The post Vegan Food Business Strategist Plant Based Solutions Agency Founder David Benzaquen Show 043 was first published via mitchellchadrow.com
0:00you’re listening to the listen up show
0:01doorknob entrepreneur pocket I’m
0:03Mitchell Chad row your host today on
0:05show 0 for 3 today we’re here with David
0:08Penzer Quinn founder of plant-based
0:11solutions a degen food business
0:14strategist brand management and
0:16marketing agency for plant-based
0:18consumer product companies headquartered
0:21in New York we are a brand management
0:24and marketing agency acting as an
0:26outsourced chief marketing officer for
0:29consumer products that are plant-based
0:31friend is your business it’s your
0:36families your life let’s get started
0:38David started out in the business
0:41working for an animal protection
0:43nonprofit and as a natural products
0:45broker but in 2012 he founded the plant
0:49based business the company offers a
0:52range of services for pre market
0:54startups through two huge global brands
0:57including opportunity assessments
0:59business planning and forecasting new
1:01product development marketing research
1:03brand creation and a full range of
1:05marketing planning and execution in this
1:07show will discuss branding product
1:10development finance and operations push
1:12marketing versus pull marketing berroco
1:15versus agency models and scaling revenue
1:18overhead and expenses the pros and cons
1:21of working with distribution companies
1:23and brokers digital marketing social
1:25marketing in-store samplings an event
1:27packaging design and using employees
1:30versus outside contractors and much more
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2:00provide you with full transcript for
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2:13/ sign up now enjoy the show hey David
2:17welcome to the show thank you so much
2:19for having me Mitch so I’m excited to be
2:20here no that’s great David what is the
2:22one thing that contributes most to your
2:24success so it’s really about landing
2:26where I want to go and then working
2:29backwards you out how to get there I
2:30have been my career wanting to influence
2:33through the word the world and make it
2:35better for people’s health the
2:37environment animal protection and by
2:39figuring out how people come to come to
2:42eat come to experience those behaviors
2:45I’ve been able to map out what areas in
2:48my career to enter and that’s been more
2:50exciting for me than anything has been
2:52to figure out where I can make the
2:53biggest difference so how did you
2:56actually come up with this idea how did
2:58you tell any idea yeah so I worked for
3:02nearly a decade in the animal protection
3:05nonprofit world and I was very
3:07passionate about that work I felt that
3:09the people I was working with were
3:11incredibly impactful and compassionate
3:15and hard-working but I realized that
3:17everybody who was working in the space
3:19was using the same approaches to solving
3:22the problem of how our eating behaviors
3:25affect the world and it was also through
3:28a method of push marketing rather than
3:30pull marketing we were so tell us a
3:32little bit about the difference between
3:33the two and how that accurately helped
3:35you you know come up with the idea sure
3:39so push marketing involves educating
3:42somebody about what they should do and
3:44whether its buying a product or changing
3:47a behavior and then hoping they’ll do it
3:49and unfortunately education has been
3:52proven in consumer psychology research
3:54to be one of the least effective ways to
3:57change behavior on the converse pull
4:00marketing is where you make something
4:03that is attractive and desirable and put
4:05it in front of somebody and allowed them
4:07to embrace it in an empowering way
4:10through their own free will so by
4:12leaving the world where I was educating
4:15people by the problems with our food
4:16system and moving to a place where I’m
4:18making delicious better options
4:21accessible and desirable through
4:23marketing and branding I’m able to
4:25attract people to try these things
4:27and be excited about it on their own and
4:29they’re much more likely to change the
4:31behavior our startup round for all your
4:33hosting needs head on over to Mitchell
4:36Chad Road calm / hosting Mitchell Chad
4:39road calm flash hosting for all your web
4:42hosting need who do you use to host this
4:45website so now you started the business
4:47back in 2012 and so we’re almost five
4:51years into it in June and so how do you
4:54actually make money selling what is your
4:58business model sure so we work in three
5:01ways we offer hourly consulting for
5:05early-stage entrepreneurs who aren’t
5:07quite ready to jump into the plunge of a
5:09bigger commitment we do project-based
5:11work where we will have a flat fee for a
5:13certain amount of work like putting
5:15together a business plan or packaging
5:17design or something of that nature and
5:19then for our larger clients we will work
5:21on a retainer where we are acting as a
5:24significant member of the executive team
5:26helping to plan their strategy and
5:29manage all of their marketing in the
5:31world so who are your typical customers
5:34or your end or their end users who would
5:37be your typical person that would
5:39approach you for work to give us an idea
5:42in terms of you know how that looks sure
5:46so our typical client can range anywhere
5:48from a brand new entrepreneur who’s
5:51looking to start a business with a
5:53plant-based food products or or
5:55supplement product to something of that
5:57nature or it could be somebody who has a
5:59very established business we’ve worked
6:02with some of the largest food companies
6:03in the world to develop new product
6:06areas in the plant-based space and we
6:09can work with them at any stage to help
6:11them get ready for market or to be
6:13successful in their execution yeah can
6:15you give us an example of one successful
6:19brand that you’ve been able to help that
6:22may be readily known to the audience
6:25sure so one brand that we worked with
6:28for a long time is called garden and
6:31they are a plant based protein company
6:33that makes over 30 different meal
6:36options for eating more plant-based
6:38protein from plan
6:40chicken and beef and pork and fish
6:42alternatives in the frozen aisle of your
6:45supermarket and we helped with them with
6:47field marketing with social media
6:50marketing PR and events and all that
6:52kind of thing so you don’t actually have
6:55your own product you actually help other
6:58entrepreneurs get their product to
7:01market it would that be accurate that’s
7:04true for the for most of our business we
7:07actually do have some companies that we
7:09become so involved in that we become
7:11significant shareholders and then metis
7:14the businesses with them so one company
7:16that I’m thinking of is called ocean
7:18hugger foods and the flagship product is
7:20tomatoes sushi we met the founder who is
7:23an incredible chef and he was looking
7:26for business partners who could help
7:27with the business side of his work and
7:30he wanted to focus on the innovation so
7:32we now partner with him to manage his
7:34business but primarily we are consulting
7:36and supporting other entrepreneurs with
7:39their products so talk to us a little
7:41bit about your revenue that you’re
7:43bringing in I don’t know if you have
7:45partners or not I don’t know how many
7:46employees you have but talk to us a
7:48little bit about the actual company and
7:50the structure and and and what your if
7:53you can talk to it what what the the
7:55revenue base is so I’d rather not speak
7:59about exact numbers but we are a small
8:01company we started in 2012 and we have
8:04focused on keeping our overhead low in
8:08order to bring the most efficient and
8:09effect and viable prices to early-stage
8:12entrepreneurs the traditional marketing
8:16agency model is one where there are so
8:18many employees to be able to provide the
8:21variety of services that a company will
8:23need and the newer model which is
8:25embraced by many startups is to keep
8:29overhead low by having a small internal
8:31staff and find the best resources in the
8:34market to be able to contract with on a
8:36per case basis and that’s the model we
8:39have internally my colleague Mary
8:42McGovern and I’ve on the business Mary
8:44comes from 25 years managing brands for
8:47the largest food companies in the world
8:48like Kraft and she and I set all the
8:51strategy for our clients and then if
8:53they need
8:54in social media marketing or digital
8:57marketing or in-store samplings or
9:00something of that nature we work with
9:02partners who can execute that I don’t
9:03get it yeah so at any given time clients
9:07are coming to you for a one type type
9:09project engagement or do you have other
9:11clients obviously that are retaining you
9:13on an ongoing basis if you can’t give
9:15actual revenue numbers can you talk to
9:17us a little bit about at what an average
9:20customer engagement is like and what
9:22that looks like so that the audience has
9:24a better understanding about this niche
9:26sure so I can tell you that on an hourly
9:31basis for example my rate is 250 dollars
9:34an hour if that’s helpful and when we’re
9:36doing a project a retainer based work we
9:39are calculating how many hours each
9:42person on our team would be devoting to
9:44something and discounting it for a
9:47bigger commitment and then that becomes
9:50the fee associated with that project or
9:52retainer our client you know what what
9:56it costs to work with us ranges so much
9:58based on what a client is doing we’ve
10:00had clients for them we’ve done projects
10:02for you know a few thousand dollars
10:04total and we’ve had clients for them we
10:06are a retainer for many times that so
10:10let’s talk about the one that provides
10:12the highest retainer how did you
10:14actually help them from their
10:16distribution strategy get into the
10:19various whether it be retail markets or
10:22distribute their product out into the
10:23into the you know the world so with
10:28those clients for whom we are on
10:30retainer in a significant way it is
10:32primarily a situation where as I
10:34mentioned earlier we are outsourced
10:36chief marketing officer so rather than
10:38there needing to hire on a very large
10:41staff very senior people that could help
10:44them with expertise in advertising and
10:47in every kind of marketing and then
10:49branding our team can come in at a
10:52significantly lower cost than it would
10:53be to bring in all of those people at a
10:56senior level and manage all of that we
10:59also can bring in the best resources in
11:01the market more efficiently not just
11:03because they’re not on our payroll but
11:04because as an agency we are able to
11:07negotiate
11:08exclusive rates with other agencies or
11:11other freelancers that a client could
11:13not do directly and our markup is very
11:15low so if I am working with John and
11:19John will have to hire me for branding
11:20or packaging design I think go get
11:23packaging design from one of our great
11:24creative designers at a fraction of the
11:27cost that they were charging directly
11:29and she ends up paying less to work with
11:32me and them with my project management
11:35institute integration then he would just
11:37to get the design work directly from
11:39them so how are these customers actually
11:41getting to you how are you getting the
11:43word out I mean obviously you’re doing
11:45interviews like this I’ve I’ve listened
11:47to you on other podcasts and I’ve read
11:49some articles but how do you get the
11:51word out about your company and how do
11:53the client actually come to you so
11:56primarily it’s been through word of
11:58mouth I do a lot of networking it’s just
12:01my nature to go to a lot of events and
12:03conferences and meet everybody I can I
12:05just love doing that but primarily our
12:08clients come through word of mouth we
12:10work very very hard to ensure that every
12:12client leaves happy and you know
12:15inevitably things you know road bumps
12:17can happen and when they do I am always
12:20committed to making sure that they are
12:22solved and that nobody these unhappy so
12:25that route that allows us a great
12:28reputation where people are constantly
12:29referring us business and we’ve been
12:31very fortunate for that in fact as we’ve
12:34grown I’m having to turn down a lot of
12:36work so that we can focus on projects
12:38that are not only more lucrative salsa
12:40more more impactful in the world and so
12:44we are trying to focus ourselves on
12:46doing more outbound marketing to go
12:48after the projects that we’re most
12:50excited about but the work just keeps on
12:53coming in to keep us busy well tell me a
12:56little bit about that business model
12:57because you know there are other
13:00entrepreneurs out there that want to
13:03scale up and you know it sounds as if
13:06there’s too much business how do you
13:08make the determination as to when to
13:10either hire more people or to basically
13:14limit it because you know in terms of
13:17growth businesses there’s a lot of
13:18people that obviously do want to grow
13:20considerably and they do want to
13:22Gail up so how do you how do you balance
13:24that when do you make the determination
13:26as to when to do that or just stick to
13:29you know where you’re at and that was
13:31another reason for me asking about the
13:33revenue numbers because i think that
13:35people are curious not just because of
13:37you talking about the numbers itself but
13:40to get an idea in terms of you know if
13:42they want to either go into this niche
13:44or if they were thinking about growing
13:46their own businesses you know what that
13:49actually looks like short so i think
13:51that to be honest the agency world can
13:54be a very difficult one to scale part of
13:58the challenge is that when one is early
14:00and is working with a lot of contractors
14:02their margins are very thin and that
14:05means that the more work you can keep
14:07in-house the more money you can make
14:09however if you’re early and you don’t
14:12have the revenue to be able to hire a
14:14big staff internally you have to use
14:15outside contractors so that balance
14:17between finding which people to bring in
14:20house so that you have efficiencies on
14:22individual work and which people to keep
14:25out so that you don’t have to carry a
14:28payroll as a very hard very hard balance
14:30to strike and it’s something that we’ve
14:32been learning as we’ve been going early
14:34on in my business we had a large
14:36internal team that was earlier stage in
14:40their careers and focused on a lot of
14:42executional marketing so we did social
14:45media in house we had a staff of 15 or
14:4720 people who are going into stores and
14:50things samplings or events and that was
14:52a challenge because in order to comply
14:55with the law we’ve had a huge payroll
14:57tax and a lot of benefits we had to
14:59carry and we had to deal with managing a
15:03large team and all the complications
15:04that come with that but because the work
15:07wasn’t very highly valued our margins
15:10were extremely thin as an example I
15:12believe very strongly in honoring the
15:15people I work with so I was paying my
15:17teen twenty dollars an hour most of them
15:19were part-timers who were students or
15:21cater waiters or actors in their other
15:23career and I was paying them twenty
15:25dollars an hour which was significantly
15:27more than they were making elsewhere but
15:29it’s because I believe in doing that and
15:30our margins were so small that we were
15:32only charging about twenty five or
15:34twenty seven dollars an hour
15:36which after payroll taxes and benefit
15:38meted out to almost nothing so so where
15:40were you where are you at now in terms
15:43of the number of employees that you have
15:45internally versus let’s say contractors
15:48on the outside and then to follow up on
15:50that I know that earlier in your career
15:52before this company you were a broker in
15:54this particular area and you had
15:56mentioned about the agency model so
15:58maybe talk to us a little bit about you
16:01know how you’ve evolved over these last
16:03several years and where you’re going
16:05into the future where do you see the
16:06business and the niche yeah so as we
16:10changed our model to focus more on
16:12strategic work where we could provide
16:13greater value to our clients and create
16:17greater greater margins for ourselves at
16:19the same time we have we have through
16:22attrition allowed the team to dwindle
16:25down we moved away from doing all the
16:26execution work and focus entirely on the
16:29strategic work and now my company
16:31internally is Marion and I and the two
16:34of us bring a lot of experience and are
16:36able to provide a lot of high-level
16:37value to our clients at a significantly
16:41reduced payroll costs and it would have
16:43been if we had all those people we had
16:45previously and we’ve been doing that
16:47model for about three years now in terms
16:49of the evolution of our business and and
16:52it’s in and as your is she a co-founder
16:55or is she in terms of just your
16:57structure because we talked a little bit
16:59about partnerships and you know bringing
17:02in people that maybe complement our own
17:04strengths to to sort of help us in other
17:06areas so what does she bring and how is
17:09it structured versus maybe were your
17:12strengths life sure so Mary is an
17:14employee and she is involved like a
17:18partner and something someday that takes
17:21that that I consider extremely essential
17:23to the business she brings 25 years and
17:26experience managing us in the largest
17:28company so she started at General Foods
17:30which later became craft and she worked
17:33at Ocean Spray and Duracell in extremely
17:36senior positions managing bransworth
17:38literally billions of dollars and when I
17:42started this business I didn’t have the
17:44traditional background that many people
17:46in marketing and branding have and so in
17:48order to
17:49cut my teeth and proved that we had the
17:52chops to do this work bringing somebody
17:55with such brilliant and such experience
17:57was really helpful to establish
17:59ourselves and show people that we were
18:00serious about what we do so at any given
18:04time how many clients realistically
18:06given the fact that it’s just you and
18:08her on the inside and you rely on let’s
18:10say outside contractors or other people
18:12to help you realistically a business
18:16that’s obviously scaling up versus a you
18:19know a solo practitioner if you will how
18:22how many clients can you you know can
18:25you handle at one given time or in a
18:27year’s time at their own retainer sure
18:30so we tend to have between two and three
18:32significant retainer clients at a time
18:34and then three or so project basis works
18:40that are you know two three month
18:42projects and then a couple one-offs
18:44order things at a time and so can you
18:46give us an idea in terms of I know that
18:49you had talked to just generally about
18:51some of the numbers in terms of your
18:52hourly rate and but you know I’m a
18:55company I want to go into this niche
18:57which is obviously you know the vegan
18:59market and i’m looking to sort of bring
19:02my product to market get it in
19:04supermarkets etc what can i expect what
19:08are the expectations and someone like
19:10myself coming to you and saying gee I
19:13like for you to help me soup to nuts
19:15bring this to market what would I be
19:18expecting to to pay someone like
19:21yourself in doing that so I tell folks
19:24beyond just our cost I tell folks that
19:27have been looking to launch a food or
19:30supplement or cosmetic product into the
19:32natural channel so into health food
19:34stores in those kinds of places if you
19:36want to launch really effectively in one
19:38region and then scale from there I tell
19:41people that they should expect to spend
19:42a quarter million dollars if they want
19:45to launch like let’s say you wanted to
19:46tackle whole foods and the natural
19:48health food stores in the Greater New
19:50York National area for six months and
19:52the strategy i recommend to people is
19:55that you take that smaller number of
19:57stores you get into them and you focus
19:59entirely on driving sales as
20:01aggressively as possible in those areas
20:03so you can prove that with enough
20:05support the sales could multiply
20:07dramatically as you expand into other
20:10stores and then you go raise capital if
20:12you need to you don’t want to so but
20:14yeah one of the questions that I had for
20:16you personally was you know how you
20:17actually came up with the idea which we
20:19talked about and then how you actually
20:21tested your own idea in terms of what
20:24you were doing but how do you how do you
20:26make that leap of goodwill or good faith
20:28to say to a potential customer coming to
20:32you you know spend X number of dollars I
20:36mean you know before you know fully
20:39launching to you know to break into the
20:43business I mean a quarter of a million
20:44dollars you know how do you help them
20:46sort of test the idea first so that’s
20:50the great thing about doing a proof of
20:52concept but we’re also doing a lot of
20:54research on the marketplace and on the
20:57competitive set of products they’re in
20:59so somebody comes to me and says I want
21:01to launch for granola I might tell them
21:03that the very challenging business to be
21:06in because it’s such a saturated market
21:08and I’ll probably encourage them to
21:10consider other options if somebody says
21:12to me they want to create the first you
21:15know I had somebody come to me and want
21:17to create the first probiotic protein
21:20powder a long time ago before it was so
21:22popular now I thought that was a
21:24brilliant idea and those kinds of things
21:25are so innovative and so in demand there
21:29might be a greater opportunity so one of
21:31the first things we do with the company
21:32is analyzed the marketplace to
21:35understand how big the demand is and how
21:37big the opportunity is and also assess
21:40what the competitive environment looks
21:43like and what the best ways to reach
21:45consumers were be maybe they would sell
21:47through stores may be online maybe to
21:49other businesses and understanding those
21:52opportunities and what lies ahead so
21:54they can plan accordingly is essential
21:57decided to decide if the business is
21:58viable and worth pursuing and so we work
22:00with them to make that determination
22:01first yeah you know the the flip side of
22:05success is struggles and sometimes
22:08failures and we sort of you know have to
22:10restart back up again so can you tell us
22:13a little bit about some of your own
22:14struggles in
22:16learning the business back in 2012 and
22:18how that’s kind of changed over time
22:20absolutely I’m very transparent about
22:25these things because I love working with
22:26early-stage entrepreneurs to explore and
22:29figure out how they can fail quickly and
22:31often until they don’t anymore so I
22:33started as a broker actually because in
22:36order to prove myself in this business I
22:39needed to do something that people were
22:41willing to hire me for and brokering is
22:44commission-based sales work and so
22:46because you only get paid on your
22:48success people were more than happy to
22:50hire me for that as opposed to hiring me
22:52for works that they would have been
22:54paying upfront without knowing the
22:55results and in the natural food industry
22:59the typical broker gets about ten to
23:02fifteen percent of the products that
23:05products they sell to a store so as an
23:08example I’m selling a product that I’m
23:10selling for three dollars that will
23:12retail for six roughly and it’s a case
23:14of six units and i sell one case a week
23:18to a store then it’s an then it’s a $18
23:22paste that i’m selling and i’m making
23:25ten to fifteen percent of that but it
23:27might take me an hour to to chase down
23:29the manager of that store on the phone
23:31or in person and get in the reorder so i
23:34might be making a dollar eighty or two
23:36or three bucks for an hour to of work
23:39that was a very difficult business model
23:41and the reason that brokers are only
23:44successful if they have dozens and
23:46dozens of lines with some that are
23:48carrying the vast majority of their
23:50revenue the biggest sellers because I
23:52was early I worked with very small
23:53brands in very small stores my clients
23:57were thrilled because we were getting
23:59them into so many stores that nobody
24:00else was paying attention to and because
24:03for them the sales were very good but on
24:05my end I was a disaster and I could have
24:08chosen to pursue expanding that business
24:11and continuing to bring on more and more
24:13clients but I decided that for starters
24:16I actually find that broker model really
24:18troubling because I don’t like the fact
24:20that one can’t pay attention to the
24:22earlier businesses I’m in this business
24:24for innovation and to launch the next
24:27thing that will change the world and I
24:29do that if I have to focus only on the
24:31established brands that are already
24:32making me a lot of money so it was your
24:34goal not necessarily to to grow
24:37exponentially because again everybody
24:40has different goals with their business
24:42I mean realistically between you and and
24:45your employee and and the number of
24:48people that you could just realistically
24:50handle at any given one time you’re not
24:53going to be able to sort of scale up and
24:56be able to handle hundreds of clients so
24:59that might not be your goal but maybe
25:02somebody’s is and so what do you tell
25:04them in terms of you know where they
25:07could take their own business so we are
25:10scaling a lot actually and we will be
25:13doubling our team size within the next
25:15few months we’ve already made some
25:17offers and we expect to bring on two to
25:19three more people by the end of 2017 and
25:22then to continue to grow from there
25:24we’re actually at a pivot point this is
25:27something that might be interesting for
25:28your listeners to think about it we’re
25:30at a pivot point where we are meeting
25:33more people to handle the work but we
25:35are also close to generate enough
25:38revenue where we can comfortably say
25:40that we can bring those people on so
25:41it’s an interesting time where we have
25:43to do as much as we can to bring in the
25:46revenue and soon we’ll be at the point
25:49where we can bring in people and because
25:51Mary and I are extremely senior in our
25:53experience it’ll be very helpful to
25:56bring in people who can assist with some
25:59of the more administrative tasks that
26:01can free us up to bring our high value
26:03high revenue work to clients every so is
26:06this more a hybrid is it an agency then
26:09are you evolving into something else
26:11that that you know talk to us a little
26:14bit about the different business models
26:16chores so we are certainly an agency but
26:20we are also working horizontally in
26:23other industries so we have steaks in
26:26and partnerships with retail
26:28establishments distribution companies
26:30manufacturing facilities and other
26:32things and especially investment funds
26:34where our goal is that we can take a
26:37fantastic plant based product that we
26:39think can change the world invest in it
26:42brand
26:43market launch it sell it distributed etc
26:46so we are horizontally integrating
26:48ourselves so that we can do that and
26:50make a huge difference for our clients
26:52yeah so tell me that the best business
26:54advice you’ve ever received oh man it’s
27:00a great question I think the best
27:02business advice I ever received was to
27:04know when some things not work you can
27:06be willing to pivot I changed my
27:08business model several times from when I
27:10was a broker to doing executional
27:12marketing doing strategic marketing that
27:15certainly been the most effective and
27:17the most rewarding both in terms of
27:19impact and in terms of revenue but
27:22knowing when it was time to stop and say
27:24okay it’s okay you learned a lot from
27:26this you generated a lot of goodwill and
27:29maybe some fantastic relationships with
27:31clients now it’s time to know what makes
27:34sense for your business and that’s been
27:38most important for me has been knowing
27:39when it’s time to change the model are
27:42our startups are obviously bootstrapping
27:44early on and so they have this terrific
27:46idea there obviously have limited
27:49resources so they’re going to they’re
27:51going to be very creative and
27:53resourceful in terms of testing their
27:56their um their product and they come to
27:59you do you ever buy in to their idea so
28:03in other words in terms of cost
28:04structure in terms of how they actually
28:06pay you where you know you’re kind of
28:10there’s some skin in the game for you in
28:12terms of their own success or is it a
28:14pure agency as opposed to them treating
28:17you almost like a broker model where
28:20they’re paying you for the success of
28:22their own product in getting into the
28:25stores and then obviously ultimate
28:27revenue so because we don’t do sales
28:30we’re not working on commissions however
28:32there are times on a case-by-case basis
28:35where we’ll work with companies on an
28:37equity basis or on a cash equity split
28:40or something where we’ll look at
28:41respecting the fact that they have few
28:43revenues or maybe on the other hand they
28:45don’t want to give up any equity we’re
28:47very open to those discussions we have
28:49to make some determinations based on our
28:51own cash flow of course but we’re also
28:53establishing ourselves and building for
28:56a long
28:56growth and value so there are certainly
28:59times where we’re interested in looking
29:01to do that and we can be very flexible
29:03and creative and how we can partner with
29:05people based on their circumstances talk
29:08to us a little bit about for those who
29:10are not really very familiar with vegan
29:13I mean obviously some people eat steak
29:15they love chicken and eggs and all of
29:18that talk to us a little bit about
29:21incorporating the vegan diet into our
29:24own everyday lives for those who haven’t
29:28begun to do that and and maybe want to
29:32start to try whether it be for health
29:34reasons because of their approach to
29:37animals but just talk to the the
29:39everyday person who can sort of
29:42incorporate vegan into their lives sure
29:45so I’m very happy to have been eating
29:48this way the last 15 years have been
29:50vegetarian for nearly 20 years I made
29:53the decision to originally change my
29:55diet for reasons of concern for animals
29:58but I’m extremely passionate about the
30:00incredible impact we can also have on
30:02the environment and on our own human
30:04health I think the thing that was most
30:06inspiring to me about it was that I was
30:09looking to make a difference and I cared
30:11about a lot of issues from women’s
30:13health and rights and peace and you know
30:16in international affairs and all kinds
30:18of things but what inspired me and
30:20empowered me about this work is that by
30:23making a single choice oneself even if
30:26it’s just for one day if I choose not to
30:28eat a hamburger and to eat a veggie
30:30burger for lunch today I’m saving an
30:32animal’s life I’m reducing my
30:34cholesterol and my risk of cancer
30:36diabetes and heart disease and I’m
30:38reducing the amount of greenhouse gases
30:40in the world significantly and every
30:42single time I make that choice with my
30:44fork and my dollar in the supermarket I
30:46can have a tremendous impact without
30:48needing to convince the president not to
30:50go to war in Iraq or to you know try to
30:53get all men to not abused women like
30:55there are certain things that we can’t
30:57do exclusively on our own but this is
31:00one where we are so empowered and it’s
31:02so fun they’re amazing foods out there
31:03you can explore all the new options and
31:06that’s why I love it so much but how do
31:09you how do you
31:10though the true message to give each
31:12person that you’re coming across because
31:14some people are doing it for health
31:16reasons other people aren’t doing it
31:18because of some of these other things
31:20and so how do you how do you sort of you
31:23know finesse it that you don’t turn
31:24other people off that you know are not
31:27into it because of you know political
31:29reasons or because of Cruelty to Animals
31:31even if they do love animals how do you
31:33how do you sell it even though you’re
31:36not a sales organization per se sort so
31:40like I said I did come from the
31:41education and advocacy worlds but the
31:44biggest reason I’m doing what I’m doing
31:45now is because I realized that the
31:47products that we represent speak for
31:49themselves they’re delicious they’re
31:51beautiful they’re affordable they’re
31:53healthy and they’re easy to find and
31:55that’s what excites me is that I can say
31:57to somebody you don’t have to change
31:59your identity you don’t have to decide
32:01that you’re never going to eat something
32:02again here’s a delicious awesome product
32:05put in your mouth try it out what do you
32:07think wouldn’t it be great to have this
32:08for dinner on Thursday maybe you’ll have
32:10it for dinner once a week that’s the
32:12conversation where we can meet people
32:14where they’re at not make them feel
32:16judged and let them know that we are
32:18supporting them with awesome options to
32:21make choices in a very low stress way
32:25that can be good for them in the world
32:27and there’s no pressure or expectations
32:29around it yeah and I think that when you
32:32want to try to sort of bring this to the
32:34masses and obviously make it catch on
32:37more I think that that’s a you know a
32:39populist way of doing it so in terms of
32:42the marketing research in this
32:44particular space how big is the market
32:46and you know people are always worried
32:48about coming up with good ideas in this
32:50particular space so to talk to us a
32:54little bit about you know the
32:55opportunities for others whether it be
32:57your own business or other people
32:59listening in terms of coming up with an
33:02idea in this particular vegan niche
33:04absolutely so the space is booming and
33:08you asked about the numbers the biggest
33:10reasoning is booming it’s not because of
33:12people who are going exclusively
33:15vegetarian or vegan that number is
33:17growing but the biggest growth is in
33:20people who are looking to incorporate
33:21this into their lives in a small way
33:23which is
33:24tastic so in in 2013 mintel which is a
33:28large market research organization did a
33:31very large study and they found that
33:33between one and two percent of the
33:35population is vegan meaning eating no
33:37animal products of any kind between five
33:40and seven percent of the population is
33:42vegetarian so no meat fish or poultry
33:45and then 16.7 percent of the population
33:49almost wanted over one and six people in
33:52the country are eating vegetarian for
33:54more than half their meals they’re what
33:56we call flexitarian and that’s where the
33:58real economic opportunity is and it’s
34:01also where the real impact is if I’m
34:03selling a veggie burger to a vegan I’m
34:05not making much of a difference but if
34:07I’m selling one to somebody who eats me
34:08I’m changing the world so in addition to
34:12that extremely large number over forty
34:14percent of Americans in that study said
34:17that they were aiming to reduce their
34:19meat dairy and egg intake significantly
34:21over the next year so the opportunity is
34:24huge we find that in the marketplace
34:27every day that a man for these products
34:28is skyrocketing just to give you an idea
34:30in the last few years we’ve had clients
34:33who have been invested in by leaking the
34:36wealthiest man in Asia by Jerry Yang by
34:39Bill Gates by the folks from Twitter who
34:43started the obvious corporation obvious
34:45ventures some of the richest and most
34:48strategic investors in the world are
34:50recognizing that this is the time to get
34:52into this space because we just don’t
34:55have the stability and the resources to
34:58continue farming animals the way we have
35:00and producing healthy plant-based
35:03proteins to feed the masses is really
35:06the only way we can go forward that’s
35:07why they’re betting big on minutes and
35:09you’re seeing it in the big meat
35:11companies to Tyson has invested in a
35:13vegan meat company they have started a
35:16several hundred million dollar funds to
35:18continue that growth and the CEO himself
35:20has said we’re not hedging this is the
35:24future and we’re getting in front of it
35:25so when we see leaders like the head of
35:28Tyson saying that they need to pivot
35:30away from me and towards plant proteins
35:33there’s no question that this space is
35:35exploding so I kind of look at
35:37us as a food business strategist so
35:41whether someone’s interested in vegan or
35:44some other aspect of the food chain what
35:47do you tell them in terms of resources
35:50things that they can sort of leverage
35:52and use just to get started every day to
35:56begin yeah I think that it’s extremely
35:59important that we recognize there are so
36:01many different ways to go to market and
36:04when I mentioned that quarter million
36:06dollar figure that’s an insane amount of
36:08money but thats related to how people go
36:11to market if they are going to try to
36:13compete with the biggest brands in the
36:15world on the shelves of supermarkets
36:17where there are 60,000 different
36:20products in the same store and there are
36:22so many different ways to sell to
36:24consumers so you can have a restaurant
36:27you can sell at stores you can sell
36:29online you can sell it farmers markets
36:31each of these models has different costs
36:34and different opportunities for revenue
36:35and what I’d say is the more but the
36:38more closely you interact with the
36:40consumer and the more directly you
36:41interact with them such as Sally at a
36:43farmers market or something of that
36:44nature the higher your profit will be
36:47but the less scalable the business is so
36:50if you would like to have a really big
36:52impact on a few people which is
36:55certainly admirable and you can do that
36:57through a restaurant or through catering
36:58or through farmers markets you can have
37:00even do that and you can make a very
37:02healthy margin and you can have a very
37:04sustainable happy business if you want
37:07to be the next coca-cola of healthy food
37:09then you’re going to have to invest and
37:11go and make sure that you are selling
37:13through additional channels such as the
37:15retail stores so that you can need to
37:17reach a much broader audience but the
37:20reason you’re going to need so much
37:21money to there’s so many middlemen you
37:23have to get onto the shelves you have to
37:26get distributed there you have to get
37:27sold into the store etc to not just
37:30convincing the consumer you’re
37:32convincing all the trade partners to so
37:34I think the biggest thing to realize is
37:36that there are many ways to make an
37:38impact and one should decide what their
37:40goal is if they want to be the next
37:42coca-cola or if they just want to have
37:43that personal connection where they can
37:45change a few people’s lives yeah you
37:47know very good when when looking at
37:49resources though in
37:51terms of you know testing their own idea
37:54before obviously you know going into the
37:57market going to a farmers market or
38:00doing those one-on-one type of things is
38:03really an effective way to test their
38:07idea when you agree absolutely and there
38:11are a lot of resources for people to do
38:13these things on a small scale whether
38:15it’s testing by selling and locally
38:17they’re sharing with friends and family
38:18there are also in all major cities in
38:20the country now food incubator kitchens
38:23we’re rather than producing your
38:25brownies at home and China Selden
38:27illegally because of health code
38:28violations you can rent either for a few
38:31hours for a day for a month a small
38:34shared kitchen where you can produce
38:36your product legally and with the
38:37expertise and efficiencies of the teams
38:40there so that you can produce it and get
38:42it out there that’s that you have a few
38:44ideas of in terms of you know are there
38:47commercial like almost franchisees where
38:51you know they allow people to come in
38:53and do this for a C and a flat fee per
38:56month yes so in new york city where I
39:00live there are several you can go to
39:02Brooklyn foodworks the organic foods
39:05incubator the entrepreneurs face and a
39:07kitchen hot bread kitchen there are a
39:09number of them in LA there’s local food
39:12lab they’re really everywhere and there
39:15are fantastic places because not only do
39:17you have the kitchen space at a low cost
39:20rent you forget it’s it’s bigger that’s
39:23not constant you also have workshops and
39:26educational sessions they’re putting on
39:27and they can teach you from their own
39:29experiences and your network like a
39:31co-working space where you can speak to
39:33other entrepreneurs who are facing the
39:35same challenges so it’s a really great
39:37opportunity to get involved and get to
39:40know what it’s like to start such a
39:42business that’s great and we’ll have
39:43links to all of those reason where’s
39:45David just mentioned our fastpitch
39:47Mitchell Chad Road calm / books for
39:51books audiobooks guest recommendations
39:54and the books that I read to start off
39:56each day sponsors are fastpitch my book
40:00club recommendations I get Mitchell Chad
40:03Road calm / book
40:05to see more of my recommendation and
40:07recommendations of our guests just go to
40:09Mitchell Chad Road calm / books it’s
40:12your number one resource for book
40:14reviews and recommendations so we we
40:17read a lot of books that motivate us
40:19that inspires can yet can you recommend
40:21a book for everybody in the audience
40:23made to stick and the e-myth day as far
40:26as productivity is there an app that
40:28helps you in business family or life
40:30that you can recommend insightly our
40:32wrap-up round Mitchell Chad row.com /
40:36photos for all your graphic design needs
40:40in our wrap-up we want have our audience
40:43take away three things that you feel are
40:46the most important ideas that you can
40:49provide to them one first research
40:51everything about the industry you want
40:53to go into when I started my business I
40:55did 115 informational interviews in one
40:58year to meet everybody throughout the
41:00food business and map out my path to
41:02success too as I mentioned before be
41:04ready to fail take it take the bull by
41:06the horns and pivot when needed and
41:08three really know your margins because
41:10you’re always going to have expenses you
41:13don’t expect and be ready to have to
41:14account for those and to have to change
41:16your rates as you find that out and
41:17how’s everybody going to stay in contact
41:19with you David so i can be reached at
41:21david at plant based solutions com and
41:25our website plant based solutions com
41:28we’re on twitter facebook and linkedin
41:29and we look forward to hearing from
41:31everybody is there anything imparting
41:34that you’d like to let the audience know
41:36that you think that we haven’t talked
41:38about today yeah the amazing thing about
41:40the opportunities today in the world is
41:43that young people and people in general
41:44are looking to make impact and for so
41:47long we assumes that going into the
41:49career space one could either make
41:51impact or make money there’s a new
41:53movement called effective altruism i’m a
41:55proud practitioner and i really believe
41:58that there are creative ways and
42:00non-traditional ways to make both impact
42:03and money and sometimes they’re even
42:05more effective than going to do the
42:07traditional charity work with the same
42:09cups so i encourage people who want to
42:11make a difference and be successful in
42:13their careers to go to websites like the
42:15center for effective altruism or 80,000
42:18hours and
42:19about how they can combine their
42:21passions with their needs to survive
42:23David awesome thank you so much for
42:26everything thoroughly enjoyed it and I
42:28know the audience will as well and we’re
42:29really looking forward to hearing more
42:32about your success in the future you’ll
42:34come back and you’ll let us know
42:35wonderful thank you so much for having
42:36me hey take care now bye bye in closing
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The post Vegan Food Business Strategist Plant Based Solutions Agency Founder David Benzaquen Show 043 was first published via mitchellchadrow.com
