Every week, Plant-based Business Expert Elysabeth Alfano breaks down the headlines with her review and analysis in the Plantbased Business Minute. Elysabeth is the founder of Plant Powered Consulting, the host of the Plantbased Business Hour and the Consulting Managing Director, vegconomist, North America. She doesn’t use a teleprompter.
Here is the Plantbased Business Minute for the week ending March 26, 2021.
Mushroom news
Hermes sets the stage. The company is now working with startup, MycoWorks, out of California. They are making a mushroom leather version of the classic Victoria bag. But Hermes is not the only one working with mushrooms in fashion. Designer Stella McCartney has made two garments for the Victorian Albert Museum with the help of Bolt Fabrics which are also from mushrooms.
My business bottom line is this: the alt materials market parallels the alt protein market. You can look for alt materials to be everywhere and in demand by about 2030.
Peak meat
Ah, but what’s in demand now? We know it’s alt protein and by that, I mean biomass fermentation, precision fermentation, cellular agriculture and plant-based proteins. There’s a new study out by Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon Corporation that predicts that alt protein will be worth $290B by 2035. That overshadows a study by A.T. Kearney that said the industry would be worth $240N by 2040.
As reported by The Spoon, the reason for this increase is because there’s going to be continued innovation for taste, texture, and, of course, price parity.
My business bottom line is this: this is not the time to kick back and think “Oh, it is inevitable that we will have a shifting food supply system.” This is the time to double down on better innovation for taste, texture, while always striving for price parity which will create the ultimate tipping point.
Seaspiracy
If you don’t have Netflix, get it. Seaspiracy is out by producer Kip Andersen and director Ali Tabrizi. The film details the deleterious effects of commercial fishing obviously for sea life, the planet, and for those people involved in the system. The film also highlights the overfished and dying nature of our oceans.
My business bottom line is this: plant-based investors are welcoming and swimming towards alternative seafood products but they warn it might not be coming to market fast enough.
My Clubhouse and Linkedin question for the week is actually the answer to last week’s question which was: What do small plant-based businesses do wrong in the beginning as they grow? The answer is while they’re so busy on R&D and finding distribution for their products and getting the packaging right, they often forget that they need a curated, creative communications strategy to lock in a longstanding and loyal relationship with their tribe.
This has been the Plantbased Business minute. If you would like a deeper dive into plant-based business, please subscribe to the Plantbased Business Hour wherever you get your podcasts. And if you are a small plant-based business or a large meat and dairy company and you are looking to navigate the plant-based landscape, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. My team and I at Plant Powered Consulting are here to help you with media, marketing, communications strategy and so much more.
Until I see you again next week, remember that together we are taking back our health, the health of the planet, and the health of our bottom line.
Elysabeth Alfano is the founder of Plant Powered Consulting, host of the Plantbased Business Hour and the Consulting Managing Director, vegconomist, North America.
