Buoyed by growing vegan trend, plant-based meat startup “Let’s Plant Meat” is confident that there are opportunities for it to shine as a unicorn.
“We are in the industry that has been growing not just at regional but also global levels,” Let’s Plant Meat’s founder and chief executive officer Smith Taweelerdniti says during an exclusive interview with The Story Thailand.
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His venture launched its plant-based burger patty to the market earlier this year. To date, the response is so good that Let’s Plant Meat hopes to double its daily production capacity of 300 kilograms soon.
“Our plant-based meat can be grilled, fried with basil leaves, cooked in green curry, and baked in lasagna,” Smith talked about the many tempting dishes that can use his firm’s vegetarian meat as their ingredient.
This top executive is interested in developing plant-based meat because he has enjoyed being a vegetarian for well over two years now.
Making Plants Taste Like Real Meat
Smith reckons that proteins from livestock flesh may be tastier. Yet, they are by no means a good choice for people who need to watch out for cholesterol level, etc.
“Our plant-based meat is an interesting alternative. It tastes nice and it is also good for health,” he quipped. He explained that his firm’s products are made of soy beans, rice, coconuts, beetroot and some imported protein extracts.
Soon, Let’s Plant Meat will roll out another type of products – marinated plant-based meat that will taste more like livestock meat.
“We have conducted researches to ensure our products are not just healthy but also delicious,” Smith said.
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Going Global
Overseeing the manufacturing of seasonings and spices of Nithi Foods, Smith decided to separately set up Let’s Plant Meat for clear branding. “We have established this startup as we eye an export market too,” Smith said.
According to the brand’s founder, Let’s Plant Meat will head overseas from next year onward. It plans to raise fund for its overseas expansion because it intends to set up its manufacturing facilities in foreign nations as well.
Chance of Shining as Unicorn
The United Nations has estimated that the world’s total population will reach 10 billion people in 30 years.
By that time, livestock meat will become expensive because it is not going to be easy to have enough livestock to feed everyone.
“So, clearly plant-based meat will become a great alternative,” Smith said.
According to him, Let’s Plant Meat does not eye just Thailand but also the whole world in drawing up its business plans. Forecasting that 20 per cent of the world’s meat market will surround plant-based type by 2050, Let’s Plant Meat believes it has a good chance of becoming a unicorn.
“The world’s current meat market is worth Bt1 trillion and it is expected to be Bt1.4 trillion in 2030. That’s massive. So, my firm really has ample opportunities out there,” Smith concluded.
