“ At the end of the day, people buy food based on taste and price,” he acknowledged, but if you can nail those two things and build a compelling story about health, nutrition or animal welfare, you are likely onto a winner.

Plant-based products that seek to make inroads into dairy and meat categories are not a fad or a trend, he added, but evidence of a permanent shift in buying behavior reflecting the “continual education of the American consumers about what’s good for your health, the environment and for animals”.īut are people really buying food products for such noble reasons? Yes and no, says Sade. If we want to have a fundamental impact on the food landscape we have to have a product that tastes so good that people that eat dairy would say this is a product I’d have any day of the week.” We want to reach people that enjoy eating cheese to try a plant-based option and enjoy it so much they keep on buying it. Kite Hill is challenging perceptions of dairy-free cheese (forget those blocks of vegetable oil and starch) and appealing to a far wider customer base. But just as importantly, it also reflects the company’s mission to appeal to a broader base of consumers, as well as removing any stigma around ‘vegan cheese’, which can conjure up unpleasant images of gummy blocks of vegetable oil and starch. The fact that the products sit in Whole Foods’ dairy case rather than in a standalone vegan cheese section reflects the retailer’s confidence that Kite Hill products are every bit as good as top quality dairy cheeses, he said. Artisan cheese will be a very small part of what this company will become in the next couple of years.” “ We want to change the entire dairy landscape, and we’re building a whole platform of plant-based products that will completely change how people view categories from entrees to cheesecake. More importantly, however, Sade – who most recently headed up marketing for meat-alternative firm Impossible Foods - did not join Kite Hill to head up a niche vegan cheese business. We’re building a whole platform of products Matthew Sade: 'Artisan cheese will be a very small part of what this company will become in the next couple of years.” Its products (almond milk cheeses, cream-cheese-style cheeses, chilled ravioli, and shortly, cheesecakes) are in Whole Foods stores nationwide, plus several restaurants, and set to roll out to a wider customer base next year as Kite Hill ramps up its capacity to meet surging demand, Sade told FoodNavigator-USA. Until now, that is, says Sade, who runs a business often cited as part of a new wave of artisanal nut-based vegan cheese firms such as Miyoko’s Kitchen (California) and Treeline (New York), but is not, he claims, really competing with them, as Kite Hill is utilizing a completely novel – and patented - production process, and has bigger, bolder, cross-category ambitions.įounded by vegan celebrity chef Tal Ronnen, cheesemaker Monte Casino and acclaimed Stanford biochemist Dr Pat Brown, Lyrical Foods also has some heavyweight VC backing in the form of Khosla Ventures (which has also invested in Hampton Creek and Instacart). The answer, according to Matthew Sade, CEO of Hayward, CA-based Lyrical Foods (d.b.a. Emulsifiers, stabilizers, hydrocolloids.Chocolate and confectionery ingredients.Carbohydrates and fibers (sugar, starches).Plant-based, alt proteins, precision fermentation.

Kite hill sour cream stores