Somethign I’ve been thinking about for the last weeks are legumes. It was prompted by these two conversations
#1 Podcast interview with Soil Capital CEO Chuck de Liedekerke where he made a comment about legumes being a vital crop for a good rotation, but that there isn’t enough off-take.
We all know how powerful legumes can be in, in a regenerative rotation for the, their added nitrogen. But in, A lot of markets, there simply is no offtaker for legume crops.
And so, drilling a legume into the rotation means foregoing revenue. And it’s really hard for far farmers to, to convince, to get convinced to do that if if there’s a profitable cash alternative on the other side.
#2 Interview with Bold Bean Co. CEO Amelia Christie-Miller where she talks about how they get people to care about their beans.
People are asking “how the hell do you cook with beans?”
“That’s why our cookbook and our recipe content has been so pivotal to our success,” she says. “We’re combining: we’ve got an amazing product, but here’s also what you do with it.
When coming up with new product ideas:
During testing, it became apparent that even Bold Bean’s foodie consumers would be unsure exactly what to do with those options. “And consumers need to know exactly what they’re doing. You’ve only got five seconds that they’re shopping the category, and you don’t want them thinking: What am I going to do with some pesto beans?”
Also interesting comments on charing a premium for a product when cost of living has been much more at the forefront. In the baked beans category, the share of brands fell while own label increased:
“The data shows that, in the retailers we’re listed at, people are trading down into own label, but then they’re also trading up to us – we’re actually taking customers from own label.
“And I think that’s because, being really honest, beans and pulses have been commodity categories for so long, the own label and the brand are virtually the same, they taste virtually the same. But we do taste radically different. The trade up we’ve done in our existing category has been proven.
“And we’re trying to do exactly the same with baked beans – when you try them, they don’t look or taste anything like Heinz. We’re not trying to mimic the syrupy texture, and even the actual bean we’ve gone for is a slightly bigger bean, because we want that to be a point of difference. We’re not trying to compete.”
“I see our competition as a shop-bought soup or a Pret sandwich, even avocados. I see competition from elsewhere, not from Heinz.” With that ambition, Bold Bean Co is certainly living up to its name.
A few questions:
- Are legumes indeed missing? Need to talk to farmers to see if they experience this as a problem/ issue
- If it is, why isn’t there more off-take for legumes? Need to look into what’s currently grown, and where it’s going
- Might open up ideas to increase off-take: can we add this as ingredients? Make existing stuff healthier?
- Start in B2B, explore B2C after
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