It was
578
00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:52.920
amazing having on Seth and chef spike. I hope you all enjoyed that as
579
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:57.599
much as I did. I highly
recommend also checking out eat the change if
580
00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:00.960
you can. I tried the cosmic
carrot choose when I was at Expo West
581
00:37:00.039 --> 00:37:05.119
and thought they were delicious, and
also very excited to try planper. If
582
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:07.840
you enjoyed this episode, I love
it if you'd write a review on the
583
00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:10.519
apple podcast. You're also welcome to
follow me your host, Mike, on
584
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:15.360
twitter at my guelb and also follow
for episode announcements at Consumer VC. Thanks
585
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:27.719
for listening, everyone,
