Specialist
Former C-level executive at Impossible Foods Inc
Agenda
- Key trends and developments in the plant-based and alternative foods industry
- Competitive dynamics, focusing on Impossible Foods' positioning
- Impossible Foods' recent launch with Walmart (NYSE: WMT) – impact and significance
- Supply chain overview, investments and challenges in addressing industry demand
Questions
1.
Could you share 2-3 key secular trends that you’ve been following within the alternative foods industry?
2.
What has been plant-based meat’s growth trajectory? By how much has it grown given that it’s only reached about 1% of the industry? What is your opinion on how big it could get over the next 3-5 years?
3.
How should we think about the relative health of the key industry growth drivers? Are these drivers more favourable now vs in the past 3-5 years?
4.
What are your thoughts on the category’s target demographic? How has that evolved, and how do you expect that to evolve over the next few years?
5.
How would you break down the target demographic mix by either age or income bracket? What percentage would be the millennial consumer vs the older generations? How would you divide those age demographics by income bracket?
6.
How significant is prices a catalyst that can drive adoption?
7.
How do some of these players think about capital allocation? Is driving scale more of a priority through equipment investments or is the focus more on branding and product development?
8.
You mentioned the reliance on outsourcing earlier. Who are some of the players that are outsourcing partners that we should be aware of? You mentioned there are some co-packaging players that help some of these producers with the finishing touches, for example.
9.
Is there an expectation that there will be more reliance on these co-manufacturers, as these operators potentially experience increased demand, or could they invest to become more vertically integrated?
10.
Could you share your views on the competitive landscape? You’ve mentioned Impossible and Beyond as two notable players. Who are the lesser-known players, and how would you force rank some of these players based on relative market share?
11.
What do you find to be Impossible Foods’ edge in this market, relative to Beyond?
12.
What are Impossible’s shortcoming relative to Beyond?
13.
Are there any other points of differentiation between Beyond and Impossible, aside from the taste profile and the product offerings?
14.
Do any other players have access to heme or is it unique to Impossible in its taste profiles and success in the market?
15.
How significant is Impossible Foods’ recent launch with Walmart?
16.
Earlier you mentioned a target demographic for Impossible Foods. I’m assuming that the Walmart partnership is significant to get Impossible through the door, but how do we reconcile that with higher wage earners, and Walmart’s geographic footprint? Is Impossible Foods necessarily trying to expand its target demographic?
17.
In a previous Interview I hosted [see Smithfield Foods – Meat Retail Demand Outlook & Near-term Coronavirus Impact – 15 July 2020], the expert stressed the importance of having food service partners such as Burger King, whose relative success with the product was a proxy for the category’s success. Do you agree? How would you would assess Impossible Food’s positioning with QSR players, and how much success it’s having relative to peers in the segment?
18.
How does shelf life compare to that of animal-based proteins?
19.
What are the barriers to entry for this industry in particular? Have those barriers to entry eased, or has it gotten increasingly more difficult to penetrate this market?
20.
Earlier, you mentioned that capacity is interchangeable. What’s stopping Tyson, for example, or Smithfield from launching into this industry full-on? They already have the infrastructure to do this. What’s stopping them from becoming a significant threat to Beyond or Impossible Foods?
21.
Assuming that the flavour profile is the main hurdle to being able to succeed in this market, why haven’t any of these bigger players potentially considered buying Impossible or Beyond?
22.
Are there any near-term or longer-term supply chain challenges that you foresee for Impossible Foods?
23.
What percentage of players’ end products do you believe are produced through leveraging co-packagers?
24.
What is the threat of private label for the branded players? Earlier we discussed that there are some food retailers considering this, and I think one is Kroger with its Simple Truth brand. How should we think of the retailers’ private-label products fighting over shelf and mind space vs Impossible or Beyond?
25.
When do you think price will no longer be the deciding factor for consumers choosing between animal meat and plant- or meat-based products? Might prices be the same for 12 ounces of a meat alternative and 12 ounces of premium animal-meat, at some point?
26.
What do you think the international growth prospects are for the meat alternatives industry? Are there any promising pockets globally that you feel will drive faster adoption, relative to the US?
27.
Is there anything that you feel we haven’t done enough justice to? What are your closing thoughts? What is your outlook for the next 3-5 years?
