- There is so much discussion around how plant based foods can drive real change to combat climate change, what are some of the ways that everyone, Vegan or not, can make changes in their lives through a plant based diet?
That’s right. Like I've previously mentioned, the number one most effective way to make a difference, starts on your plate. Many times, when contemplating changing your lifestyle about something, you ask yourself “what difference would it make?”. Whether it’s reducing your carbon footprint by using less plastic, or not running water while brushing your teeth, you ask yourself “what difference would I make?”. When it comes to your food choices, the answer is a BIG difference. We need to start living less out of habit and more out of intent. Just because we think things are normal practice, doesn’t mean they make sense. Again, the main take away from this is that EVERY SINGLE PERSON’S ACTIONS MATTER.
2. The plant based food market is growing significantly and more people are consuming plant based foods. How is Mindful FUD well positioned to serve this need in the market?
We’ve been a plant-based business for 3 years, but we provided meal delivery with 30 menu items that changed every single month (I know, my poor chef) for 7 years, and I have come to learn what people gravitate towards and what they want to spend their money on. No one has created a chicken alternative like ours. The comparisons have been made in a lab and have been an afterthought to beef and pork products - and this may have been the move 5 years ago, but the recent acquisitions and investments going into plant-based chick’n globally, shows this is the perfect time to get into the market with a superior product.
There are also millions of dollars being invested into bee-free honey. MeliBio Inc is a California based startup creating honey (in a lab) with zero sales and over $1.5 million in investment so far. We are making a product with the same intent, but from real food (that the bee’s pollinated!)
3. Tell us about how Mindful FUD’s products are different from other Vegan meat substitutes on the market today?
We’ve created products that are familiar and appealing to the masses. We pride ourselves in caring about the look and taste, nutrition, scalability and profit equally.
We start with making our products taste and look delicious, then we add nutritional benefits to provide comfort in knowing the product doesn’t just taste good, but it’s also good for you. Like our chick’n for example, we add Nutritional Yeast for nutritional purposes - not flavour. Why? Because those cheesy flakes are actually a complete protein, meaning they provide all nine essential amino acids along with being a solid source of protein. Our nutritional yeast is fortified with a whole slew of B vitamins, including vitamin B12, which is typically what people are concerned about not getting when ditching animal meat.
The scalability was factored in when we chose to use shelf stable ingredients for our products, which will increase our profit margin as we scale because we will have tremendous buying power. We’ve also strategically created 3 different chick’n products with one recipe, which has promised easier scalability in our growth.
As for our hunnie, we are currently the only company in North America making honey from apples. This product is marketed towards vegans or a more sustainable option to consumers in retail, but it’s a direct replacement for honey, maple syrup and agave so it's marketed as a sustainable and more cost effective choice in our food service option.
- How do you plan to scale Mindful FUD’s production to reach other areas of British Columbia and beyond?
We have planned to use 33.3% of raised funds towards a facility or co-packing partnership. 17.8% towards new equipment to achieve efficiency in production and 5.6% on packaging to make it available for retail nation-wide. These 3 areas will allow us to scale faster, more efficiently and also allow us to keep up with demand from other areas of BC and beyond.
- You are raising $450,000 through a common shares offering at $0.10 per share with a $250 minimum investment, can you tell investors how you plan to use these funds and why they should invest?
While 56.7% of funds are used to scale production, we plan to use the rest to stock inventory (11.1%), create a strong brand presence (4.4%) through creative marketing (10%) and build a team of qualified and passionate professionals (17.8%).
Having more access to knowledge than ever before, the choices we make now will determine the path of our future.
I believe that you should invest if you think the world is opening their eyes to change needing to happen.
That the way we are currently living, is not sustainable.
That collectively, it’s the only way to make change happen.
So we reinvent the food system together.
The easiest way we all successfully do this together, is starting by being more mindful about food choices.
So join us on our journey creating FÜD you love, from plants (but you’d never know it!)