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Monday, January 17th, 2022
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As part of ProVeg’s mission to support the worldwide adoption of plant-rich diets, we’ve been interviewing thought leaders from across the food industry and retail sectors. This month we caught up with Veganuary co-founder Matthew Glover. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Matthew Glover is a serial entrepreneur whose investment business, Veg Capital, has supported some of the most exciting and disruptive brands on the market. His latest venture, VFC (Vegan Fried Chicken) encapsulates his energy and optimism about the future. But first, we wanted to touch on one of his most impactful social interventions – Veganuary – an increasingly global phenomenon whereby consumers commit to eating plant-based for the month of January. Since launching in 2014, an estimated two million people have taken the pledge, and Veganuary has become a regular fixture on retail and restaurant calendars.
Join the ProVeg Veggie Challenge and try eating more plant-based for 30 days. It’s better for your health, better for the planet and better for animals. Get a healthy start with your personal Challenge.
“Veganuary was all about increasing the demand for plant-based products. With Veg Capital, it’s about increasing the supply side. Eating out, shopping, cooking, and social friction were all challenges [for consumers]. Veganuary now has a corporate outreach team to help engage big food companies and encourage them to see the financial benefits of growing this sector – alongside the sustainability and ethical benefits.”
“When we launched Veganuary, we just focused on getting as many people to sign up as possible. Retailers are now keen and excited – there are new opportunities and higher margins – price, convenience, and taste are cited as the top three things to focus on and I agree with that.
Why do people sign up for Veganyary? Health, environment, and animal welfare. For VFC, we’ve chosen to focus on the animal-welfare angle for choosing our nuggets.”
ProVeg International is a food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives.
“We spent a whole day brainstorming our messaging. I wanted to go all-in on animal rights, mission, purpose, but [our brand partners] steered me towards a middle-ground. We don’t want to offend flexitarians, but we do educate people. At the same time, VFC has probably pushed the needle more than most – we’ve been at factory farms, filming – food brands don’t usually do that.
As a brand, I’ve banned the term plant-based. We don’t even use it as a hashtag. ‘Vegan’ represents who we are and how we feel as an organisation. There’s uncertainty among consumers around what plant-based means – it’s more ingredient and diet-led. Whereas vegan is more mission-led.”
Matthew believes so – and he’s got the numbers to back it up. You can hear more of Matthew’s experiences, as well as insights from fifty other food industry and retail professionals, in ProVeg’s New Food Hub – launching in spring 2022.
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