Boulder Food Group (BFG) is a Boulder and Los Angeles-based venture capital firm known for partnering with innovative and socially conscious food, beverage, and supplement brands. Led by seasoned food entrepreneurs Tom Spier and Dayton Miller, the BFG team works alongside its portfolio companies—providing the capital, advice, and network needed to yield sustainable growth.
BFG’s robust portfolio includes popular vegan brands such as Barnana, CAULIPOWER, 4th and Heart, and Birch Benders. We at vegconomist were very pleased to speak with Tom Spier and Dayton Miller about BFG and the plant-based food movement.
Please introduce your organisation to our readers.
Boulder Food Group (BFG) is a Boulder and Los Angeles-based venture capital firm known for partnering with innovative and socially conscious food, beverage, and supplement brands. Led by seasoned food entrepreneurs Tom Spier and Dayton Miller, the BFG team works alongside its portfolio companies—providing the capital, advice, and network needed to yield sustainable growth.
What vegan brands do you have in your portfolio?
- OHi – fresh line of refrigerated, plant-based superfood bars made with high quality whole food ingredients
- MALK – delicious organic cold-pressed nut milks made with six ingredients or less
- Quinn Foods – re-imagining classic foods like pretzels and popcorn by using only real ingredients
- Barnana – better-for-you banana snacks (note: one SKU is not vegan but all others are)
How are the vegan brands developing?
We’ve been thrilled with the development of our vegan brands. We believe the plant-based foods movement is still in its infancy and will continue to gain mainstream appeal. We feel fortunate to have offices in both Boulder and Los Angeles where many vegan brands are launching.
Are you planning to add more vegan brands?
Absolutely. Per above, we believe the plant-based foods movement has a long way to go.
What are you aiming for as a company or what is your mission?
As an investment firm, our goal is to generate above average returns for our investors; however, fortunately we believe that those returns can be achieved by investing in socially-conscious and better-for-you food and beverage companies given the changing consumer landscape. We’re growth investors, and the vast majority of growth in the food and beverage categories is occurring in the better-for-you segment (organic, non-GMO, plant-based, gluten-free, etc.) .
What kinds of vegan founders are you looking for?
We’re looking for mission-driven founders who are running CPG businesses and solving a real need in a differentiated fashion.
How will the vegan lifestyle develop in the next years, in your opinion?
With respect to consumer packaged goods, we believe that vegan products will continue to evolve to mean not only better-for-you, but also great-tasting. We think that the taste profile of plant-based products has come a long way in the past 5 years and more mainstream adoption will follow. Depending on the survey, we know that 3-5% of population identifies as vegan today. This figure feels like it has a lot of room to grow for us.
