181: Alternative Food Investing with Very Good Foods CEO Mitchell Scott

Our mission is lofty, badass but beautifully simple: Get millions to rethink their food choices while helping them do the world a world of good. By offering plant-based food options so delicious and nutritious, we’re helping this kind of diet become the norm. When you have a simple goal, it’s hard to mess it up: create damn good food, and well, keep it simple. Unlike most plant-based alternatives out there, we don’t overcomplicate things. We go hard on taste, texture, protein and then call it a day. In return, you get all the benefits you had before, plus the extra feels of doing a s****tload of good for yourself, your planet and your furry friends. No brainer or what? Plant-fuelled veteran or plant-curious rookie—it doesn’t matter. You’ll find our products put the fun back in functional, as we never compromise on taste or nutrition. And that goes for feeding fussy families or fuelling fitness-freaks. Geez, that’s a load of F’s! So, if you replace an animal-derived product with one of ours, you’d better be getting all the nutrients and the satisfaction from it. Otherwise, what’s the point, right? Our method relies on complex scientific algorithms… said no one ever at Very Good Food Co. Yup, we do things a little differently. And that comes down to real people trusting their taste buds, Buds. Rather than petri-dish processes. In fact, our roots as a restaurant mean we’re foodies at heart. So you’ll find our R&D team mostly in test kitchens, finding creative and innovative ways to make the healthiest food possible, while challenging our out-dated reliance on animal products once and for all. Very Good Food Company is traded on the Canadian Stock Exchange (ticker: VERY) & in the United States on the OTCQB market (ticker: VRYYF)  Listen to ILAB 181 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.   Where we are: Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdk Sam Marks – South Carolina/ IG @imsammarks Derek Spartz - Venice Beach / IG @DerekRadio   Sponsor: Support Invest Like a Boss: Join our Patreon Discussed: Very Good Food Very Good Butchers Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links: ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000) Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK) Betterment – Get up to 1 year managed free Wealthfront – Get your first $15,000 managed free PeerStreet – Get a 1% yield bump on your first loan *Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.   Time Stamps: 04:45 – What got you interested in alternative foods? 08:07 – Did this start as a side hustle or did you think this had real potential? 08:53 – Can you tell us about your experience with crowdfunding? 11:36 – How did “Dragon’s Den” (Canadian Version of Shark Tank) help with the business? 14:28 – Can you speak to why you use beans as your base ingredient for most of your products? 16:43 – Where do you source the ingredients for your products? 17:28 – Tell us about the expansion to dairy alternative products 18:56 – Tell us about  going public in the canadian stock exchange and on the OTC market at such an early stage. 23:06 – How will you be distributing all of this new product you will create? 24:35 – What can you tell us about the new distribution deal? 26:12 – Is your focus in the future on retail? 27:28 – Have you partnered with any restaurants or chains? 28:13 – Where do you see the Very Good Food Company in the future? 29:31 – What do you think about the long term future of the industry? 31:02 – What do you think about the difference in food standards between Canada, the US and other countries? 33:10 – How do you try to encourage people to try a plant based diet? 34:42 – Even though you are currently operating at a loss, do you have a projection of when you will see profitability?  36:32 – Sam and Derek recap If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here!  Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.