Indo Innovation
After returning to Indonesia from her studies abroad, Helga realised just how few plant-based options were available for her and others that wished to live an animal-free lifestyle. In a bid to change this together with her partner Max, she cofounded Burgreens which has now grown to be Indonesia’s leading plant-based restaurant chain. Several years later, Helga and her partner are cofounding another business, Green Butcher, a startup focussed on creating tasty vegan meats for the Asian palette. In this episode we discuss more about the alternative protein market in Indonesia, changing attitudes and perceptions of the public, the brand’s recently announced partnership with Starbucks, and other future collaborations that lay ahead for the team.
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Image: Green Butcher’s alternative protein lines sourced from their website.
Having started a successful restaurant business, it’s not surprising that Helga and her partner Max have taken up another new project which focusses on alternative protein. The reason why they decided to branch out from Burgreens?
Helga: “The restaurant model is very capital and human-labour intensive, whereas if we make the product directly available to consumers in supermarkets or in other restaurants where they usually go, it would accelerate the movement faster and it’s a lot more scaleable.”
Helga went on to mention how they got the call to action.
Helga: “It was just an idea before the pandemic started, but once our restaurant was impacted we decided to use our space to create the protein products, and it really caught on with customers.”
Helga: “We saw that the nature of restaurant and product businesses are very different, so we knew it would need a different management and scaling system.”
But despite the success of Burgreens as a centre of plant-based food in the cities, what is the alternative protein market really like in Indonesia?
Helga: “The plant-based market is still very early in their journey, but we definitely see a rising trend of flexitarianism and veganism in the big cities.”
The key, Helga went on to say was the adoption of the lifestyle by the younger generation, who have then started educating and engaging the parents with the idea of consuming more plant-based products at home.
Some of these products may include Green Butcher’s range which features a Beefless and Chicken line, as well as veggie protein options, a line which instead of mimicking the taste and texture of meat focusses more on simply highlighting the delicious flavours of different plant-based ingredients.
But what really makes Green Butcher stand out is that they’re the first alternative protein startup in Indonesia committed to tailor to local flavours and tastes.
Helga: “In all of our product lines we sell both the base meat, which is just lightly seasoned… as well as the flavoured meat, where we use Indonesian culinary recipes.”
Currently they’ve chosen the most popular Indonesian recipes from their menu such as Rendang and Satay Skewers.
Helga: “We know that Indonesian flavours are famous for being delicious. So we thought combining these authentic recipes with technology would create something interesting for the market in the region.”
Even once having chosen the most popular items, Helga and her partner Max still had work to do when it came to improving the texture and nutrition profile before launching.
Helga: “People are less critical of the texture and nutrition profile when it’s served as a complete meal with other components in it - as long as it tastes good and the flavour is balanced people are happy.”
Helga: “But once we started selling it as just the meat, then they began asking questions about how much protein, how much fat, whether it was gluten-free.”
The business has also recently announced an exciting new partnership with Starbucks. According to Helga, it all started around November last year when the renowned chain contacted Burgreens and presented their global mandate of having meatless sandwiches hoping to collaborate to achieve this goal.
Helga: “I think they wanted to tap into the community that Burgreens has built over the last 7 years, and at the same time get our feedback on how to approach food so that the meatless option can be accepted by the mainstream crowd.”
The first month the product was piloted in 50 stores and quickly became a best-selling item, which has led to Starbucks’ decision to roll out to 400 more outlets in March.
Helga: “It’s exciting to know that the mainstream crowd accepted the product and actually really liked it.”
In terms of whether there were any surprises working with the global franchise?
Helga: “The process was quite smooth.”
Helga: “I think what took us by surprise was that they wanted to roll out the product in 400 stores, and gave us 2 weeks to calibrate our manufacturing. So we had to triple our production capacity to be able to do that.”
It’s also important to mention that the menu at Starbucks was vegetarian not vegan.
Helga: “We got a lot of comments from vegans who wanted a vegan menu. We were surprised that there were so many people, outside of Jakarta, asking for these options.”
Helga: “We proposed the idea that at least one of the three selections should be vegan, but somehow they made the decision that it had to be vegetarian. We kept giving them feedback, but they haven’t acted on it.”
As vegans themselves, how do the team at Green Butcher manage this misalignment of views?
Helga: “Our approach has always been collaborative, so we definitely give them suggestions but it’s up to them whether or not they want to follow it.”
We also spoke more in depth about their recent funding round, and what that experience was like for the pair.
Helga: “When we started the funding round it was to scale our production facility to accomodate both Burgreens’ growth, as well as launching this consumer packaged brand.”
Helga: “The process was quite long and painful because right after we almost closed the round the pandemic started and I remember 2 out of 3 investors pulled out.”
How did they manage such a stressful situation?
Helga: “Because it was so sudden, and at the same time our restaurant was impacted by the lockdown, we couldn’t really process the emotion and the stress, we just focussed one day at a time on how to survive.”
Helga: “Also the fact that Max and I have both been practising meditation for some years now, definitely helped to regulate all of this stress.”
And it’s definitely been worthwhile, for the brand has an exciting future waiting ahead with many more collaborative launches planned for this year. Some examples are launches at famous steakhouses such as Pepper Lunch and Abuba, with the company also aiming to hit the supermarkets by the end of June.
To follow and keep up with Helga you can find her on social media @helgaangelina and for Green Butcher’s journey you can follow them @greenbutcherfoods.