Aakash Shah and Damian Felchlin
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Summary
Hey everyone. Stay tuned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.
Now on to my guests for today, Aakash Shah and Damian Felchlin, founders of High Time Foods, a company that provides meat alternatives to the food industry.
They met in business school at Babson College. Aakash is from India and Damian is from Switzerland, and both have backgrounds in the food industry. They saw a need for an alternative, shelf-stable protein source, so they played to their strengths. They won money at pitch competitions, enabling them to launch their company last year, with their first customer being a Mexican restaurant in Boston.
The mission of High Time Foods is, as Damian says, very data-driven. They want to turn around the high level of carbon emissions caused by the meat industry while also helping people in circumstances where they don't have access to or can't afford refrigeration. They see their product as being attractive to "flexitarians," meat-eaters who are exploring plant-based alternatives. They ultimately hope that their product will be an affordable, sustainable option for meat, regardless of whether their customers are vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian.
Now, let’s get better together.
Actionable Insights
- Draw on your strengths. While both founders express some disenchantment with working in the food industry, finding a way to solve a problem around food was a good fit for their experiences and interests.
- Start where you know. They started focusing on the sales process they know — selling to chefs and restaurants — though they hope one day to go beyond that.
- Educate your customers. They understand the importance of educating the public about the environmental impact of meat while also providing a product that people will buy. They acknowledge the work other businesses have done in this area that have helped pave the way.
Links to Explore Further
And if you want to check out the vegan Mexican restaurant in Oakland I mentioned: Vengazafoods.com