He has since nicknamed Mendelsohn "the burger king." When Mendelsohn got the meat alternative home, he was impressed at the texture and how similarly it cooked and tasted just like real meat "It just so happened to be that Spike's wife was vegan," Goldman recalls. At the time the company was preparing for its IPO. Goldman, sitting near Mendelsohn, had a secret weapon under his chair: a pack of Beyond Meat burgers, and he told the chef to go home and cook these and let him know what he thought. You can register for Plant-Based World Expo here and join Chef Spike on Day 2, to learn more about how he’s helping to grow the plant-based movement.The start of Mendelsohn's new plant-based venture dates back three years when he was speaking at a food conference in Washington D.C., where founders and investors were on the panel, including entrepreneur Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea, and at the time, the executive chairman of Beyond Meat. “My platform is to educate people about what’s important.” “I love to talk about food policy and support, both locally and internationally,” he said. When it comes down to it, Chef Spike is all about healthy food and creating positive change. We have these little challenges to introduce people to plant-based foods, where we’re not preaching vegetarianism, but we’re saying what if you just try one little swap.” This can be swapping dairy milk for plant-based in your coffee. Everyday we challenge consumers with some sort of plant-based challenge. “For those at home, at Eat the Change, we do a month long campaign and we call it the Incredible Planet Challenge. One pack of carrots is equal to one whole serving of carrots.”įor those who aren’t 100% sold on a plant-based or vegan diet yet, Chef Spike says start small.
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“We were able to figure out how to marinate and dehydrate the carrot to taste like a gusher and have a real pop of flavor. Chef Spike tells WholeFoods Magazine that they created this as a healthier alternative to fruit snacks. The Cosmic Carrot Chews are available for children and adults. The Mushroom Jerky comes in five flavors and is a non-processed snack. At Plant-Based Expo, the company will highlight two of products: Mushroom Jerky and Cosmic Carrot Chews. One of the slogans of PLNT Burger is Eat the change you wish to see in the world, which inspired the creation of Eat the Change, a CBG company. That’s all it took and before you know it we were innovating a lot.” Eat the change you wish to see in the world To me that was the light bulb moment where I thought, Wow this movement is here and I can create this 100% plant-based indulgent delicious burger shack. I would never want to do it if I couldn’t make it as delicious as any other burger joint. There was fantastic vegan cheese that melted, vegan mayonnaise for sauces…ingredients that could actually do it. I found it vastly interesting that we were able to develop a burger that was indulgent, delicious, sometimes greasy, just like any other burger joint, and it was 100% plant-based. “Our first location was Silver Springs, Maryland. “We started this concept in a Whole Foods store,” Chef Spike says. From there, he and Goldman formed PLNT Burger. He credits this experience with teaching him more about the plant-based industry. “What’s my new disruption? What’s my new trend? How can I take a little bit of everything I do and put it in this one area? The Beyond Meat burger did that for me, and that relationship with Seth was born.”Īfter that first introduction, Chef Spike began working with Beyond Meat, developing content and creating recipes for the brand. “It was the point in my career where I was plateauing and trying to figure out what’s next,” Chef Spike explains. The options weren’t there and I think once I tasted that burger, it got me super excited.” Plant-Based Turning Point Usually, you laugh because it’s a vegan burger. I heard you’re the burger king, and tell me what you think of them.’ He didn’t know that my wife Cody is actually vegan and we’ve always had a hard time with the burger. “In a joking way he said, ‘Hey why don’t you take these home. “ I’ve always thought vegetables are very important and have always tried to highlight them, and then I met my co-founder Seth Goldman at a panel and he introduced a Beyond Meat burger to me,” Chef Spike shares.
He remembers trying the Beyond Meat Burger for the first time, and how that experience helped build his burger joint, PLNT Burger. Over the past three to four years, Chef Spike has helped create two startup brands focused on healthy plant-based fare.
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