Progressive Protein

Fresh from a $55 million series B fund raise, v2 is on a journey to bring a second version of meat into the mainstream. Backed by Australia’s leading scientific body CSIRO and Jack Cowin, owner of the Burger King franchise in Australia, the company’s mission is to turn the tide on animal agriculture through the production of a sustainable alternative. In this week’s episode we speak with Nick Hazell, CEO and founder of v2 about the inspiration behind the venture, whether or not price parity is the goal, product iteration, future plans to expand into Asia, and Nick’s personally favourite moments in the journey so far. 

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Image: Nick Hazell, CEO and founder of v2 foods.

V2 is on a mission - to make a meat alternative that can support the growing demand for animal products, whilst avoiding the detrimental cost they have on the planet.

What makes v2 stand out as a company among a sea of new plant-based startups, is that it has the formal backing and is in collaboration with the CSIRO - Australia’s leading national scientific body. It was at a conference that the need to tackle climate change with food was imminent.

Nick: ‘All the scientists were very clear, but they still presented their findings in a very academic way.’

‘We were forcing these academics in this conference to say what they would be telling people at a barbecue to do. Then you get the full story.’

Despite his push and passion for sustainability, Nick himself isn’t a vegan.

Nick: ‘I don’t frame this problem as vegan vs. meat eating. I’m saying there’s no way that we can support the planet if we just use animal-based meat. We’ve got to have a really significant plant-based meat component to it.’

‘It’s also unhelpful, in my experience, when you get stakeholders that dig in and build trenches, you end up with stalemate and that’s no way to progress quickly.’

And yet despite the fact that the science on animal agriculture and the effect it’s having on our planet is clear, the demand for meat continues to increase, even with the number of vegans and flexitarians on the rise.

So what is it that’s driving the increase?

Nick: ‘What we find is that there is a direct correlation between income and meat consumption, with pretty much every human on the planet.’

‘Throughout history as people get richer what they aspire to do is eat more meat.’

Which is precisely why being an aspirational brand is a part of v2’s strategy in designing a second version of meat, so that they can be a brand people look up to, and as a result achieve something on a global scale.

Nick: ‘Don’t design products for people the way you want them to be, or the way they will tell you they want to be. You design products and services for the way people are.’

‘Then you have a chance of getting chance to scale. Otherwise you’re producing to the converted - and that’s a small market.’

But like anything, it wasn’t a product devised overnight. A continuous cycle of rapid prototyping, developing an IP, working with flavour chemists, meat scientists, partners and more is what it took until they were happy with a patty to take to market.

Nick: ‘I think we got to recipe number 57 when we managed to fool Jack Cowin, who owns the franchise Hungry Jacks.’

Even then, with all of the product iterations and processes involved, the journey has been moving quickly, and products were taken to market much sooner than would usually be expected.

Nick: ‘In my experience, and I’ve done R & D for big multinationals like PepsiCo and Mars, this sort of project would normally take two and a half years to launch, so this is a very unusual kind-of dangerously fast route. But taking very calculated risks, and with full knowledge from experts around the table to make sure we don’t make too many mistakes along the way.’

Another benefit of plant-based protein?

Nick: ‘Unlike animal-based meat, there isn’t really an end game - we can get better and better, there’s no genetic constraint.’

We’ve spoken on this show a lot about price parity when it comes to comparing animal and plant-based products. We all want plant-based protein to be cheaper, so that it becomes more accessible to the mainstream public. And at v2, they feel the same.

Nick: ‘I think this is the big thing that distinguishes us. We’re totally committed to volume - you’re not going to get people buying plant-based meat if it’s more expensive.’

‘Getting to a price point that is the same is as much of the business design as getting to a product that tastes delicious.’

The reasons why plant-based meat is currently more expensive?

1) Plant protein itself is more expensive as not a lot of people around the world are producing it.

2) Plant based products may require more flavour chemistry as well as functional ingredients, which can add to overall cost.

3) The scaling isn’t quite there. When you don’t have scale, your prices are higher, and since your prices are high you don’t sell as much and therefore can’t take those next steps in getting to scale.

Which is why at v2 they’ve made a decision to focus on scaling their production from the get-go.

Nick: ‘This is a global opportunity. We will size our business according to that opportunity.’

They also have ambitious plans to head into China, a move which has been criticised by some.

Nick: ‘People are asking me why I’m doing it, saying it’s too risky. But actually when you look at the mission - you have no choice. You have to go there.’

Governments in China and Singapore understand the issues of food supply.

Nick: ‘It’s physically impossible to grow that amount of meat, and of course for China it’s pork more than beef - and so there is a political will to find a way.’

If you would like to support the movement, buy a burger, or any other v2 food products, you can head to v2food.com, or follow their journey @v2foodofficial.