What happened: The former president and CEO of Mars Canada has joined the board of a Vancouver-based investment fund focused on plant-based food products.
Why it matters: The fund claims to be the first of its kind in Canada, and makes investments in companies that develop and commercialize products for the growing US$5 billion plant-based products market.
The former president and CEO of Mars Canada has joined the board of Vancouver-based Eat Beyond Global Holdings – a fund focused on investments in plant-based products.
Don Robinson has spent more than three decades in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry at companies including Kraft and Mars Canada. Most recently, he served as president and CEO of Cara Operations – now Recipe Unlimited Corp. – which today owns Swiss Chalet, the Keg Steakhouse + Bar, New York Fries and other brands.
“I'm a vegan,” Robinson told BIV. "If you had of asked me a year ago, 'Would I be vegan?' I would have said: 'What! No.'"
But after a conversation with a vegan friend nearly nine months ago, watching the Netflix documentary Forks Over Knives and reading the nutrition-focused book The China Study, he realized the positives of eliminating animal products from his diet.
Now as a consumer of plant-based products, Robinson says he has seen an explosion of meat alternatives hit grocery store shelves, but believes the industry is just getting started.
"I think it's just starting and is going to go a long way," he said.
Eat Beyond says it focuses its investments in global companies that are developing and commercializing products that include alternatives to meat, seafood, eggs and dairy.
It took part in Victoria-based vegan butcher's more than $4 million initial public offering at $0.25 per share. Shares in The Very Good Food Company closed above $1.50 on July 8.
According to the Good Food Institute, grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace purchases of animal products has grown 29% over the last two years, to US$5 billion in 2019.
