『How to sell vegan foods to meat lovers』のカバーアート

How to sell vegan foods to meat lovers

How to sell vegan foods to meat lovers

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概要

 It's tough to be a vegetarian in a world full of carnivores. It's even tougher to be a startup selling a vegan egg-substitute into a world full of carnivore-dominated market, but that's exactly what Umami United is doing. Umami United founder Hiro Yamazaki explains that the real diver for vegan-food adoption is not ethics or sustainability, but simple economics. The startup's market traction seems to show that he and the team are on the right track. We talk about the importance of keeping an open mind about product-market fit, Japan's unusual dietary habits and how to go global on a limited budget. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why are there so few vegetarians in Japan Overcoming the "vegetarian" stigma Why Japan has the world's 2nd highest per-capita egg consumption (really!) The different go-to-market strategies for Japan and overseas Why industrial kitchens want to move away from natural eggs The challenges in restaurant and home use Umami’s global expansion plans Why so many alternative food startups fail, and why Umami is different Why Japan is a perfect food tech market The future of food tech in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Umami United Japanese homepage Umami United blog Check out Hiro's blog Connect with him on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @Japanveggie Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Eggs! We are going to talk about eggs and about things that are almost eggs. You know, in researching this episode, I learned far more about the egg industry than, well, more than I thought there was to know about the egg industry. It's complex, surprisingly global and fiercely competitive. Today we sit down with Hiro Yamazaki, the founder and CEO of Umami United, who's making a vegetarian egg substitute that is finding product market fit in overseas markets rather than in Japan. And for reasons that have surprisingly little to do with vegetarianism. Now Hiro and I talk about how to find product market fit when your initial strategy doesn't work out. Like you expect the best strategy for aggressively going global on a limited budget. And why the Japanese eat a hell of a lot more eggs than you probably think they do. I mean, seriously, this country eats so many eggs! It just blows my mind. The data's coming up in the podcast. But you know, Hiro tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Hiro Yamazaki of Umami United, who has developed and is now marketing a plant-based egg substitute. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Hiro: Thank you so much for having me. Tim: What you're doing is really interesting. Hiro: Thank you. Tim: So, tell us a bit about the product. What exactly is it you're making? Hiro: Right now we're making a plant-based egg powder product. It's made out of konjaku, it's a root vegetable in Japan. Specifically, we're focusing on the bakery application right now and baked good. There's so many eggs, but yeah, we are replacing the functional ingredient from the egg. Tim: So, as an egg substitute, is it similar in nutritional value to eggs? Is it similar in sort of the cooking functionality of eggs? What exactly is it substituting for? What part of the egg? Hiro: Yeah, right now we're more focusing on the egg functionality, like the coagulation forming, those kind of characteristics. But we started actually more scramble egg, omelets, those kind of in a savory application at the very beginning. But after one or two years, we decided to more focus on baked goods. Tim: Tell me about your customers. You mentioned that you're focusing on bakeries. Is this like commercial bakeries or more of the industrial side that are feeding, like schools and hospitals? What sort of bakeries? Hiro: Yeah. Most of our customers right now are industrial, like baked goods manufacturers making French kernels or donuts, those kind of things. Tim: I noticed on your website you also have direct to consumer products ss well. Is that more for a marketing? Hiro: Right. We started actually from e-commerce channels, but like you said, it's more like the marketing perspective. Tim: Okay. And the main positioning, is it for health benefits or vegetarian vegan lifestyle compliance? What's the main selling point? Hiro: Yeah, there are two big categories. One is the vegan, vegetarian, or allergy free. We call it like dietary restrictions. And then the other one is more supply cost because of the broad flu, avian flu. We're having that in every two or three years. And that's a huge issue in the industry because the cost and the supply is not stable. So, that's why our clients are looking for an ex-substitute, not only because of the vegan allergy reason, but also this supply chain issues. Tim: Yeah, actually I want to get back...
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