Elysabeth gives a recap on the Plant Based World Expo 2023 and the Good Food Conference 2023. In the last half of the episode she is joined by General Partner at Alwyn Capital, Heather Courtney. They discuss the latest developments in the alternative protein sector on this episode of the Plantbased Business Hour.
Specifically they discuss,
- The importance of transparency in a nascent sector,
- Positive signs for the sector, as well as concerns, and
- Key areas for investment.
Below is a highlight clip and transcription from our long-form conversation.
Elysabeth: Please tell me, what are your takeaways from the Good Food Conference in San Francisco?
Heather Courtney: Yeah, I mean there’s been a lot of talk of community building. I know that you went to that panel yesterday. There was a really great panel that Marika from GFI held that brought together thought leaders from the culinary space, chefs and people that are actually going to be serving us food. They were talking about building partnerships between food tech and food culture which I think has been really important. So, I think the overall sense from this conference has been that we’ve hit some road bumps in the overall alt protein space but there’s reason for optimism and there’s even more reason to build partnerships across multiple different sectors across the food industry.
Elysabeth: So, for those listening to this podcast, audio or video here on LinkedIn, you know that we talk about this a lot, that there are other stakeholders besides the consumer packaged goods companies or consumers. There’ are governments and there’s industry players like meat companies and other strategics that are all looking to shift the global food supply system. Albeit they don’t do it all for the same reasons. They are all doing it at the same time because they’re either interested in food insecurity like governments, or they’re interested in cleaning up their bottom line or the sustainability footprints like strategics or they’re interested in better for the planet options for consumers which would be consumer packaged goods companies.
In the Venn diagram of life there are overlaps between all of these and I love what you’re saying about that connection and possible partnership in the food tech industry. Maybe if you could talk about that a little bit more from what you learned this morning.
Heather Courtney: One thing that we’ve talked a lot about is the challenges that we’re facing as a food system. One of the things that I think a lot of alt protein providers or companies have maybe missed the boat on a little bit is that at the end of the day you’re serving a food product in which consumers are cultural. So I think that the point that the chefs were making yesterday is to remember that and think about that as your north star at the end of the day.
I’m a biochemist by training originally and I get very caught up in the details. My partner at Alwyn, Robert, tells me this all the time: you have to remember the big picture first. So, the big picture first is that it has got to be tasty, it has got to be priced right and it has got to be convenient like GFI has been telling us for years. But I think we also have to remember that there’s a cultural component to food choices and we can’t forget that.
New episodes are out every week. Never miss the Plantbased Business Hour or Minute. Subscribe on iTunes and Youtube, and sign up for the newsletter. Follow Elysabeth on Linkedin. For information on Plant Powered Consulting, click here.
