Chicago-based food startup Theo’s Plant-Based wants to make beet jerky the new thing.
Selected by Whole Foods Market to participate in its accelerator program, the company co-founded by Theo Mourad and Aaron Brodkey was the only Midwest brand in the cohort of 10 brands selected out of 500 local producers.
The immersive program offers mentorship directly from Whole Foods Market experts to its local producers and is designed to educate small and emerging companies with the potential for financial support.
Selected producers receive placement in their home cities' Whole Foods Market stores. In 2021 alone, the company added 500 new local brands to its supplier roster and 6,500 new local items to shelves.
Mourad hopes the Midwest Whole Foods shelves are just the start.
“Our goal is to be national with them,” he told the Chicago Business Journal.
Mourad said right now most of his time is spent gearing up and planning for the next couple of months and then things will pivot to figuring out how to expand to other regions from the Midwest.
“They’re going to bring us into half of the Midwest stores in the late fall and then the other half in 2023, which should be about 30 stores to start with,” he said.
Theo's was selected by the leading natural and organic foods retailer because the company’s line of beet jerky supports farmers who prioritize soil health and brings a farm-to-table flair to the plant-based jerky category. The company also praised Mourad and Brodkey’s vision to help people eat more vegetables by creating innovative, chef-driven, vegetable-forward foods.
Brodkey called it a “moonshot opportunity” when they applied and said that the program provides first-time founders like themselves with knowledge that they can only get from Whole Foods.
Expanding the beet submarket with Whole Foods
Members of the initial cohort will participate in a 12-week curriculum taught by Whole Foods Market and other industry experts, undergo a yearlong mentorship with a Whole Foods Market local forager and have access to other growth-related supplier benefits. Brand participants who successfully complete the program will be eligible to receive a $25,000 equity investment from a donor-advised fund managed by the Austin Community Foundation.
Theo's wants to lead the world into a cleaner, more nutritious and sustainable food system and its inaugural product, Beet Jerky, is a first-of-its-kind snack that it hopes will shake up the coveted jerky category.
“With the plant-based boom, there were all of these products coming into the market, and the jerky subcategory trailed behind. For a while there were really only plant-based jerkies made from soy,” Mourad said. “Then there were some cool innovators doing jerky with dried mushrooms and there’s now probably a dozen mushroom jerky companies.”
Theo's distinguishes itself by using vegetables, however.
“We’re the first to do vegetables. What’s great about jerky is it’s long been used as a way to preserve foods. Meat spoils quickly and so do vegetables, so why not create jerky using vegetables?” Brodkey told the Chicago Business Journal.
Mourad admits one challenge in building the brand might be that beets can be a “polarizing” vegetable.
“They're not something that, you know, everybody always rushes to the grocery store [for] compared to some other things, but that’s a great challenge, and I’ve found a way to make something delicious and more accessible,” he said.
Beet jerky will first be released in three flavors: sea salt and cracked pepper, sesame-ginger teriyaki and savory BBQ. Each recipe is made with certified-organic, minimally processed, gluten-free, paleo, vegan, whole vegetable and nutrient-rich ingredients.
