\n This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Since its founding in 2017, Meati Foods has been on a mission to raise awareness of mycelium by bringing the ingredient to consumers\u2019 plates with products, such as Classic Steaks and Carne Asada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company says that it is not within the \u201cplant-based\u201d space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to get done is get mycelium as its own category, so we can grow into it, and give consumers another category to manage,\u201d John Bortells, Meati\u2019s new chief commercial officer,\u00a0said in an interview with sister publication Food Dive.\u00a0\u201cMy goal is to make sure that customers don\u2019t bring us down with the plant-based performance that has happened over the last few years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bortells has been in the food and beverage industry for 36 years and got his start at Pepsi. \u201cGrowing up in Pepsi really taught me how to compete against the No. 1 player in the category, which was then Coke,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been that No. 2 player that is hungrier than its competition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After nearly two decades at Pepsi and working his way up to vice president of sales, Bortells went on to work at the Mighty Tea Leaf Company, Clover Sonoma and the A2 Milk Company where he worked to create an entire new category in specialty milk.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople had no idea what A2 milk was, designed to help lactose-intolerant consumers enjoy dairy products,\u00a0and we created that subcategory of specialty milk,\u201d Bortells said.<\/p>\n
What makes mycelium different, he said, is it\u2019s not a plant, it\u2019s a fungi and the ingredient itself is a complete protein made up of iron, fiber, B vitamin and zinc.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
\nJohn Bortells, chief commercial officer at Meati Foods<\/p>\n
Permission granted by Meati Foods<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Getting messaging right<\/h3>\n Last month, Meati Foods was named in a putative class action lawsuit alleging it falsely advertises its products as being \u201cmade from mushroom root.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plaintiff Serena Caldeira, a consumer in California, alleged that \u201cMeati products are not made from mushrooms roots, nor are they made from any part of a mushroom … Specifically, the main ingredient in Meati products is Neurosporo Crassa, a red mold that commonly grows on bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mycelium is actually a root-like structure of a fungus that resembles the shape of a mushroom under a microscope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the filing,\u00a0CEO Phil Graves told Food Dive the company is \u201cgoing back to our roots,\u201d literally, and that \u201cmany years ago, mycelium was not a household name. It\u2019s still not today, but its awareness is growing, and the category is gaining momentum with consumers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see our mycelium through a microscope, and you see the fruiting bodies, and there are technically tops of the mushrooms, whether it\u2019s mushroom roots or mycelium or mycoprotein, it’s a new category,\u201d Graves said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the first few months of his role, Bortells is prioritizing nailing down the messaging of the brand.\u00a0\u201cWe are mycelium that is the root system underneath what grows out into the Earth. So for example, we\u2019re not the apple, we\u2019re the tree and the root system of the apple,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we have to talk that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It may be intimidating for consumers to eat from an entirely new category, which is part of the challenge for Meati Foods.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn nature, mycelium is its own kingdom,\u201d Graves said. \u201cAnd we just have to teach people to eat from another kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Competitors of a new category<\/h3>\n Though the mycoprotein company does not want to be grouped into the plant-based category, Bortells said the company has that space to thank for how far Meati Foods has come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not here to bash the plant-based industry at all because I think they\u2019ve really created a runway for us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe plant-based arena\u2019s success has allowed us to even have a conversation with customers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides being its own category, Meati Foods said another factor that helped set itself apart from plant-based players is its clean ingredient deck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a long list of garbage ingredients that you can\u2019t pronounce like our competitors,\u201d Graves said. \u201cWe have products that are 95% on average, mycelium, but over time, we want to continuously improve our products and get down to the bare minimum of ingredients possible. …\u00a0We keep an eye on what others are doing \u2014\u00a0and plant-based and fungi-based and animal-based \u2014\u00a0but our role is to bring this product to market and drive trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forty percent of Meati Foods\u2019 consumers have never tried plant-based alternatives before, something the company sees as a positive sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\nWith higher prices compared to conventional meat and concern over processed ingredients, plant-based meat and seafood sales declined in 2023 for the second year in a row, according to the Good Food Institute\u2019s State of the Industry report.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meati Foods sees the latter half of the issue as something that mycelium can solve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next phase of growth<\/h3>\n With Bortells\u2019 appointment, Meati Foods is ready to step into its next phase of growth, the company said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a high-growth phase, and we not only were looking for someone that has the skills to help build the brand and make Meati a global household name, but importantly, they care deeply about the mission,\u201d Graves said. \u201cWhen I got to know John, I got to know his passion for creating new categories, and he wants his next stop to be a place where he can make a lasting impact of the work that he’s doing and I know it\u2019s cliche \u2014 but where it leaves the world a better place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In terms of what is next in its innovation pipeline, Graves said the company is looking to get the ingredient deck of certain products down from five, to four to three, and let the mycelium stand on its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a product that is pure and simple and it tastes better than what you\u2019re used to, that\u2019s a sweet spot to be in from an industry standpoint,\u201d Graves said.<\/p>\n
Less than a month on the job, Bortells said he has a few set priorities going forward.\u00a0\u201cI first plan to tell the story of the brand, then make sure the company has the right products and packaging \u2014 without confusing the consumer,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll then make sure we are going into the right channels of business and spending the right kind of money. Lastly and most importantly, I\u2019ll make sure the company has the right team of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Since its founding in 2017, Meati Foods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Retail](\"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RETAIL-ONLINE-TRAINING-728-X-90.png\")
<\/a><\/p>