Elevator Pitch: Smith Taweelerdniti of Vegan Startup Let’s Plant Meat
It was upon watching a YouTube video of Beyond Meat, the American plant-based meat company, that left Smith Taweelerdniti intrigued and inspired to reimagine the possibilities of plant-based meat.
Smith became a vegetarian in 2018 following his own curiosity and study into food and health, but soon grew tired of the mushrooms and tofu he ate every day. The video, which showed the creation of plant-based burger patties that had a similar aroma, taste, and texture to beef, compelled Smith to tap into his research and development team.
As the Managing Director of the family business Nithi Foods, a leading spice and seasoning company in Thailand, Smith directed his R&D team to research about plant-based meat, which led to the birth of Let's Plant Meat.
As the world reeled amid the pandemic in 2020, Let's Plant Meat successfully debuted its plant-based burger patty to Tesco Lotus in March of the same year. It took another year before the startup exported its first product to Singapore in March 2021.
Almost four years on, Let's Plant Meat now has a diverse line of Thai-focused plant-based meat products, from its signature plant-based burger patty to plant-based minced meat, katsu, beef, Italian meatballs, larb meatballs, and shrimp cutlets.
The Beat Asia caught up with Smith, who also stands as Let's Plant Meat's chief executive officer, to learn about the pandemic-born plant-based meat startup and more: from the core values that serve as its foundation and his insights on Thailand's plant-based industry to the misconceptions surrounding plant-based meat and his long-term vision for Let's Plant Meat.
What is Let's Plant Meat's backstory? What was the driving force behind its creation?
In late 2017, I was on a reading quest to understand [the] connection between foods and health. I found a compelling link that having too much animal products can cause a lot of long-term illnesses like heart disease and cancer. The two books that inspired me to become a vegetarian [are] “The China Study” and “How Not to Die.”
In January 2018, I turned vegetarian. Having mushrooms and tofu for a year got me bored of limited food choices and then I saw on YouTube that Beyond Meat can make a beef patty completely from plants using food science and technology. And, I think, we should have [a] similar thing for Thailand [that’s] made in Thailand. My family business, “Nithi Foods,” produces spices and seasoning for [the] food industry and I asked our R&D team to embark on this plant-based meat journey in 2019.
Why the commitment to plant-based meat, specifically?
Consumers always want food that is healthy for them. That is a growing trend. Having food that [is] also healthy for [the] environment becomes a driving force for sustainability. Data showed that conversion ratio of plant energy to food energy through animal meat product is inefficient; animal system consumed a lot of planet resources. What if we can make meat from plants and we can skip [the] animal production system completely?
I also live in Chiang Mai, and we have a chronic burning season from December to March of every year. What people in Bangkok may not know, but we can see it clearly, is that our forests on the mountain are being cut down to make space for growing animal feeding crops. Farmers [sell] the feed and what [is] left in the field [is] rid of by burning, which is the cheapest method for farmers but costs society dearly. We city people blame the farmers for causing pollution, but we also do not stop our demand for animal products, namely meat, eggs, and milk. What if we can give people a choice of how to consume [in a] more environmentally friendly [way]?
What was your experience breaking into the plant-based meat industry?
At our first launch in 2020, supermarkets [had] no idea where to put this plant-based meat item, so one chain put it next to frozen peas, [and] another put [it] next to [a] frozen beef patty. Consumers also have a lot of questions. What are the ingredients? Does it taste good? How to cook it? Is it any different from traditional vegetarian mock meat? We have to tell our story through social media, put the products out [for] sampling at ThaiFex, [and] work with our distributor to list the products in as many places as possible to give consumers convenient places to buy.
What were the challenges that Let's Plant Meat faced early on? In hindsight, what would you have done differently and why?
The challenge first is to educate the market [about] this new plant-based meat category. It was a lot of work but we [had] fun doing it. One big obstacle and also a working target is to make the price of plant-based meat equal to or less than animal-based meat. We can do it through economy of scale but there is an uphill battle because animal meat and animal feeds are subsidised by governments to make sure the supply is plentiful and the price kept low (to keep inflation in control, too). In hindsight, we have done a lot as an individual brand, but we could have [joined] forces with other brands much [earlier] on to make a stronger communication impact quickly.
What sets Let's Plant Meat apart from other startups that manufacture and research plant-based meat?
Let’s Plant Meat sits inside Nithi Foods company, which has a strong R&D team with experience in marinades and sauces. This is why Let’s Plant Meat [is] rated highly in taste [by] all reviewers.
Nithi Foods factory also allows Let’s Plant Meat to slowly make progress without having to put forth a lot of money to set up a whole new factory.
What philosophy does Let's Plant Meat live by in living out its mission?
Always make great tasting foods and continue to improve every day. We understand that health and sustainability are by default virtues of plant-based meat, and we hold on to these values in our other activities, too. At Nithi Foods, we have trash separation and [have] recycled [for] more than 15 years. We recently put a solar rooftop to lower [our] carbon emission.
What do you think are the common misconceptions people have about plant-based meat?
There are a few that I want to share my thoughts on.
“Plant-based meat is highly processed.” Yes, [as] part of food science advancements, we can make food products tasty [and] safe for consumers through food technology. I believe that [for] brands that want to do good, [their] ingredient selection and manufacturing processes [must have] gone through careful consideration to be the safest that the current technology allows. However, people often overlook the food that plant-based meat is substituting, “the animal meat.” Even the meat is sliced 100% fresh and pure from the animal, but if we think [of] an animal as a production system, [aren’t] you concerned about what ingredients [are put in the] animal and result in the meat? The animal feeds, antibiotics, and hormones do not [appear] in the meat ingredient list, [but this] does not mean they [are] less processed than the plant-based meat.
“Plant-based meat is fake meat and expensive.” The nomenclature of foods can help or hurt consumers’ views of foods. I think the word fake meat should be used to call the mysterious meat [where] cow blood [is tainted] [with] pork meat and [sold] as beef to get [a] higher pricing or shredded cardboard [made] into stuffed pork wontons. Plant-based meat uses the best component of each plant; proteins from soy and rice, oil from coconut and rice bran, binder from fiber and seaweeds, then combine them with scientific and law guidance. The expensive concern is [that] plant-based meat [does] not get the same subsidy as the animal industry. What if we loaded the environmental impacts into the price of animal meat? It should cost higher than the plant-based alternatives. The portion of the cost that we do not pay at the grocery checkout is being paid by our society as a whole through the cost of climate changes, drought, flood, and pollution.
Based on your observation, how would you describe the plant-based meat industry in Thailand?
Even in [the] vegetarian/vegan segment [of] the Thai market, there are groups that prefer or dislike plant-based meat. Some vegans prefer whole food plant-based, eating from pure vegetation. Some abstain from spices like garlic and onion, which are excellent taste-making ingredients. The word “Flexitarian” can describe non-strict vegetarians who eat non-meat from time to time. What we see [are] people who discovered plant-based meat and stick with it because it suits their lifestyle. [The industry] keeps growing but not at a fast rate as what people would hope.
What we also see is [that] restaurants [that are] positioned for healthy food increasingly incorporate plant-based meat in their offerings. The airline and travel industry, which have to cater foods for different religions, will find that plant-based meat is a very convenient option to offer to anyone because it contains no animal, which [is] often prohibited in many religions.
What are your hopes for Thailand and Asia's plant-based meat industry?
I realized that the supply chains of animal meat and plant-based meat are not closely linked, which means even [if there] is a disruption in animal meat through animal pandemic [or] feed shortages, it will not impact heavily [on] the plant supply chain. Thinking in terms of the country’s resiliency of protein security, I think plant-based meat can be a backup plan for our country and for consumers. The boom of plant-based meat two to three years ago was based on [technological] novelty and now people understand [it] for what it is. There will be consumers who want to find themselves options [for] food to let them stay healthy through old age. I believe plant-based meat will be here and be discovered every day by health concerned consumers.
Where do you see Let's Plant Meat in the next five years? Ten years?
We will continue to hear what consumers want and try to adjust our offerings to best suit them. We wish to collaborate with ready-to-eat food brands to co-create delicious and healthy food options. There is a growing concern that [the] animal meat industry is under a lot of pressure — drought, flood, environmental concern, and pandemics. I hope we, as one of the plant-based meat brands, will be here to give a choice of protein to many countries in Asia.
This article has been edited for clarity. To be updated on the latest news from Let's Plant Meat, follow them on Instagram and Facebook!
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