Name: Impact Initiative 2024: Green Cuisine: The Future Of Sustainable Meat
Uploaded: 2024-10-09
Duration: 17 min 34 s
Description: Pinky Cole, Founder and CEO, Slutty Vegan, Brice Klein, Co-founder and COO, Choppy, Brent Young, The Meat Hook Moderator: Indrani Sen, Fortune

Pinky Cole, Founder and CEO, Slutty Vegan, Brice Klein, Co-founder and COO, Choppy, Brent Young, The Meat Hook Moderator: Indrani Sen, Fortune

Impact Initiative 2024: Green Cuisine: The Future Of Sustainable Meat

Photography by Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

Conferences

Great to see everyone again. Um So we're gonna start uh with a few questions that I have, but as always, I would love to have some questions from the audience. So please think about your uh what you would like to ask our um our our guests here. Um You know, I think everybody knows the companies that you're that you're from, but there you're doing such innovative and interesting work each of you and so different from each other. I'd love to start by just asking you for kind of the 32nd elevator pitch to explain the idea behind your company. Um Pinky, could I start with you? Um You've built an empire slutty vegan based on making delicious vegan food accessible. It's a movement as much as a chain as Brent found out on his way in because he was hearing about it from all the cab drivers. Um And I wonder if you could tell us about the idea that started it for you. Um Great question. First of all, everybody, hello, I got married in this room last year. So this is my first time back here. OK. Um So it feels good. I'm still married. God is good back there. So, um I started this concept in 2018 and at the time I had my dream job. I was a casting director and a former producer for the Maury Show over three years wild. Um But I did a lot of production work. Um And in my two bedroom apartment in 2018 is when I came up with this wild crazy idea. That was so good that I didn't want to share it with the world. And it was creating a concept that would merge sex and food. And I'm like, oh damn, this is a good idea. And from that moment, not even knowing what I was doing, I came up with Flo and in six years, we've graced the covers of almost every magazine. I have 12 plus locations. We've had great partnerships. We built a concept that was just bigger than burgers and fries, but something that rallies the community together and I'm proud of the work that I get to do every single day and it gets ghetto sometimes. Um But the beautiful part of entrepreneurship is we get to do it and inspire people every day. So that's lady loves that. Um I'm gonna go to Brent um The Meat Hook which is a butcher shop in Brooklyn and in the Hudson Valley champions ethical and sustainable meat production. Can you elaborate on your approach to butchering whole animals um rather than buying parts and how that contributes to a more sustainable meat industry. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, Meat Hook is now 15 years old and we are a whole animal butcher shop, which means that we buy whole animals from local farms, butcher them on site and sell them to customers. It's a retail business and it's as simple as that with the simplicity being, you know, the foundation of the business, we wanna know our farmer, we wanna know our customer and we want there to be transparency along the way. Um utilization is the foundation of our business. So we work with regenerative farms. So the product is very expensive. Um It's very sustainable, very ethical. Um But we got to use all of it. It's very expensive. So, um you know, from an entire cow, maybe only 20% of that cow is actual steaks, 50% of it is bones, the other 25% 25 to 30% is ground beef. So with that, OK, what do you do? You make cheeseburgers? So therefore I started a restaurant pork. Same thing. Our specialty is sausages. So what is like the, you know, the through line with all, all of us, we make a whole variety of sausages. If you have an idea, like we probably made it into a sausage. We make a Banh Mi sausage, we make a Philly Cheesesteak sausage. We make a beaten onion sausage and, and uh like all of these things are to infuse different flavors, you know, into the product that we have so that we can sell all of it because we don't make any money unless we sell the entire animal. Um The mission of our company is rebuilding agriculture one cheeseburger at a time. And Bryce, uh Chappy offers hybrid protein options. Could you explain that? And, and then also tell us a little bit about what problem that solves for people who are looking to eat more plant based foods in their diet. Yeah. So we're making products that are like 90% plant proteins, 10% beef fat, bone broth and collagen. And in particular, focusing on kind of the processed meat category and what you get there is you get a product that tastes like it should is high in protein most importantly, pre seasoned and you just have to throw it in a pan to heat it up. And so with that, you're then no longer focusing on appealing to a consumer on sustainability reasons, but you're then able to treat or excuse me, Trojan Horse sustainability by appealing to consumers for actual consumer problems. Things like I've got hangry kids at home. I wanna make a quick case you got a car, I thought I can throw into it. And so trying to again, Trojan Horse, the sustainability problem of food, right? So it might look like we're about to have like a brawl on stage between all these different ways of eating, but there's actually so much in common um between your three businesses, high quality, healthy, ethically sourced food comes at a premium. Um At the same time, customers are experiencing sticker shock in this high inflation era. What are your thoughts on balancing sustainability and affordability for your consumers while also trying to run profitable businesses? Um I can go first. Um Can I be honest? Absolutely, because that's the only thing I can have it any other way. Um The the the plant based world is at a consistent decline just holistically, if you pay attention to the tickers, right? Plant based companies, it's just not in a good space right now. Um And I don't know if it's specifically because the trend a trending like how it used to be, right? Or if you know the the beef companies are like putting out messaging like who knows? Right. But the reality of it is, is as an entrepreneur in a plant based space. Obviously, it's affected us. The reason why I say that is, is because just quite naturally plant based foods are more expensive. So at the height of the business where, you know, pre and pro um right after COVID, we got lines down like every single day, people are willing to pay $18 for a burger. But then when you have all of these plant based companies and non plant based companies, now everybody got a burger and you go to Target and you look on the shelf. And if 10 companies are selling the same thing, there's so much saturation in the market. So now people aren't willing to pay $18 for a burger like they used to because they can get the same thing $3 over here. Or if they can go to Burger King, they can get it for four dollars. So there's been a challenge in trying to navigate through those things and what I've been focusing more on which I've always done. But I'm putting more of an effort on the experience because people pay for good experiences and if you can get people to pay for good experiences, it don't matter what the food costs, what we're gonna promise you is we're gonna give you a quality product, you're gonna be happy when you leave and you'll get the ultimate experience that'll make you wanna come back. Alright. Yeah. Can I um just a um piggyback on that? I feel like um everybody kind of wants to know your butcher and that is why we've started more retail locations because so much of what we do is built on trust. So we can tell the stories of the farms and we can look you in the eye whether you had a really good experience and you had like, you know, amazing short ribs. Ok. Those were fantastic or if your steak sucked, like there might be a reason for like, did it hang long? Did it hang long? Enough. Was there another issue in the animal itself? Like we're here for that? So, um the hospitality experience is very, very important to us. But to answer your question, like, I don't think the prices are going down. Like the beef industry, you know, the big three packers learned that they can control way that we eat meat in this country through COVID and it was maniacal and like really freaking messed up and the way and so those prices aren't going down and beef commodities in general, like you can't grass fed and commodity beef are like calves are the same price, finishing same price. Ok, so like why would you necessarily go grass fed well, because it's better for the environment, it tastes better and you know, it's better for the earth. Ok. The those are, those are great reasons to do it but like the New York Times did a great little article last week about the environmental costs of um lots of foods, but most specifically beef because if, and it's a really easy cool little infographic, please check it out that um the hidden environmental cost. The cheapest beef in Walmart across the United States right now is $5.38. You can't buy anything cheaper than that. The environmental cost is an extra $22. So that actually should be, you know, whatever. I'm not gonna be able to do math on stage. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. That's 20 $27 for ground beef. Like the meat hook, like ground beef is a loss leader for us. Like I keep the price low because I want to have something that everybody can afford. Sausage is the same way. Steaks aren't going anywhere. They're easy to sell, keep selling them. But like the hospitality aspect of making sure that people are met where, where they are at and understand the costs behind it and where their money is going is super important to me. And then my, my thoughts there are that the alternative, the beat industry has made a lot of, I think perhaps missteps in this realm and trying to sell products at a premium under the guise of being more sustainable, which when you have a worst tasting product that's nebulously healthier is a really hard pitch. And so we see there's white space. Then in that we think we need a strategy shift and see a lot of white space again in processed meats, ground beef, heavily subsidized, hard to get the cost on processed meats. There's an upcharge for them because they're more convenient for the end user. So it's easier for us to get to parity. And then also we are solving problems for the consumer and saying, hey, it's convenient, it's healthy and with that, you can have a bit more flexibility in terms of price as opposed to again, ground beef, which is more ubiquitous, ok. Um You know, that people often say you are what we eat, you are what you eat, right? Uh Increasingly food and the food choices that we make aren't just consumer choices. They're becoming kind of central parts of our identity, parts of the tribes that we belong to, whether you're a vegan or a carnivore or a flexitarian. How do you think about and speak to those identities and your customers? Or, you know, you may even, you may dispute the premise of my question also, I'll, I'll dispute it. Uh I like these guys but I, we have so many customers that come in that were, you know, vegan or vegetarian, say my doctor needs, you know, said that I need iron in my, in my diet. I need to introduce something and they're like sheepish to come in. So like we're, we're here for it. Come come talk to us like the all of these solutions need to exist in our food system. Like, you know, I am definitely not a 100% carnivore diet like that's crazy. No, no one caveman didn't eat like that. Like, you know, we've always had vegetables in our diet. So like how can we promote better farming practices to raise cleaner food, not mono crop it but you know, create more biodiversity and better farming practices to raise more high quality food for all of the things that we support. Yeah, I would agree that very much there aren't really these tribes like, you hear a lot of Liver King or Joe Rogan on one side of the spectrum. But in practice people, they just want things that taste good, meet the right nutritional profile and are sufficiently convenient. And if you can meet that, it's great. I was doing a demo at a grocery store in Omaha and sold a bunch of product to a guy wearing a backwards mega a F hat who, you know, ostensibly wouldn't be excited about this, but like was with his family, like our teriyaki steak because it was easy for his family. And so I think where you can provide the value would provide that experience, you can cross party lines. You know, it's interesting. I did a mckenzie brand equity study. Are y'all familiar with? Ok. Um I did a mckenzie brand equity study. Um, and what they said is 70% of the people who come to flooding vegan are not vegan. Right. And I knew that just with my simple math. Um, but, but what's interesting about why slutty vegan has been able to sustain so long is because I'm not attracting the vegan. Right. Right. I don't care if you eat vegan. I don't care if you are a meat eater, if you would like to eat pork. That's your prerogative. I married to somebody who got a chain of meat restaurants. I know it makes no sense. It would be a great TV show, by the way. But the reality of it is, is, uh, it's almost like we've been to the hospital before, right before you go into the back, before they admit you, you go into the triage, right? So everybody slutty vegan is like the triage. So you come as you are and however you come, we will meet you where you are. And I think that that is a part of the reason that has allowed us to just really navigate as a brand because our audience is not, we want the person that's just eating salad all day. That's not a person. We want the person who's eating vegan for the first time and wants to see what the hype is all about. And then when it tastes like the vegan, like, OK, I could do this right. And then tomorrow they can go to his restaurant and then they can go to grocery store and buy some teriyaki uh from him. And, and that is the person that is going to keep the business to continue to grow. And I like to keep it that way. Absolutely. We in our last couple of minutes. Um What do you see as the biggest challenges ahead for sustainable food? And, and also what makes you feel optimistic? I said one of the biggest challenges for us has been funding. Um and uh like we tried our hand at AC PG brand a couple years ago and it was actually a very disheartening um experience because everybody loved the product. We make all of these interesting sausages, like the green chorizo. Cool. My kids will eat this, like, it's bright green. But, um, the only funding available for these products was venture capital funding. And everybody wanted to know, you know, our pathway to 5 million in five years. It was like, we're the exact opposite of the type of agriculture that we're supporting here. So everybody loves the idea. But they just, you know, the finances just don't work like banks, like just don't want to take a big risk on that. And it's slow money and there's some slow money, angel investors out there. But, um, it, you know, when you need a million dollars and someone's willing to lend you 10,000, not particularly helpful, um which is, you know, why I just wanted to start more retail locations so that people know the brand, trust, the brand, know the butcher and hopefully we can see it grow from, from there. I think very much agreed on the funding side. And then that ties in. I think one of the biggest challenges right now is consumer trust. There has been a lot of venture capital or fill in the blank dollars thrown at various companies across the alternative meat landscape, many of whom have not met consumer expects stations. And it's hard to convince people to come back and try something that might be notably better when they've already had a slightly soured experience. And so overcoming that is a challenge. I think things I'm optimistic about are a lot of these kind of more regenerative approaches. There are now many more brands taking that strategy. And then also, you know, there are a lot of somewhat more upstream companies doing things like algae based feed to give the cows to reduce emissions. And so I think there are a lot of compelling solutions across the value chain there. I think the story line is that we all need money. Yeah. Ok. I see. Um very much so. Um I think that uh access to resources and financial resources especially is a lot different today than it was in 2020 21. Would you all agree? Right. People are clutching their money more than they did before. Back in 2021 everybody was throwing out cash, throwing out valuations. It was great like it was a party. But now people are unsure because the economy, there's so much instability that's happening. So for me in my industry here I am, I asked chat GP T by the way, I said, who's the most notable vegan restaurant? And they said slutty vegan. I'm like, ok, cool. I'm cool. But I see all of my peers closing their doors. Yeah. Every week there's a different vegan restaurant closing. So it's a blessing and a curse. The blessing is like, ok, I get to monopolize but the curse is that like, am I next. And it's, it's a hard reality that you have to ask yourself. But it's because people, especially private equity firms and investors. I don't honestly believe that they believe in the plant based movement like they did before because there's not many comps like I am the only cop left, right. So I'm creating a blueprint by, by also trying to make people feel comfortable and it's difficult, but it's worth every step of the way. And I wouldn't stop it for anything in the world. Love that. All right, we're gonna end on that note. Thank you so much to our team panelists and to our audience for engaging.