Apple's controversial lawsuit, a chat with biotech pioneer, and cuppa without the coffee

Ryan bethencourt has a lot of bold ideas about the future of of our food. But when you’re the guy writing the early checks for companies like Memphis Meats, Geltor, Clara foods and over 100 others companies, you can get away with it. On this episode of The Secret Sauce, Ryan and I chat about his interesting childhood engrossed in sci-fi books and surrounded by exotic animals in his childhood home. His journey transitioning from the pharma industry to pioneering the alternative protein space, Ryan's ideas on where the future of food should go and his experience founding his own startup, Wild Earth, The company makes clean protein pet food that’s attracted big-name investors like Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, earning a total of $16M in investment so far.

In This Week In Food, we take a deep-dive into the vegan market, ask ourselves if Apples just a big bully, and we chat with alt-protein pioneer Ryan Bethencourt about everything from his sci-fi childhood to psychedelic mushrooms.

A steaming bowl of pasta, but no parmesan. That perfect sandwich, minus the mayo. Munching on a mountain of leaves, while your meat-eating friends tuck into a restaurant’s finest steak. In the past, these little sacrifices were part of a vegan diet. But as going meatless makes it increasingly mainstream, consumers are increasingly spoilt for choice. This week, we take a look at the wealth of vegan products making their way into shopping baskets and onto restaurant menus, and explore how brands are navigating the choppy but promisingly profitable waters of the alternatives market.

In This Week In Food, we look at the booming business of upcycling - did you know you could make ale out of toast or tortilla crisps from overripe bananas? This for-good-business category is on the rise, attracting companies big and small to save food from waste and generating cash along the way.‍

A banana skin. An unsold restaurant meal. And some vegetable peelings. What’s the connection? Well, not so long ago, consumers and business owners alike wouldn’t have thought twice about popping them all in the bin. But the way we view waste is changing. It’s clear that our linear take-make-dispose model is broken. And circularity has become any self-respecting innovator’s buzzword du jour.

This Week In Food: It's been another big week for alternative protein as collectively four companies in this space have raised over $100M this week for everything from replacing animal-derived ingredients to 3D printing plant-based patties. With China's alt-meat market shows 13%-15% annual growth and venture investors double their bets on faux meat startups, this leaves us wondering where the alt-meat haters at now? 🤷

In-vitro burgers might sound like something straight from a sci-fi novel but cultured meat could be on the market in Europe as early as 2022. So are lab-grown burgers a future food or full-on fantasy? Let’s find out how scientists are magicking up meat in a test tube and explore the pros and cons of this seemingly unstoppable trend. 

This Week In Food: It's been a big week for alternative meat as we spotlight cultured bacon and 3D printed KFC, AgriFood funding is skyrocketing as we count 13 funding rounds closed and ugly fruits and veg are becoming big business.

This Week In Food: Flippy the burger-flipping robot just landed a (trial) job at Whitecastle. Oat milk pioneer Oatly gets a superstar backing and a $2B valuation. Ghost kitchens are all the rage in a post-pandemic era. And more top FoodTech news.

Plant-based cheese maker Grounded Foods closes a $1.74M Seed round led by Stray Dog Capital. The startup based out of California makes plant-based cheese, with two main ingredients -fermented cauliflower and hemp seed--making their cheeses free from nuts, soy, gluten and GMOs.

This week we cover Perfect Day's $300M Series C and who's backing it. Hint: Canada's grandparents are in for a whole lot of 🍦We spotlight alt-meat startup Simulate (previously NUGGS) and why investors like AgFunder and Reddit co-founder just backed them.

Biologist Turned Serial Entrepreneur: Riana Lynn, Founder & CEO, Journey Foods. Riana has launched, grown, scaled and sold several companies in the food tech space, with a decade of experience in the industry - culminating in her current role as Founder & CEO of Journey foods - better feeding the growing 8 billion population

With aim to consolidate its market leader position in DACH and start expansion into France; Yamo announced today a Series A round from European food and agriculture technology investor Five Seasons Ventures, Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, Ringier Digital Ventures, and Müller Ventures.

Every year, we throw away around 40% of the plastic we produce. But given that there’s no magical place called “away”, it ends up in landfill or pollutes our oceans. This isn’t only an issue for our planet. It also doesn’t make good business sense. This waste represents a $80-120 billion loss to the global economy each year. But luckily, the tide is starting to turn.

In This Week In Food, we chat with Fengru Lin, co-founder and CEO of Turtle Tree Labs about their cell-based milk tech as they just close off a fresh round of seed funding. What are the food trends that will be accelerated post-COVID? I gave my predictions on a LinkedIn post and heard back from experts and enthusiasts across the board with popular responses including algae and fermentation.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is with Fengru Lin, co-founder of Turtle Tree Labs. Turtle Tree Labs are the first company in the world producing real, whole milk from cell cultivation — which opens the door for safer, healthier and customized dairy products that can be produced with far fewer natural resources and without the need for animals.

Richard Sprague is a veteran technologist from Apple and Microsoft who has done over 600 microbiome tests using skin, nose, and fecal samples over the last six years. His fascination with his gut microbiome has led him to start Personal Science, a personalized nutrition project to help people discover their ideal diet by helping them track their glucose responses to doctor-prescribed meals.

For many years, soya was the undisputed champion, calling to the lactose intolerant and fitness junkies from quirky urban health stores. Then almond, rice and coconut arrived on the scene and alternatives broke into, then dominated, mainstream supermarket aisles. Today, dairy 2.0 has risen to new heights.

The increasing use of plastic cutlery has not only made the lives of consumers labor-free, but it has also allowed food companies, especially fast-food joints- to make foodservice cheaper. However, even with all the perks plastic has to offer us, we cannot ignore the problems it has created for our environment.

Amazon aims to even out their CO2 emissions by backing cleantech innovators. I chat with Cuban-Korean-Swiss entrepreneur Jose Amado-Blanco, about how three 20-something childless men came up with the idea for their baby food business.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is with Jose Amado-Blanco, co-founder of the organic baby food company Yamo. when you think of three 20-something childless men, baby food perhaps isn’t the first business venture that would spring to mind. But for José and his co-founders Tobias and Luca, the opportunity was clear.

Conjuring up protein from thin air. There’s a brand-new ingredient set to take over the plant-based protein scene. Air. Yes, you read that correctly. The very air we breathe.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is with Niclas Luthman, founder of NICK'S. Niclas was diagnosed as pre-diabetic but he could never kick his habit for sweet treats - from snacks, and chocolates to sodas and ice cream - so he instead started his own company reinventing the snacks industry with healthier and more sustainable options that taste better than what’s on the supermarket shelves.

In This Week In Food, we chat with Swedish audio entrepreneur turned food scientist, Niclas Luthman on how a pre-diabetic scare led him to start his sugar-free brand now in 3,000+ grocery stores across the US. And as if a $12B+ valuation wasn't enough, food-delivery platform Doordash is looking to raise a further $400M to hit that sweet $16B valuation mark.

Green is the new black. Protecting our planet is no longer the job of hippy eco-warriors. A recent study showed that 80% of consumers want to make more sustainable choices. But one in two of us feel like we don’t have the information we need to do so. So, we stick to what we know.

Sugar is everyone’s favourite dietary demon. We know that it widens our waistlines and rots our teeth. But, somehow, we can’t stop eating it. Our brains may well be hardwired to crave the sweet stuff - but might sugar alternatives finally let us have our cake and eat it too?

Many of us now identify as flexitarian, gluten-free, vegan or paleo - and make our daily food choices accordingly. But what if science let us take this a step further and tailor our meals to our microbiome or genetic profile?

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is with Daniel Protz, founder and CEO of FlavorWiki. Daniel Protz is an experienced executive, entrepreneur, and former competitive athlete. During the episode, we chatted with Daniel about the startup ecosystem in the US vs Switzerland, how DTC disrupted traditional retail and big FMCGs, and why ultimately, consumers are the ones losing out.

Eating in is now the new eating out - and food delivery is booming. Growing 300% faster than dine-in, experts claim that it will make up 50-60% of quick-serve restaurants’ sales within the next three to five years. But how can the food service scale up to meet this growing demand? One solution is the mysteriously named ghost – cloud or dark – kitchen.

3D printers squeeze ingredients out of a nozzle and build up the product in layers to imitate muscle fibres, aiming to create products that taste and feel like the real deal. The ingredients come in a cartridge and can either be plant-based – like peas, rice and algae – or made from animal cells grown in a lab.

With the current pandemic grinding a halt to their business, I reached out to Stephanie Naegeli, the recently appointed Chief Strategic Business Development Officer at SV Group - to discuss how the company remained flexible in these changing times, adjusting to work from home and what the future of cafeterias, and their business, could like.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is with Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, CEO of Redefine Meat: the Israeli startup working towards 3D printing beef out of plant-based ingredients. Growing up, Eshchar was no stranger to the day-to-day realities of meat production and consumption. But four years ago, Eshchar became a father for the first time, which dramatically changed the way he thought about meat.

Café and bars, of all places, encourage social mixing. And for some clients, bars are like a home away from home. A place where they are served and treated with respect, where people are cheerful and where they can talk freely about anything and have a welcoming ear listening. Society’s response to COVID is entirely based on social distancing. In doing so, it influences the heart of the bar’s model, of its purpose and spirit, running the risk of ending the essence of small bars as we know them and with it, the economic livelihoods - not to mention the motivation - of their owners

Starting to get the sniffles? For decades, moms and grannies across the world have plied us with natural remedies – from orange juice to garlic – at the first signs of a cold. Today, we’re taking a more proactive and prevention-oriented approach towards health and nutrition. In fact, one in three conversations about food focuses on the wellbeing benefits that specific products will offer us, leading experts to predict that the global functional foods market will reach $275 billion by 2025.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is Mohamed Chahin, co-founder of the food delivery platform eatclever. Mohamed is a second-generation refugee whos parents immigrating from Lebanon to a small village in Northern Germany. This sparked him to take an alternate path, one that led him to drop-out of university, move to Berlin and work on a startup idea that he and his friends came up with over a hackathon weekend.

A few years back, if meal kits had a relationship status, it would have been “it’s complicated”. Sure, many of us liked the idea of getting new, pre-portioned recipes delivered to our door. And so did some of the biggest names in food - with Amazon and Albertson’s jumping on the bandwagon.

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is Saasha Celestial-One, co-founder of the sharing app OLIO. Giving things of value a second chance is part of Saasha’s DNA. Growing up in sleepy Iowa, her hippy entrepreneur parents would take her on dumpster-diving missions, looking for items that could be reused or repaired and sold on or food that could be salvaged.

The message from sector experts is clear: if you’re not selling online yet, you should be. But in an increasingly noisy digital marketplace, what does that mean for food businesses in 2020? Faced with a myriad of models and approaches, it can be difficult to know where to start. So, let’s dive into the latest digital trends and see what e-commerce can offer.

Truth is, it’s not a great time to be in the restaurant industry right now. With the lockdown already in effect for several weeks, owners are having to make tough choices about the future of their businesses. Many have shifted online to keep orders coming in, working with third-delivery platforms that are eating into their margins. Others have decided to cut their losses and close their doors hoping they’ll be in a position to reopen again. But what does a post-COVID restaurant look like and will things ever really go ‘back to normal’?

Today's guest at The Secret Sauce is Manuel E. Gonzalez An entrepreneur turned Rabobank corporate banker turned VC at RIFF Ventures During our chat, Manuel shares more about his personal journey through food, finance, and tech and his views on the current and future investment landscape.

The message from sector experts is clear: if you’re not selling online yet, you should be. But in an increasingly noisy digital marketplace, what does that mean for food businesses in 2020? Faced with a myriad of models and approaches, it can be difficult to know where to start. So, let’s dive into the latest digital trends and see what e-commerce can offer.

After spending years relegated to one cheesy dish, in 2017 cauliflower made it big. Kicking kale to the curb, cauliflower pizza crust became a standard item on restaurant menus. Cauliflower rice flew off the shelves so quickly that supermarkets issued a two bag limit. But far from fading into the annals of food trend history, the craze around this cruciferous champion continues to grow.

In July of 2019 , Veronica Fil, an ex-economist and her husband Shaun Quade, an award-winning chef decided to pack up everything, scrape together their life savings and move from sunny Melbourne, Australia to the US to launch their cheese-free cheese company Grounded Foods.

All this time at home is making us hungry. The temptation of popping into the kitchen between meals for a quick bite is too tasty to resist and snacking is on the rise. But it’s not just cookies and pretzel wrappers on our desks. Today's consumers are looking for healthy and functional options that not only fill their sweet and salty desires but help keep them energised and focused as they work from home.

There seems to be two camps when it comes to mushrooms. Some people can’t get enough of their hearty, meat-like texture and their umami flavour that brings a unique depth to a myriad of dishes. Whereas others have been put off by memories of badly cooked soggy or slimy slices of mush. Thankfully, innovative food companies have rushed to the rescue and are now offering plenty of ways to enjoy this versatile and healthy ingredient – from mushroom bacon and seafood to savoury snacks, like jerky and crisps.

Over the last few weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the delicate balance of our complex food supply chain out of kilter. In the foodservice industry, where customers expect the freshest produce, many ingredients are prepped and sold within 48 hours of delivery. But as the sector ground to a halt overnight, the supply chain became overstocked with a glut of perishable and chilled products.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge shifts in consumption patterns. Staple food products have been flying off the shelves. Whereas other markets – like meat, wine and “luxury” fruit that supply the restaurant industry or feature in family celebrations - have faced a drop in demand.

Online food delivery has been picking up speed in Switzerland. But ever since the coronavirus outbreak has forced restaurants to close their doors, online orders have shot up as customers crave for their favorite lunch time take away or after work meal.

BrewDog looks to drive-thru, deliveries and hand sanitiser to combat COVID-19: Unusual times call for creative solutions. So perhaps it’s no surprise that BrewDog – the multinational brewery and pub chain with a reputation for thinking differently – has already started to adapt and evolve in the face of COVID-19.

In just a few weeks, the coronavirus has transformed from something we were following on the news to a worldwide pandemic that’s having a very real impact on our day to day lives. From vulnerabilities in complex global supply chains to fears around food availability sparking panic buying and price gouging, food businesses are being forced to quickly adjust to a new reality.

In this week’s Trends: From your favourite breakfast bowl to the brunch staple Shakshuka, some dishes just aren’t the same without a bit of #yolkporn. But now, with concerns about animal welfare and our carbon footprint at the forefront of our minds, what’s a hip brunch spot to do?

In this week’s Trends: Weed. Ganja. Pot. Hashish. Only a few years ago, if someone said cannabis, these were the words that may have sprung to mind. But today, the sudden rise of cannabidiol – or CBD, a compound typically extracted from marijuana’s cousin hemp – has given this infamous family of flowering plants an image overhaul.

In this week’s Trends we talk about algae. The murky tendrils that caressed your legs as you explored the sea as a child. The green gloop covering a pond. For most of us, these were our first – not too appetising – encounters with algae and aquatic plants. But, does the future of protein lie in our oceans and ponds?

In this week’s Trends we dive into plant-based fish. The saying goes that if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. But with 90% of the world’s fish stocks in the red, it seems we might need a more future-focussed solution. In this week’s Trends we look into the plant-based seafood industry and hear from two FoodHack members on how this trends is driving their business growth.

In this week’s Trends we dive into dairy alternatives: from almonds and peas to hemp and bananas - you name it, somebody’s milked it. The global plant-based milk market is estimated to surpass $30 billion by 2029, buoyed by a surge in dairy-free and vegan diets. But for the savviest consumers, the plant-based label alone is no longer enough. Alternatives need to be nutritious, delicious and tread lightly on our planet.

In this week’s Trends we dive into the rise of chickpeas and how these little balls of beige gold are becoming big business.

Once upon a time, a friend stood up and announced it was his round. After a chorus of beer, wine and cocktail orders, your request for an orange juice was met with muffled groans of objection.

It’s January. It’s dark and cold. So maybe it’s no surprise that we want to crank up the heat in our kitchens. Research recently conducted by flavouring company, Kalsec, showed that spicy food is here to stay.