On nutrition, going up against the milk lobby, and the next disruptor
By Nurit Ben
Sue Garfitt knows the food sector inside and out, and the plant-based space in particular. After roles at PepsiCo and New York Bakery, she spent 8 years as CEO of Alpro, starting out back when plant-based milk was decidedly not a thing. Garfitt turned out to be a force in changing that – establishing the brand as a plant-based leader, driving year-on-year double-digit growth, and going up against dairy lobbies who’d rather not have tough competition on the shelves. She left Alpro in 2022 to bring that touch to the The Protein Brewery, a Dutch developer of fermented fungi proteins. We sat down with her on the environment around food stateside, the state of the plant-based industry, and her bet on the next big disruptor in the space.
Let’s start with what’s all around us – what’s your view on what’s happening stateside, from tariffs to the pressure on artificial flavors?
Geopolitical challenges come all the time. Let’s face it, inflation rises or falls and we still have to manage our way as business leaders through those challenges. That is not to belittle the impact of the tariff war that has recently broken out, which given the magnitude will adversely impact global economic growth. What I would say about the food and ag business is: we still have to eat. There could be some technologies that might not actually thrive or even survive, but the fact is we’ve all got to eat and drink.
When you’re in a high inflation economy you pay more attention to volume than revenue because as consumers, we adjust our position according to our disposable income. But generally speaking, we don’t ostensibly change what we’re doing. I think the food industry is actually very agile at being able to adjust to those changes because it’s had to be agile. And as food industry leaders, we need to see a medium/longer-term picture. Because otherwise we would stop innovating, and the industry and consumers seek that innovation.
Let’s zero in on the plant-based industry. What’s your take on where it stands right now?
If you look at the market stats, it’s globally worth $29 billion. It’s clear that plant-based beverages are globally more established than plant-based meat and meat alternatives. But it was developed in the market earlier, so it’s not surprising. You can see there’s been some turbulence over the course of the last few years, in the meat alternative space in particular which was felt first in the States. It’s such a huge market and a great market to scale in, but the minute a trend happens – if it’s positive, of course it has a massive impact because of its scale. If it’s negative, it also has the same kind of impact in terms of the decline. Europe is very different, because the culture and eating norms are different from one European market to another, so even if there’s a trend across Europe, it doesn’t happen so rapidly.
On trends, you’ve seen ‘plant-based’ go from non-existent, to a phrase every consumer knows.
I’ve been in the plant-based industry for a long time and pioneered to bring plant-based to the mainstream, because that term didn’t even exist when I started at Alpro. People talked about a dietary issue, an allergy to dairy, usually a lactose intolerance. Now people talk about ‘plant based’ and it has become a lifestyle choice. The plant-based industry in milk did a lot of work in mimicking the dairy analogue, and that work is still ongoing. There’s also the question of price parity between plant-based alternatives versus the animal equivalent. There’s no point shying away from it. People are very focused on what they’re paying, in particular for the protein they’re consuming as their main meal. If you look at plant-based milk in Europe, the growth is still a pretty solid 7 or 8% growth per year. Most food industry leaders would be very happy with that growth. And I think we’re in a period of evolution and correction, but that doesn’t change the long-term landscape, because fundamentally, we need some different protein options.
Beyond taste and price parity, where does nutrition fit in? How big a factor is it to be competitive in the market?
I’ll take that in two parts. First, what do consumers think? And second, what do the dairy and meat industries think? Currently it’s not a level playing field, and it was never a level playing field between plant-based alternatives and animal protein, where there is a lot more government support and subsidy for animal farming. But we must start to level that playing field. Even while I was at Alpro, we lobbied politicians and the EU Commission to secure a more level playing field. Otherwise, getting to price parity becomes a lot more difficult, when you’ve got an uneven position to begin with.
The principle of nutrition was always one of the other questions the animal protein lobby would throw at the plant-based alternatives. And yet, it’s very clear now from a World Health perspective that consuming more plants in our diet – full stop – has genuine health benefits. Much literature has now been recorded and written about it, and I think generally consumers recognize that. The next question is to ensure that what’s labelled on a pack does not resemble a chemistry set, which raises questions from consumers. What’s in this? I don’t recognize it. And the minute that starts to become more of a question, it puts consumers off. And you see a lot of new technology and new ingredients providing a cleaner label and better taste through improvements in processing.
A bigger opportunity for improving nutrition is in the products we wouldn’t automatically associate with alternative protein – snacks and baked goods that are carbohydrate heavy and low in nutritional value. We see the trend in ‘better for you’ versions where protein and fiber have been added, to improve the product’s nutritional value with no organoleptic trade off – that has to be part of the story going forward to engage consumers.
So don’t neglect snacking.
Definitely not, because snacking is on the rise, and if we want to positively impact health and well-being we cannot ignore our snacking habits. As human beings we are governed a lot by convenience. You don’t suddenly stop a generation from eating things that taste good. Multinationals and CPG branded businesses have a huge responsibility because they are part of the opportunity to be able to bring new products to market. Because let’s face it, as consumers every time we choose to eat or drink something, we choose the world we want to live in, not just in terms of our health, but the health of the planet.
On the note of industry responsibility, you’ve been on both the big corporate and scale up sides. And corporates usually aren’t the ones pioneering innovation. What’s the best recipe for working together successfully?
Given the experience I’ve had in my career, the one big difference when you move from a corporate environment in the food industry to one where you are scaling is the availability of resources, whether that’s financial or people. The corporate environment has those resources in abundance. If I think about that as a capability – to be able to bring innovation through scale up businesses – that’s where the leaning in around resources can really help. A relationship with a strategic partner can help commercialize where application capability and expertise is more available than any in startup or scale up. In addition, supporting grant and subsidy applications can also significantly increase the chance of success.
The third part is making sure there is a forum in the industry to be able to bring those parties together. Today it’s very disjointed. Collaborations are often due to a food industry leader having a professional or personal interest in a specific technology which they seek out, or a scale up being able to make that connection. But we need to be better at formalising those connection points. Investors can also play a role via the LPs they have in their portfolio. Put all that together and the industry could go faster.
What’s your next big bet on a disruptor in the space?
I think a hybrid of bringing plant and animal together in combinations could be an exciting opportunity. It’s not easy to commercialize or operationalize because you’re bringing allergens and non-allergens together in a manufacturing environment. But consumers know they need to make healthier choices. Hybrid solutions help to bridge that opportunity, as well as the challenges around taste or price parity. And it should be possible to execute it better. I’m sure it will take leadership from a number of companies and signposting for consumers so they can understand the proposition. Sure, if you’re a plant-based fanatic you probably wouldn’t do it. But many of us are moving towards flexitarianism. On that basis I firmly believe it could be a big disruptor that unlocks genuine growth opportunities.
Finally, let’s talk leadership. What’s the most underrated skill you think a CEO needs to succeed?
The skill I think is super important is linked to resilience. It’s the ability to be able to stay what I would call ‘glass half full.’ And that’s not completely about optimism, because you need to have your feet on the ground even if your head is in the clouds. You have to be able to say, How do we make that happen? How can we execute that? And maintain a degree of positivity because as a leader you have to be able to inspire others to see the glass half full.