Vegan Business Talk episode 171
In this episode I interview Tyler Mayoras, CEO and co-founder of Cool Beans, a plant-based food company in Chicago whose first products are globally-inspired, healthy frozen wraps.
After nearly two decades investing in agriculture and food brands, Tyler had seen the dark underside of the American food industry first hand.
After learning about the negative impact of animal agriculture on the environment, he began a journey into plant-based eating.
Tyler co-founded Cool Beans in 2018 with a few other like-minded investors and to date the product is in 1200 retail stores across the US.
In this interview, Tyler discusses:
• The ‘dark undersides’ of the American food industry that he’s witnessed
• How he helped Boca Burger (Kraft Heinz’s veggie burger) go from $7M to $50M in revenue over 3.5 years
• Why he segued from impact investor to starting his own company
• Why Cool Beans launched with frozen products – and the new technology of freezing that keeps products fresh
• What ‘digital demos’ are and why he prefers them to in-store demos
• Why the company is not creating its own online store
• His predictions for the future of the vegan and plant-based sector
• And more
Katrina Fox
Katrina Fox is our resident guest vegan business expert at Vegan Business Tribe.
An award-winning journalist, content marketer and copywriter, Katrina is the author of the bestseller Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business, the first global book providing success strategies for aspiring and existing vegan business owners, and host of the Vegan Business Talk podcast.
She’s written extensively for niche and mainstream media for more than 25 years on animal advocacy and ethical business and was a regular Forbes contributor for a year specialising in writing about vegan and plant-based businesses.
