In this episode I interview James McInnes, co-founder of Odd Burger vegan fast food chain in Ontario, Canada James, who was a software executive, was diagnosed with high blood pressure in 2014 and changed his lifestyle for the better by going vegan. He and his wife Lia began developing their own plant-based meats and soon were selling vegan meal kits featuring local ingredients. But they couldn’t shake the idea that what the world needed was vegan fast food, at a price that could compete with animal foods. In 2016 they debuted a food truck with a chickpea burger they called the “Big McInnes,” earning them a cease-and-desist from McDonald's – and they knew they were onto something. Formerly called Globally Local, Odd Burger produces its own meat and dairy alternatives for use in its restaurants. In April 2021, the company went public, and plans to have 20 locations by this time next year. In this interview James discusses: • How he turned getting a legal letter from McDonald's into an advantage • How he successfully scaled the business from a food truck to several restaurant chains • How smart tech in the making of food as well as with self-serve options has helped the business remain sustainable and able to thrive during during Covid when other restaurants folded • The benefits of having your own production facility instead of relying on third-party vendors • Why, after spending years building a brand, he decided to change the company’s name, and the benefits and challenges that brought • Why he took the company public and how to know when to do this • And more Visit the Odd Burger website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

Vegan Business Talk

VBT 172: James McInnes of Odd Burger on How to Scale a Vegan Fast Food Restaurant Chain

In this episode I interview Tyler Mayoras, CEO and co-founder of Cool Beans, a plant-based food company in Chicago whose first products are globally-inspired, healthy frozen wraps. After nearly two decades investing in agriculture and food brands, Tyler had seen the dark underside of the American food industry first hand. After learning about the negative impact of animal agriculture on the environment, he began a journey into plant-based eating. Tyler co-founded Cool Beans in 2018 with a few other like-minded investors and to date the product is in 1200 retail stores across the US. In this interview, Tyler discusses: • The ‘dark undersides’ of the American food industry that he’s witnessed • How he helped Boca Burger (Kraft Heinz’s veggie burger) go from $7M to $50M in revenue over 3.5 years • Why he segued from impact investor to starting his own company • Why Cool Beans launched with frozen products – and the new technology of freezing that keeps products fresh • What ‘digital demos’ are and why he prefers them to in-store demos • Why the company is not creating its own online store • His predictions for the future of the vegan and plant-based sector • And more Visit the Cool Beans website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 171: Tyler Mayoras of Cool Beans: From Investor to CEO of a Vegan Food Brand

In this episode I interview Bailey Ruskus (aka Chef Bai). Classically trained at Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco, Bailey has been in business for herself for 10 years, but three years ago made the switch to become a completely vegan business. Host of the Plant Remedy podcast, she’s been a long-time warrior of endometriosis and has discovered her own tools to heal her body through food and health. Now based in San Diego, she cooks for top executives, professional athletes, and others, hosts virtual cooking classes in her online membership and hosts corporate wellness programs around the globe. Her first book Cook. Heal. Go Vegan! has just been launched. In this interview Bailey discusses: • The moment she decided to turn her business vegan while gutting a fish as she remembered a talk by a well-known animal activist • How she handled losing clients and dealing with a lot of online hate after announcing she was transitioning her business to be vegan • The impact of endometriosis and chronic pain on her life and business • How the Covid situation initially decimated her business (and marriage plans), until a pivot turned it around and landed her a book deal • Knowing her worth and negotiating a higher advance with her publisher • And more Visit Bailey’s Chef Bai website Check out Bailey’s podcast Plant Remedy Find out more about Bailey’s book Cook. Heal. Go Vegan! RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  

VBT 170: Bailey Ruskus on What Happened When She Turned Her Private Chef Business Vegan

In this episode I interview Mitchell Scott, co-founder and CEO of The Very Good Butchers, a Canadian plant-based meat company. After selling out the farmers’ markets on Denman Island, British Columbia, Mitchell and his co-founder and fellow ‘bean butcher’ James Davison knew they were onto something. They brought their beans to Victoria and opened the Canadian West Coast’s first plant-based butchery. The pair are currently opening a new facility that will be able to produce up to $100 million more in product a year which is an increase of more than 2,500%. Last year they became the second plant-based meat company to release an IPO. In this interview Mitchell discusses: • Why they use the terms ‘butcher’ and ‘butchery’ • How they raised $600k from 240 investors in an equity crowdfunding campaign in 2018 • The unexpected turn of events after they received several offers of a deal on Dragon’s Den (Canada) • Why they went public last year and the benefits and challenges it’s brought • How to go public and how much it costs • And more Visit The Very Good Butchers website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 169: Mitchell Scott of The Very Good Butchers on Scaling from Farmers’ Markets to Going Public within 4 Years

In this episode I interview Professor Johanna Sophia, founder of Johanna’s Raw Foods in upstate New York. After a music, film, and writing career that saw her travel the globe, Johanna – who was raised in Germany – settled down in the US and raised her children. When her kids were barely in their teens and she was almost 50, Johanna found herself lying on the floor, paralyzed for what seemed an eternity experiencing a stroke. She made the decision to change her life but the lack of available prepared vegan raw foods that fit her new strict but busy lifestyle forced her to make her own meals and in 2013 Johanna’s Raw Foods was born. The company’s product line includes a range of organic, gluten-free grab and go, ready-to-eat, mix and match, raw, vegan snacks. In this interview Johanna discusses: • Why having a diverse career that included teaching stints at Yale and Columbia universities, rather than sticking to one professional area, has been an advantage to running her own business • How she got her raw, vegan products into more than 200 health stores across the US • Why, after this initial excitement of getting her products in stores, she made the decision to shut down her factory and focus on online, direct-to-consumer sales • The relaunch of the company with a much bigger plan and why she believes every product business has to stop staying small and instead scale to succeed • And more Visit the Johanna’s Raw Foods website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 168: Johanna Sophia of Johanna’s Raw Foods on Closing Down & Preparing to Relaunch Her Business at Scale

In this episode, I interview Vikas Garg, the founder and CEO of abillion, a sustainability platform for plant-based dishes and cruelty-free products. Four years ago, Vikas left his high-flying career at one of the world’s largest hedge funds after he found a new mission — to help and inspire a billion people to go vegan in the next 10 years. Based in Singapore, Vikas is dedicated to grassroots education and conservation initiatives around the world. Abillion currently has more than 300,000 active users and the app has been downloaded nearly 1 million times. Through its giving program, the business has donated over $500,000 to impactful causes and is aiming to donate more than $1 million by the end of 2021. In this interview, Vikas discusses: • How he came up with the idea of abillion and its unique offering • The challenges of creating an app based on user-generated content, with no tech experience in a new country where he knew no one and a precarious visa situation • How he attracted millions of dollars in funding for a social impact business • How he plans to monetize the platform while helping small business owners sell their products and gain valuable consumer insights • Why he decided to use much of the investment money on donating to charitable causes, rather than on marketing • The marketing strategies he used to build and grow the business • Unexpected trends in the plant-based food market uncovered by abillion’s data • And more Download the abillion app on iTunes or Google Play Visit the abillion website   RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 167: Vikas Garg of abillion on Building & Growing a Tech Platform with Philanthropy & Support for Small Businesses at its Core

In this episode I interview Jenny Goldfarb, founder of vegan meat company Mrs Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli in Los Angeles. After becoming vegan, Jenny craved the familiar flavors of her family's New York Jewish delis from her youth. The former tech entrepreneur began experimenting in her tiny kitchen, trying out the recipes on vegan and meat-eating family and friends. Encouragement from them quickly led to Jenny shopping around her first plant-based meat products and getting placed in all the major Los Angeles delis. The products – made in LA from whole ingredients from local farms – are now available in major grocery stores nationwide, Jenny landed a spot on Shark Tank in 2019 where she got an investment from Mark Cuban, who recently went vegetarian, for more than double what she asked for. The company took revenue from $10k in profits to $100k shortly afterwards and continues to expand. In this interview Jenny discusses: • How she got the attention of restaurant chains, grocers and one of the biggest food brokers in the US very early on • Why she decided to go on Shark Tank, even though she’d already had several plant-based investors offering her money • What’s involved in the application process and preparation period for the show • The benefits of media coverage on the company’s bottom line after her Shark Tank appearance • How Covid forced her to pivot the business from focusing on restaurant chains to getting products into retail outlets • Why she uses both ‘vegan’ and ‘plant-based’ in her branding and marketing • And more Visit the Mrs Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 166: Jenny Goldfarb of Unreal Deli on Going from $10k to $100k Profits Shortly After Appearing on Shark Tank

This episode is a recording of a live virtual event I hosted recently: Power Chat with Anne McKevitt. From property developer and interior designer (with a homewares product line of 1600 sku’s) to prime time TV star (dubbed ‘Britain’s Martha Stewart’ by the media) and bestselling author of millions of books, Anne McKevitt’s skills and expertise in brand-building are sought after by the world’s leading entrepreneurial companies and A-list celebrities. Her client list includes Beyonce and Jay Z, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mercedes, IKEA, and many, many more. Her business and philanthropic work has also seen her consult with several heads of state including President George Bush, President Bill Clinton and the Obama administration. Passionate about animal rights and protecting the planet, Anne – a vegan for 47 years – has been quietly influencing global corporations, political figures and high-profile entrepreneurs and personalities on the importance of compassion and sustainability. In this interview, Anne discusses: • The devastating accident that her bedridden for a year and how this was the impetus for her to start her first business at the age of 23 • The important strategy she learned early on in business that was key to her success • How she was able to sell one of her businesses with a retail value of just under $1 billion • The terrifying reason she left the UK nearly 20 years ago to move to Australia and out of the public eye • Key mistakes business owners and corporations make with their brands and what to do instead • How she helped global brands in genres including beauty, wellness, food, beverages, apparel, online services, aged care, utilities, TV, theatre and so many more to plan and grow their offerings and expand their customer footprint • Her new venture Plant Future and how you can benefit from it • And much more Plus she responds to audience questions on building their brands. Find out about Anne’s new venture for the vegan and plant-based business sector Plant Future   RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 165: Anne McKevitt, Business Advisor to A-List Celebrities, Corporations and Entrepreneurs, on Building a Successful Brand

In this episode I interview Rebecca Ettridge, the owner of Wombat Café & Store, the Mornington Peninsula’s first 100% vegan café in Victoria, Australia, founded in 2016. Wombat regularly raises and donates substantial amounts of money to Australian animal sanctuaries along with ongoing monthly payments to #paytherent, a grassroots Indigenous organization. The café, which has expanded to a team of 16 employees, also funds the running costs of its own farm sanctuary, Plumfield Farm, which currently houses 92 residents. Rebecca has managed all this by running the café remotely (she lives 3 hours away) since the business was only 18 months old, despite being told this couldn’t be done – and without any online sales. In this interview Rebecca discusses: • Why she decided to open a vegan café in a non-metropolitan area • How she’s managed to retain staff in an industry that typically sees a high turnover • How she’s able to run the business remotely so she can focus on working in her animal sanctuary • The impact of Covid on the business • Why she decided not to offer online sales or even have a website for the business • Her use of the word ‘vegan’ in the café’s branding and marketing and how this changed over the years • And more Follow Wombat Café & Store on Instagram Follow Plumfield Farm on Instagram RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 164: Rebecca Ettridge of Wombat Cafe & Store on Running a Suburban Vegan Business Remotely with No Online Sales

In this episode I interview Izzy Shu, one of four co-founders of JOI (Just One Ingredient), a plant-based milk company with a difference. When Izzy and her fellow co-founders met in grad school, they quickly realized their shared passion for healthier lifestyles and a quest to make the world more sustainable, and created a thesis project: An innovative solution to make plant-based milks cleaner, more accessible and more eco-friendly. In 2016, JOI was created. The company offers concentrates made from whole, natural, raw ingredients which, when blended with water, create customizable, instant clean and nutritious plant-based milks. Before founding JOI, Izzy worked in marketing and brand identity, as well as graphic and production design. In this interview Izzy discusses: • Why the company pivoted from hardware manufacturer to creating food products, despite investing time and money in the former • How JOI is different to other plant-based milks and also to standard ‘instant milk’ • The benefits of a subscription-based sales model and a customer rewards program • How Covid impacted the business – in a good way • And more Visit the JOI website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 163: Izzy Shu of JOI on Turning a Thesis Project into a Vegan Milk Business with a Difference

In this episode I interview Jena Bautmans, the founder of Jenah St., a vegan handbag and accessories brand in Germany. Before founding Jenah St. in 2019, Jena was the co-founder of Buckle & Seam, a men’s accessories company that uses animal leather. While working in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan, she experienced an awakening of how the land and people are impacted by heavy industries like fashion, which changed the way she looks at the world. She decided to make a difference as a result of seeing how tanneries actually process animal leather and its impact on the environment, people and animals. In this interview Jena discusses: • Her diverse career journey from legal intern, marketing assistant and creative director to co-founder of a startup • Her experience of being a female serial entrepreneur in a male-dominated startup space • What she learned from founding Buckle & Seam that was useful in launching Jenah St. • How she avoids the issue of over-production that is prevalent in mainstream fashion • The company’s circular handbag program and how it benefits both the customer and the business • How Covid-19 impacted her young business and how she handled it • And more Visit the Jenah St. website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 162: Jena Bautmans of Jenah St. on Ditching Leather & Starting a Vegan Handbag Brand

In this episode, I interview beauty industry veteran Tev Finger. He started in the industry in 1990. Since 2006, Tev has helped to create, launch and grow beauty brands across the globe through his company Luxury Brand Partners (LBP). He does this by partnering with key talent while focusing on unique distribution models and collaborating on product innovation, while staying on top of the latest consumer trends. Based in Miami Florida, LBP products are currently sold in 23 countries across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, and can be found in top salons and specialty retailers including Neiman Marcus and Net-A-Porter. Some of the brands he’s built have sold to large corporations including Estée Lauder for billions of dollars. Now a vegan himself, Tev is focusing his efforts on investing in cleaner brands and ideas to not only help the planet, but to help push the beauty industry as a whole to reach for higher, cleaner, more sustainable standards that haven’t been done before. In December 2020 he helped launch R+Co Bleu, a clean, sustainable, vegan, luxury haircare line which is believed to be the first to introduce 100% PCR packaging. In this interview, Tev discusses: • How he decides which brands to launch and partner with • How he decides which talent and influencers to work with • What independent hair and beauty brands can do that conglomerates can’t and how to use this to your advantage • The challenges he faced in creating R+Co Bleu, especially with sustainable packaging, and how he handled them • The different aspects of hair and beauty products that appeal to different customers, and why this is important for brands to know • Certifications including if and when to include them on your products • And more Visit the Luxury Brand Partners website Visit the R+Co website Visit the R+Co Bleu website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 161: Tev Finger of Luxury Brand Partners & R+Co Bleu on Creating Vegan , Sustainable, Clean Beauty & Haircare Products

In this episode, I interview Bonnie Brown and Paul Turcotte, co-founders of Passion Placement, a new employment platform focused on connecting people with mission-driven organizations doing work that matters to them. Bonnie is a CPA, senior level executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years hands-on experience in finance, management, information systems and business leadership. Paul is an entrepreneur and business executive who built, owned, operated, for 20 years, and sold a successful, high-volume, real estate brokerage of 70 sales associates with offices in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts. Passion Placement curates every job that the platform posts to make sure member companies are in support of sustainable living, animal advocacy or creating alternatives to animal-based products. In this interview Bonnie and Paul discuss: • How Passion Placement differs from other vegan job boards and platforms • How the platform works for both job seekers and employers • The kinds of jobs that are currently advertised on the platform including what’s in high demand right now • The types of positions they anticipate will become more in demand in the future • At what stage a business needs a Chief Financial Officer, whether fractional or full time • The extra support with HR and business development that they’re offering with the debut of their second platform New Earth Partners • And more Visit the Passion Placement website Visit the New Earth Partners website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 160: Bonnie Brown & Paul Turcotte of Passion Placement on Launching a New Jobs Platform for Mission-Driven Employers & Candidates

In this episode I interview Kati Ohens, co-founder of vegan deli meats company Plantcraft in New Zealand. After a 20-year marketing, advertising, and software executive career, Kati exited her agency to start working in the mission-based space. While working as a vegan transition coach, she noticed the gap in the alternative meat market, and the need for deli slices. Kati met commercial banking executive Csaba Hetenyi, a fellow Hungarian, during a work project as they were looking at commercializing a new food tech IP. As she learned about the technology, Kati discovered that it could be used to make groundbreaking, sustainable, plant-based meat alternatives, and in 2018 the pair founded Plantcraft. The company is just about to launch its first products into the US market. In this interview Kati discusses: • The challenges of running a services-based business to a product-based business and she’s handled them • The different roles she and co-founder Csaba’s have and how they complement each other • The two most important criteria for business success • How Covid impacted the business • Marketing strategies that are working we, including where buyers are now looking to find new products • Why ‘plant-based’ is on the packaging for the US market but may be different when the company launches in other markets • How she got investors on board, including one that had never invested in a plant-based brand and was so keen that they returned for a second raise • And more Visit the Plantcraft website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 159: Kati Ohens of Plantcraft on Exiting Her Digital Agency Career to Create Vegan Deli Meats

In this episode, I interview Stephanie Miklosvary, founder of Lucky Chick, a vegan cosmetics brand in New York. Stephanie founded and created the company in 2000 as she was putting her art degree to work as a shoe designer in New York City. Nicknamed “Lucky Chick” by a friend for living in her LC (Lobby C) apartment, she decided to create a persona around her new name. Inspired by art and self-expression, Lucky Chick Cosmetics makes a vibrant range of color-intensive glosses, lipsticks, shimmers and shadows to encourage people to treat themselves as the masterpieces they are. In 2007, Stephanie put the business on hold for over a decade, and relaunched in 2018. In this interview Stephanie discusses: • Why she took a break from the company for over a decade and what motivated her to revive it • The challenges she faced with the relaunch compared with the challenges when she first started the brand nearly two decades earlier • How she landed a deal with luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus, only for it to be put on pause when Covid-19 hit • How she got Lucky Chick products to be used by make-up artists on Dancing with the Stars • The impact of Covid-19 on her business and relaunch, including some unexpected upsides • How she got her products added to a beauty subscription box and the benefits of this kind of collaboration • And more Visit the Lucky Chick website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn

VBT 158: Stephanie Miklosvary of Lucky Chick on Relaunching a Vegan Cosmetics Brand After an 11-Year Break

Interviews with Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs and Latest Vegan Business News, hosted by journalist, media trainer and vegan business coach Katrina Fox, author of Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business.

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Vegan Business Talk

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