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Plant-Based Opportunities / Vegan Business Opportunities

csalvato

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I think the best thing for us to do is reconvene this discussion in twenty years time and see what the state of veganism is like then. ;)

Maybe. But you can't take advantage of a trend from the future.

I think anyone getting into Veganism as a business opportunity right now is smart.

I think that anyone starting a Veganism based business, and not planning an appropriate adaptation away from Veganism within the next 3 years is setting themselves up for a F*ckton of wasted time and heartache.

My former employer fell into this very trap with Paleo. They overly entrenched in a Paleo product and then dietary trends shifted within their niche and the mainstream and they were left scrambling.

AND this was knowing and accepting that Paleo would shift out of popularity at the time when it was most popular. For those in Vegan-based businesses, it's a danger of which you must really be aware.
 
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biophase

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Maybe. But you can't take advantage of a trend from the future.

I think anyone getting into Veganism as a business opportunity right now is smart.

I think that anyone starting a Veganism based business, and not planning an appropriate adaptation away from Veganism within the next 3 years is setting themselves up for a f*ckton of wasted time and heartache.

My former employer fell into this very trap with Paleo. They overly entrenched in a Paleo product and then dietary trends shifted within their niche and the mainstream and they were left scrambling.

AND this was knowing and accepting that Paleo would shift out of popularity at the time when it was most popular. For those in Vegan-based businesses, it's a danger of which you must really be aware.

I agree with MJ. Veganism is not a diet fad. The reason I say this is because people don't go vegan to lose weight or look better for the summer. The other diets like paleo, atkins, etc... are based on inner goals. These inner goals can be cancelled as soon as the motivation goes away. Veganism's core is more about not harming animals vs. being healthy. It's not motivated by a personal goals.

Being vegan is a moral choice more than a health choice and moral values don't just go away when the going gets tough. As more and more vegan foods are available, it will become easier and easier for people to adopt the lifestyle.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I'm not sure I agree.
I may be totally wrong here

You are totally wrong.

And this clearly shows why...

a cognitive bias that's pervasive in the diet space.

Clearly you don't understand WHY many vegans are vegan in the first place.

A diet? LOL.

For many, it's an enlightenment.

For many, it's moral.

For others, it's environmental.

For some, it's political.

And for some, it's health.

For more, it's a combination of all of it.

And those who fall into these former subgroups are permanently vegan.

No one does F*cking Paleo because of some environmental or moral implication.

As for vegans, they're NOT on a diet and one day suddenly wake up and say, "Yes, I'd like to eat me some cow titty juice with some grinded-up testicles, stomach linings, and spleens!" In other words, a vegan who is vegan beyond the health standpoint will NEVER want your cheesy hotdog.

When someone asks a vegan if they're still vegan, as if it's some fad diet, it's like asking, "Hey man, you still breathing air?" Duh, yea! I am!

In other words, you're classifying veganism as a diet. It's not.

It's the only "diet" that has cultural, political, nutritional, and moral implications.

Vegans don't expect older generations to ever "get it" (people my age) but they do expect them to die, and their mentality to die with them. IMO, the meat/dairy industry today is no better than the tobacco industry in the 70s.

I just don't see it being a mainstream way that most people live...whether that's food or overall lifestyle.

I'm sure slave owners felt the same way once the abolitionist movement started.

Mainstream adoption is a slow grind and I already see it. From more plant-based restaurants to more shelf-space at mainstream supermarkets not named Whole Foods or some hippie organic name. And I live in a town where the median age is 93.

Of course the change will be slow and subtle, not sudden. Most won't detect it for years.

But the adaptation rate by young people (millennial and younger) and the death rate are synergistically working to make it happen. The paradigm shift will be naturally selecting. And natural selection takes years, whether it's from the humanity/enlightenment/moral standpoint, or from the health side.

I am willing to concede that Veganism may be different if there's a compelling argument - but simply saying "it's a lifestyle, not just a diet" is not enough for me to buy it.

Because clearly you don't know why many vegans are vegan. That's OK. In a great irony, you are falling to a multitude of your own cognitive biases, a hindsight bias, and a recency bias, and Semmelweis reflex.

I don't mind Veganism taking over the world, but please do so in 60 yrs time when I'm probably already not around.

I love my unpretentious omnivore diet, the way humans were designed to eat.

Wow, thank you for such a profound contribution to this thread.

There's so much ignorance in this statement I'm not going to bother with it because that discussion isn't for this thread or the forum. Likewise, this forum has a "Keto" thread -- do you see me in there dropping snide remarks?

That said, I had a feeling this thread would go off the rails as people rally to defend their taste buds. So I will once again repeat: this thread is NOT to discuss your theories on veganism, it's to discuss OPPORTUNITIES arising from the shift.

Believe it's a fad?

Fine.

Point taken, we're wasting our time.

And maybe in few years (clearly because it's a fad) all the vegans suddenly will find coagulated cow breast milk to be acceptable. And by then, who knows: maybe coagulated rat breast milk will be a thing too. As long as you don't need to see what's going on behind closed doors, it's all cool.
 

csalvato

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These inner goals can be cancelled as soon as the motivation goes away. Veganism's core is more about not harming animals vs. being healthy. It's not motivated by a personal goals.

For more, it's a combination of all of it.

You've both done a great job at making the case that many people who go Vegan do so for reasons that are vastly different from those reasons that most people choose diets.

For those reasons, I think you're right that it is robustly different from a purely dietary trend. I'm still not seeing what makes it a mega-trend that rivals electric/autonomous cars, the internet, blockchain, the telephone, radio, etc.

Here's the only rationale I can infer:
  1. Vegans consider their moral compass to be superior to others who don't follow the lifestyle.
  2. Because it's so superior, most Vegans believe it's all but certain that this way of eating, living and consuming is the only way forward.
  3. Thus, it's a mega-trend because it's a logical conclusion that this way of living and eating is objectively "better".
This quote corroborates:

But the adaptation rate by young people (millennial and younger) and the death rate are synergistically working to make it happen.

Am I mistaken here?

If I'm not wrong, then the assertion disregards the churn rate of Veganism.

Unlike other mega-trends, Veganism experiences a significant churn rate. Many people fall out of love with Veganism, for sound, valid and logical reasons.

Statistically speaking, most people do not stick with Veganism (as a diet or a lifestyle) for the long term. In fact, 84% of people who start eating Vegan ultimately come off.

Those that come off, tend to be very outspoken on why Veganism is a poor choice – perhaps even moreso than their evangelism while living Vegan.

Every source on why Veganism is so great focuses on explosive growth, and ignores the fact that many people come off of Veganism for myriad reasons.

I'm not trying to argue that you, personally, should not be Vegan @MJ DeMarco. That's your choice. You don't have to agree with the arguments from these groups.

But as an emotionless market analyst, it would be folly to ignore that churn rate.

Starting to live a Vegan lifestyle does not mean one stays Vegan. Someone who started using the internet/phones/radios ultimately did not stop using the internet/phones/radios.

Because of the high churn rate, I'm just not seeing what makes it a mega-trend. What am I missing?

Maybe your argument is that better products and services make it so less people churn out of Veganism. Maybe that's true. Maybe I'm missing something. But from the objective facts I've seen so far, I am still not seeing the evidence of a mega-trend emerging.

Because clearly you don't know why many vegans are vegan. That's OK. In a great irony, you are falling to a multitude of your own cognitive biases, a hindsight bias, and a recency bias, and Semmelweis reflex.

I don't pretend to know why anyone does anything, even myself. ;)

I can only deduce and infer.

I did not point out that some were falling under cognitive biases as an insult. We are all falling under our biases every minute of every day. We can't help it....self included.

My comment was only to encourage all of us to examine any biases we may be experiencing.

That said, I'm certainly not falling victim to the Semmelweis reflex, nor hindsight bias, nor recency bias.

The Semmelweis reflex or "Semmelweis effect" is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms.

If you look, I am asking for more information, and explaining why I don't yet believe what you believe.

I am not reflexively discounting what you're saying. This isn't a new thing for me. I've been following Veganism as a dietary trend for over a decade.

I am open to the fact that I'm wrong – but the evidence is pointing a different direction to me. In fact, I haven't seen any new evidence that I could even reject...?

Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along effect or creeping determinism, is the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it

I am not claiming that I "knew it all along". I'm outlining what I perceive to be the pattern, and asking how this particular pattern could be different.

If anything, I am closer to falling into the trap of a Clustering Illusion or Gambler's Fallacy....but since I'm aware of it, I'm asking for more information on where I could be wrong in my pattern recognition or future prediction.

I don't want to be right. I want to understand.

"Recency bias" is the phenomenon of a person most easily remembering something that has happened recently, compared to remembering something that may have occurred a while back.

I've been involved in the diet and fitness space for the better part of 2 decades, and have researched dietary trends predating the 20th century.

That includes reading Anatomy and Physiology textbooks cover to cover, researching our adoption of the modern kitchen, the "better living through science" movement of the mid-century, and dietary trends from epochs spanning millenia.

It also includes a 3 year tenure at a company focused on serving intentional eaters as the head of product engineering.

Understanding dietary patterns has been a recurring theme through my life - not something that I just decided to troll today on FLF.

I'm not simply looking at Paleo and saying "Oh! Veganism is the same!" as you're suggesting (in what appears to be an attempt to discredit my point...?)
 
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G-Man

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csalvato

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You might wanna actually read this. It's a joke - she's talking about how she almost got hit by a car making an emergency run for cashew milk, but they're still vegan anyway.

The point was that there are 216k search results on Google. Not any particular article. Here's a couple of examples of some more robust sources:

Why I gave up being vegan
But as the years went by, the couple saw their health deteriorate and wondered what might be the cause.
"I was worried that I must have been shallow, but me and my partner had talked long into the night about it and we just came to the decision that we wanted to put our health above that of the animals."

8 Real People Share Why They Stopped Being Vegan
I was a vegan just to "be" a vegan, and my life had changed post-college. I was living in New York City, my livelihood wasn't subsidized by my parents anymore, and I started "cheating" on my diet here and there, and seeing it as "cheating" was the first red flag. I started thinking of foods as "good" and "bad," and I wasn't eating well-balanced and started spiraling into some binge-eating behavior.

It triggered my disordered eating.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I agree with MJ. Veganism is not a diet fad. The reason I say this is because people don't go vegan to lose weight or look better for the summer. The other diets like paleo, atkins, etc... are based on inner goals. These inner goals can be cancelled as soon as the motivation goes away. Veganism's core is more about not harming animals vs. being healthy. It's not motivated by a personal goals.

Being vegan is a moral choice more than a health choice and moral values don't just go away when the going gets tough. As more and more vegan foods are available, it will become easier and easier for people to adopt the lifestyle.

Bingo.

That's why a vegan business will have longevity and has zero chance of falling into one of the fad movements, Atkins, Keto, Paleo, blah blah.

Understanding dietary patterns has been a recurring theme through my life

But your argument (once again) falls into the scope of "diet and fitness".

I'm telling you it's not for many.

Veganism experiences a significant churn rate.

Of course it does when it's implemented on the same premise you've categorized it. It's a fad for those folks, the same folks who did Keto last month, Paleo 3 years ago, Atkins 10 years ago, and whatever other diet Style Magazine tells them is cool and trendy.

I'm not speaking on behalf of the vegans who are trend-followers.

And posting anecdotes on why some people "try" it as a diet and revert is not evidence, but bro-science.

There is no *humane* way to kill something that don't want to be killed. That's fact, not fad. And just because some so-called part-time vegans refuse to put their humanity over their tastes doesn't make it any less of a fact.

Again I will reiterate seeing once again it went on deaf ears:

So I will once again repeat: this thread is NOT to discuss your theories on veganism, it's to discuss OPPORTUNITIES arising from the shift.

So I will once again repeat: this thread is NOT to discuss your theories on veganism, it's to discuss OPPORTUNITIES arising from the shift.

This thread is not here to convince anyone of the vegan trend or to stump for the practice.

I'm here to discuss the opportunities of its emergence, kinda how some folks think Blockchain is the next great thing.

If you're not here for that purpose please keep your opinions to yourself otherwise I'll start removing posts that have nothing to do with the theme of the thread.

You've made it clear that you believe it to be a fad and not worth investing in.

And I'm cool with that.

Only time will prove it one way or another: And unfortunately, time can deliberate in the jury box for years...
 
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BigRomeDawg

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Vegan business is booming. There's a new vegan restaurant almost every month here in the valley. It's hard to find a restaurant that doesn't have the Beyond or Impossible burger now.

I've spoken to restaurant owners who see a massive increase in sales after adding vegan options to their menus.

Post a picture of a homemade vegan cake in your local vegan Facebook group and people will comment "can I buy one from you?"

I can link to news articles right?

"Sales of plant-based food in the US went up by 8.1% during the past year, topping $3.1 billion, according to research carried out by Nielsen for the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) and the Good Food Institute.

Plant-based dairy alternatives are expected to represent 40% of the combined total of dairy and dairy alternative beverages within three years, up from just 25% in 2016, according to research firm Packaged Facts." - Here's Why You Should Turn Your Business Vegan In 2018

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT INVESTS $150 MILLION IN VEGAN PROTEIN DEVELOPMENT

Unilever acquires The Vegetarian Butcher
 

csalvato

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Of course it does when it's implemented on the same premise you've categorized it.

Unfortunately there are no metrics for those who adopt it as a lifestyle vs. a diet. But we can infer that most of these people who started eating Vegan up until this point also adopted the lifestyle.

That's because early adopters tend to be those who adopt based on purpose and ideology. At this stage of the game, most people who eat Vegan are early adopters by definition.

(Anyone partaking in an activity with under 13% market share is technically early adopter. Last I checked, Veganism as a diet was less than 5%. )

Yet, those purpose driven early adopters tend to churn out at an alarming rate of 84%.

To reframe: if I were talking to a company that wanted my investment, and they told me they were growing gangbusters but had a churn rate of 84%, I would tell them "no thanks".

Apparently, you wouldn't. That's fine.

I just have a hard time processing that based on what you write about Productocracies (i.e. products/services/ideologies with high retention and referral rates).

This thread is not here to convince anyone of the vegan trend or to stump for the practice.

We're talking about a market opportunity.

I didn't realize we were limiting this to only supporting the idea that the opportunity is huge and pervasive. The only assertion I'm driving home is that there's definitely a counter-point to be made here.
Anyway, I was just responding to you making the argument that it is a trend :happy: :rofl:

What a lot of people fail to understand is that it isn't a "trend" like Atkins, Keto, or Paleo. It's a mega-trend, like the internet, like the automobile, like the outlawing of slavery or suffrage. Obviously such a drastic change won't happen in a few years, but slowly over a decade. Millions and billions stand to be made.

I'll bow out of this for now. Hopefully the discussion has pushed some people to research further and make their own opinions. :thumbsup:
 

BigRomeDawg

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Of course it does when it's implemented on the same premise you've categorized it. It's a fad for those folks, the same folks who did Keto last month, Paleo 3 years ago, Atkins 10 years ago, and whatever other diet Style Magazine tells them is cool and trendy.

The people who go vegan for weight loss almost ALWAYS say how unhealthy it was, how it just doesn't work for their body, it's unsustainable, I feel so good eating meat again.

The people who do it for animals, environment, eg external factors like MJ said, usually say it's the healthiest they've ever felt.

It's all about how it's done and the reason behind it. Kind of like starting a business to chase money. It won't come! Do it for the right reasons aka to HELP PEOPLE to PROVIDE VALUE to SOLVE A PROBLEM, the money comes.
 
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BigRomeDawg

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(Anyone partaking in an activity with under 13% market share is technically early adopter. Last I checked, Veganism as a diet was less than 5%. )

The market isn't limited to people who are vegan. My turkey munching grandma buys almond milk.
 

csalvato

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The market isn't limited to people who are vegan. My turkey munching grandma buys almond milk.

I think anyone getting into Veganism as a business opportunity right now is smart.

I think that anyone starting a Veganism based business, and not planning an appropriate adaptation away from Veganism within the next 3 years is setting themselves up for a f*ckton of wasted time and heartache.
 

BigRomeDawg

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@csalvato IMO I don't think businesses will require an "adaptation away from veganism" rather an adaptation away from vegan marketing. I think it may just become the norm. I was at a coffee shop, not a vegan one, who defaults to soy milk and up charges for dairy. Shit's flipping.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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@csalvato IMO I don't think businesses will require an "adaptation away from veganism" rather an adaptation away from vegan marketing. I think it may just become the norm. I was at a coffee shop, not a vegan one, who defaults to soy milk and up charges for dairy. sh*t's flipping.

Very true. The "vegan" stamp is not necessarily a good one and adaptation is not really about vegan this, vegan that. It's about having a variety of plant-based options. And because heart disease, obesity, and diabetes ain't going away anytime soon, plant-based businesses will have a huge opportunity.

For instance, I know someone who can't handle dairy so he had to shift to alternatives made with Coconut Milk ... he's not VEGAN, but he's adding to the demand, and the cause.
 

csalvato

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@csalvato IMO I don't think businesses will require an "adaptation away from veganism" rather an adaptation away from vegan marketing. I think it may just become the norm. I was at a coffee shop, not a vegan one, who defaults to soy milk and up charges for dairy. sh*t's flipping.

I agree.

That's definitely an example of "adapting away from Veganism" in the way I intended it.

What it means to "adapt away from Veganism" will depend on your product, marketing and positioning...and the intensity of a recoil away from Veganism (if any).
 

rogue synthetic

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Funny timing on this thread bump. The wife and I were out having some drinks the other day and she pretty casually drops an idea on me that combines the vegan market with another evergreen vertical. Each thing by itself is fairly popular but nobody's really working on the intersection of the two spaces. It surprised me to have a hot idea drop out of the sky like that, but there you go.

I think MJ and biophase are right on this one...after 20 plus years watching bodybuilders and other gym-folks argue about all their obscure nutrition lore, the vegetarian/vegan movement is a different beast. It has mass appeal, and it's touching on deeper ethical, emotional and self-identifying issues. The usual suspects arguing about keto and paleo and whatever are pale imitators of this beefier quasi-religion.
 
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YoungPadawan

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It is really interesting watching as a number of my friends have turned vegan. One of my friends lost a ton of weight going vegan.

Do vegans care if vegetables are organic or not ? I've thought about raising organic vegetables commercially.
 
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imagine if someone made a vegan fastfood business or a online food prep business kind of like blue apron or plated.

i think some people will have no choice but to eat healthier because of our health crisis
 

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My wife has been a Vegan for about 2 years.

The same people that used to make fun of her for being a Vegan (Personal Trainers, friends, family, etc.) are now asking her how to become one.

They want to know what food she eats, how to prepare it, where to shop, etc.

We continually discuss opportunities to turn this into a FASTLANE venture.

I agree with MJ this goes beyond any new weight loss fad or trendy celebrity crap.

I have attended Vegan trade shows with her and believe me there is a lot of money in the Vegan industry.
 
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MTF

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As a vegetarian for over a decade, one of the things that I personally don't like is when vegan/vegetarian restaurants dress up their vegan/vegetarian meals as fake meat based meals. I don't eat soy or pretty much any other veg meat substitute. In fact, it grosses me out a little.

When I see stuff like "vegetarian pork ribs" in the menu, it's clear to me that the owners don't understand that vegans/vegetarians are interested in eating plant-based meals, not fake meat meals. The restaurants I enjoy the most don't label themselves as vegan or vegetarian - they label themselves as plant-based restaurants. Their menus consist of plant-based meals that don't pretend to be meat substitutes. That, to me, is how you communicate as a business that you understand that veganism/vegetarianism is not a fad, but a lifestyle.

There are surely a lot of business opportunities here, but I believe that the most sustainable ones are the ones that position themselves not as a substitute, but as an entirely different choice that also emphasizes sustainability and cares for the environment. The mere word "substitute" conveys inferior quality and a temporary choice until the "real thing" is available again.

For example, don't think vegan fish oil - think algae oil. Don't think vegan leather (which isn't that ethical) - think how to use sustainable, natural textiles. Don't think vegan cheesecake - think banana cake.

One of the things I dislike the most about vegans and vegetarians is that they think that ethics alone will convince others to follow their tracks. In reality, the only thing they accomplish by making themselves appear morally superior to non-vegans is that they piss them off. You need to employ the entrepreneurial approach to convince people to consider a plant-based lifestyle, no matter how strongly you feel about the wrongness of killing animals. As in any other business, you need to be a good salesperson first.

If you want to convince non-vegans/vegetarians to try your products, the fact that your products are vegan/vegetarian isn't that important to them. There has to be an additional, unique benefit to convince someone to visit your plant-based restaurant (eat a light, healthy meal that will make you feel energetic instead of bloated), buy your natural cosmetics (don't put shitty chemicals on your skin), or buy a car without leather seats (do away with the sticky feel and enjoy our natural, breathable fabric).

Ultimately, it's all about innovation and creating a better product. That's IMO where all the opportunities are - not in becoming yet another vegan substitute, but a completely new category vastly better than the conventional choice.

Once nudged, some people will open their eyes and start asking themselves deep questions and perhaps reconsider their choices. Businesses that will win over those people won't operate out of moral superiority - they'll sell their philosophy by positioning themselves as a unique choice, appealing to self-interest and selling real-world benefits without any judgment.
 

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IMO - the answer goes way beyond diet. Veganism, unlike paleo or atkins, but like kosher, has moral or pseudo-moral implications for people that adhere to it. We could argue all day about whether it's legitimate moral conviction that will last and be passed to further generations, or if it's the virtue signal du-jour that will fade and be replaced by another form of righteousness through consumption. I honestly don't know.

It also ties to other societal mega-trends like acceptance of global climate change, which is part of the orthodoxy of western democracies and will probably become part of the universal progressive pantheism as society becomes more post-religious.

Again, before the mob comes out, this is all IMO.
Opinion? I think its good as a fact.

Open up more value attributes relevant to the needs and desires of the market, and more folks can be catered to. Moral conviction and health choices.

Someone posted something on TFLF about marketing products towards the LGBT market. A lot of us folks have had decent backgrounds, decent parenting and education. Surely we would succeed to market based on moral convictions rather than LGBT lol.

I think that its enough that conventional marketing approaches aim towards the 7 deadly sins. The morals are actually just as strong of human drivers as the evils, if not stronger. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have the rule of law that protects and safeguards businesses in the first place.
 

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The market isn't limited to people who are vegan. My turkey munching grandma buys almond milk.

When I see stuff like "vegetarian pork ribs" in the menu, it's clear to me that the owners don't understand that vegans/vegetarians are interested in eating plant-based meals, not fake meat meals

Since we're now back to discussing the opportunity of the shift, I would agree that I would steer clear of a "vegan" designation. It can have some negative connotations depending on who hears it, and yes, can also inadvertently potentially pigeonhole your company.

To this day I correlate the word "vegan" with blandness and generally not very tasteful. (That's not really true anymore).

A "plant based" company is a better market position, and you still get a vegan stamp, like the NON-GMO stamp.

I think when a company labels itself as "VEGAN" you stand a chance to exclude a lot of folks, and maybe scare away those who are just looking for dairy or meat alternatives, but don't necessarily identify as vegan.

The dairy industry is already running scared because the cat is out of the bag as they push ridiculous lawsuits and ridiculous advocacy advertising (like GotMilk?).

Many folks are experimenting with health and discovering that dairy is a big culprit for their woes. As such, they switch to plant-based alternatives, like Almond, Cashew, Coconut, etc. In the last year, the "dairy free" ice cream cooler at my local store has doubled in size, and I live in a freaking retirement community. That means older people, folks who typically don't change habits very easily, are even joining the demand curve.

Is Dairy Failing? Problems with Dairy and The Dairy Industry
Dairy Industry Fighting Sales Decline with ‘Get Real’ Campaign | Care2 Causes

The fact is plant-based alternatives (and moves toward veganism) are a function of continued problems that plague the 1st world; obesity, heart disease, diabetes, climate change, animal welfare, resource depletion, etc. These problems aren't going away in the near future.
 
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amp0193

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When I see stuff like "vegetarian pork ribs" in the menu, it's clear to me that the owners don't understand that vegans/vegetarians are interested in eating plant-based meals, not fake meat meals. The restaurants I enjoy the most don't label themselves as vegan or vegetarian - they label themselves as plant-based restaurants.

Very well stated post.

I can't do most of the fake meat stuff. I did some of it in the transition period to becoming vegetarian. But now that everything I eat is plant based, I don't ever crave sausage or bacon or anything like that. Did seitan for a while at one point. I don't recommend.

I will make veggie burgers though. Veggie burgers were my gateway into eating vegetarian, and there's lots of good variety in recipes. Quinoa, wild rice, black bean. All good.

I'll eat tofu in asian dishes.
 

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Although veganism is not for me nor my family (we come from a family of agriculturalists and farmers livestock enthusiasts) i can respect the rise from the west especially regarding this. The funny thing is it will be cyclical. Veganism was once huge in indian culture but over the last 10 years, the new generation (are not religious at all usually) they now have the freedom to consume meat that their parents etc (from other castes and creeds) couldnt. India is now a huge consumer and producer of meat products and will continues to grow further. Brazil is the same way. I know brazilians still consume the most beef per capita in the world... Its all about control and limits which people can never figure out and almost always blame X Y Z for their health issues. However, within the western nations, I see veganism as more uplifting to the younger populous` due to their overall beliefs.
 

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The question that could arise, at least in "trend vs mega-trend" part of this discussion, is:
"Are all other parts of equation constant?"

Look. What i'm trying to say is that adoption of anything new now, is faster and an on bigger scale.

I would point that we are in much more interconnected and faster world right now then 10, 30 or 300 years ago.

What we could miss is that maybe the fad trends got bigger.
 

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I will make veggie burgers though. Veggie burgers were my gateway into eating vegetarian, and there's lots of good variety in recipes. Quinoa, wild rice, black bean. All good.

crumble up hillary's veggie burgers into your pasta sauce - it will change your life.

I can't do most of the fake meat stuff. I did some of it in the transition period to becoming vegetarian. But now that everything I eat is plant based, I don't ever crave sausage or bacon or anything like that. Did seitan for a while at one point. I don't recommend.

For me a big draw to eating vegan is just eating "cleaner" "real" food in general. To make the fake meats puts you back into frankenfood territory, which for me eliminates a big part of the attraction of eating vegan. Also - my wife won't let me eat soy, which seems to be in all those products. She thinks it will turn me into a woman.... which she's against.

Back to opportunities - there has to be a way to make clean snack food. i.e. - vegan snack food that isn't pretending to be something else and isn't terrible for you. I think Rhythm has started down the path, but there has to be a way to make clean convenience food. Another hole in the market is direct-to-office delivery of healthy plant based meals. I have to drive 15 minutes and fight a long line to go to the only salad place in my area.
 

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crumble up hillary's veggie burgers into your pasta sauce - it will change your life.

I don't think I've seen Hillary's, I'll have to find it and give it a try.

I haven't found a store-bought veggie burger that is any good. Tried them all I think. All kind of gross.
 
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I don't think I've seen Hillary's, I'll have to find it and give it a try.

I haven't found a store-bought veggie burger that is any good. Tried them all I think. All kind of gross.
Sadly it isn't good as a burger - it is good to add a little substance to pasta sauce in the absence of ground meat
 

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