Eben Bayer Of MyForest Foods and Ecovative On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Investors provide us the means to make our vision a reality and they have been so crucial to our success and growth. In 2021, we secured $40 million in Series A funding led by Viking Global Investors. Earlier this year, we also confirmed a $15 million venture loan financed from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and a private investment vehicle connected to Horizon. We are greatly appreciative of our supportive investors as they have helped us scale and grow tremendously over the past two years.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Eben Bayer, CEO and Founder of MyForest Foods.
Eben Bayer, Co-founder & CEO of Ecovative and MyForest Foods, pioneers the growth of premium, award-winning mycelium-based products that are safe, healthy and certified sustainable. He is the primary inventor on more than 10 patents published in over 30 countries. After more than a decade of navigating the intricacies of mycelium — and better understanding its principles — Eben has brought his learnings into the food space, forming MyForest Foods and its flagship product: MyBacon®. Utilizing what he calls the Forager’s Secret, Eben is enthusiastic to revolutionize the future of food through an entirely new category of alternative protein.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
Thank you! I was born and raised on my family farm in Vermont (literally, I was born on the barn floor), so my interest in nature was sparked at an early age. Working outdoors with animals, my desire to learn about the environment and create a sustainable future came instinctively. I first discovered fungi while working on the farm and was intrigued by their unique, binding nature, but my interest in mycelium as a material took off while I was studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). There, my professor, the late Burt Swersey, challenged us to “find a solution” as the final project for his Inventor’s Studio class. He told us to design something according to his philosophy, “don’t do nonsense, do something meaningful.” After a number of failed attempts, I connected the binding ability of fungi that I’d observed as a kid with the problem of plastic pollution. My passion for creating positive change through mycelium only grew and followed me into my business endeavors.
Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?
In 2007, when I was in the midst of my Inventor’s Studio final project, I found a palm-sized mass of mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, growing in my dorm room. Although it’s not exactly what you want to see under your bed, it was the inspiration I needed to find a solution to our planet’s most pressing problems. Sparked by our successful college class project, I then teamed up with my classmate Gavin McIntyre to start Ecovative in 2007 focused on packaging and materials. Ecovative has since grown to be a leading biomaterials company, and I never stopped believing that mycelium held other powers that could be applied to other areas of life — including food. Thus, MyForest Foods — as a separate company — was born.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we first had the idea to try growing mycelium into food products, we started by experimenting with whatever we had available to us. On a whim, we tried cooking up mycelium from one of the strains we use to grow leather, mostly out of curiosity. It sizzled up just like a slice of bacon, and looked so good frying up in the pan that we started to get really excited, like we’d hit a home run on the first try. But as soon as we ate it, we realized we had a lot of work to do, because it tasted absolutely terrible. Turns out some strains are better for material than for food! But in a funny way, it gave us the confidence to keep experimenting. If we could get mycelium to look and cook like bacon, we figured, maybe we could manage to make it taste like bacon too, and here we are.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?
The most common mistake I’ve seen is trying to scale too quickly through flashy marketing efforts and promotional campaigns rather than listening to customers and prioritizing the actual product itself. As an entrepreneur who is eager to achieve my end goal of sustainably feeding the world, I recognize the temptation to speed up the progression to market scale. However, it’s critical to take time and do things the right way during each step to avoid easy pitfalls, unsustainable growth, and disappointed consumers. Expect delays and roadblocks when starting out — this will bring about valuable lessons that will strengthen the end product.
Although we’ve been eager to get MyForest Foods’ flagship product, MyBacon, onto many more plates, maintaining the integrity of our main ingredient, mycelium, has been of utmost importance for our team. Since it’s a completely natural ingredient, some harvests haven’t gone to plan and we’ve had to practice patience. That said, we recently opened the world’s largest vertical mycelium farm, Swersey Silos in Green Island, NY, which will enable us to produce nearly three million pounds of MyBacon mycelium to feed one million customers by 2024.
Our team has had to exercise patience as we’ve meaningfully worked towards our goals, and we’re overjoyed to see the progress made.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
Make sure you truly believe in your product and find someone you can trust — whether they are a professor, colleague, friend, or family member. Having a sounding board, someone you can brainstorm with, and someone you can confide in is so empowering and helps you stay on track to hitting your goals. I was lucky enough to have my classmate, Gavin McIntyre, and our college professor, Burt Swersey, on board with these ideas and it helped our vision come to life.
In fact, Ecovative and MyForest Foods recently achieved a major milestone when our team built the largest aerial mycelium farm in the world. Gavin and I took this as an opportunity to honor Burt’s legacy and the impact he’s had on our entrepreneurial journey. In his memory, we named this farm “Swersey Silos.”
Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?
I’d tell them that no matter how big their idea is, find a way to start small and get going on it. Align your mission with your business plans and build a community of team members, investors, and partners who are aligned on your vision. It may feel impossible at times, but keep moving towards your goals one step at a time and big things can happen.
There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?
No offense to anyone in that field, but I wouldn’t recommend an invention consultant. Invention isn’t just a gift that some people have and some people don’t, it can be practiced and learned, and the best way to learn is by doing. I think you’re best served by finding a mentor to help you along in your journey to inventing for yourself. We were lucky to have a great mentor in Burt Swersey, who not only taught how to innovate, but to do so with solving real problems in mind. A great invention usually comes from a single mind, naturally as the result of many influences, but it requires a team to bring it to scale. A consultant isn’t all that likely to help you develop something unique.
That’s not to say consultants aren’t incredibly valuable. For instance, the invention that spurred MyForest Foods was taking gourmet mycelium from the forest — the Forager’s Secret — and expressing it in a farm. That was a conceptual leap, but since we took it, we’ve been grateful to work with food development consultants, who can help us navigate the path to a very specific goal. We collaborated with Matson to develop the second generation of our bacon, which was extremely helpful, because we had a target in mind, and their expertise got us there quicker than if we’d tried to work it out ourselves. Rather than pay someone else to invent something for you, better to find experts that know the domain that is relevant to your invention, and work together to improve it.
What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?
I think both can be important assets to the start of a business. If you have a clear goal and know the steps to get there, funding can be a great way to kickstart the process. For MyForest Foods, we knew we needed to create new production facilities that can allow for clean-label and plant-based products. Our venture capital partners allowed us to have the means to begin this production at the early stages of our company and helped us create a product we wholeheartedly believe in.
Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?
Sourcing good, raw ingredients is a critical part of creating a good product. For us, we either source our own ingredients or partner with vendors we trust. Our new farm, Swersey Silos, will produce upwards of three million pounds of mycelium annually while significantly reducing the carbon, land, and water usage required for traditional pork bacon production. This allows us to feel proud of the materials we are using, while still creating a great, delicious product.
Additionally, the farmers and retailers we work with are highly important to the success of our products and become partners to our company. It is important to make sure the organizations you choose to work with align with the values and mission you hold as a company. For example, this past year MyForest Foods partnered with Whitecrest Mushrooms Ltd, a gourmet mushroom farm in Canada, to grow another three million pounds of mycelium — on less than an acre of land! Together, we will be able to increase production and further our mutual goal to create a healthier, more sustainable future through food. Finding partners that reflect similar values makes the work easier, and all that much better.
As for patents, I see them as a trade between government and society. The deal is, you share the idea in detail, so it’s not a secret anymore, but in return, you get a limited amount of time where you’re free and protected to commercialize the idea or product. This tradeoff is critical for tech companies — in our case, mycelium technology — in their early stages, and have enough protection that you can actually pay back your investors. These are especially important for projects that will take a long time to commercialize, and the beautiful part is that once the patent is over, you’re giving the world a beautiful instruction manual. Before it expires, anyone can do it themselves, but they can’t sell it. That’s especially relevant to an idea that we hope to see change the way the world eats for the better.
Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why?
1. A problem-based solution
I found that over 80% of traditional meat sold is under the category of ‘whole cut,’ despite much of the plant-based protein category opting for the ‘ground’ category of meats such as sausage or burgers. Of the ‘whole cut’ meat products, bacon is one of those “can’t give up” items for many people. That’s why we created a whole cut, plant-based bacon that is delicious!
2. A mission that you believe in
If you take one stroll through a grocery store, you’ll see that there is an exorbitant amount of products in the beverage and food space. I believe that in order to be successful, you should dig deep to find out how your product will differentiate itself from others. In my opinion, it’s acknowledging the problem your product solves, and aligning it around that mission. Make sure this is something you believe in and that will make the world a better place, even in a small way. This will help you and your team stay hyper-focused and passionate.
3. A team of people you trust
I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by wonderful individuals since creating Ecovative back in 2007. At MyForest Foods, we have a top-notch team of food innovation experts that I trust wholeheartedly. We’re continuing to build our team, so if you’re on board with our mission — we’re hiring!
4. Solid investors that support your mission
Investors provide us the means to make our vision a reality and they have been so crucial to our success and growth. In 2021, we secured $40 million in Series A funding led by Viking Global Investors. Earlier this year, we also confirmed a $15 million venture loan financed from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and a private investment vehicle connected to Horizon. We are greatly appreciative of our supportive investors as they have helped us scale and grow tremendously over the past two years.
5. Patience
Good things take time — especially in the food and beverage industry. You must have patience to take the necessary time to do things the right way, not the fast way. On the other hand, there’s good reason to be impatient. Personally, I’m a pretty impatient person for whom time is a very tangible thing. There’s value in being impatient insofar as it means you’re pressing things to move forward, which is necessary to progress. Paradoxically, since good things take time, you’ll also need to learn how to wait for things to turn without getting so frustrated that you give up. If you’re naturally patient, cultivate a bit of impatience; if you’re impatient, cultivate patience; in the middle, you’ll find balance.
Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about’?
You have to put out something that is both tasty and impactful. In MyForest Foods’ case, we are starting with plant-based bacon, MyBacon, that gives people the same culinary experience as traditional bacon (sizzling sound, nostalgic flavor, irresistible smell) without the usual cost to their health or the environment. If the product doesn’t taste good, it won’t wind up creating lasting change in consumers’ tastes and habits. This approach has kept our customers coming back for more.
Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Through mycelium, we’ve found a delicious and sustainable solution for a world that desperately needs to reexamine where its food comes from. By creating a product that helps decrease our production carbon footprint, pollution and water usage, we are able to provide food products that better the environment, especially compared to traditional factory farming. The technology used in our indoor farm, coupled with the small land footprint required, enables us to grow mycelium virtually anywhere in the world. It’s been important to us to not only produce an alternative to meat but also find a way to make food production as low impact as possible.
Subsequently, our consumers who purchase our products are making a difference in the world by purchasing a product that’s more kind to the earth. Our goal is to change the way the world looks at food consumption and maximize product choices for a more sustainable way of eating, and we are proud to have taken a step forward towards both healing and feeding the world at the same time.
You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I firmly believe that what is best for Mother Earth is best for everyone that calls her home, and I fundamentally believe that in order to make big change, we must provide attractive alternatives. When it comes to becoming a more conscious consumer with animal products, pushing for a “this way or the highway” view, I believe, is unrealistic. The truth is, we won’t win people over by saying that they have to cut meat out entirely. Instead, it’s about balance. Flexitarian consumers make up a huge segment of our market and have the power to make a big difference for the environment.
If I could inspire a movement to make a difference in the world, I’d encourage people to consider consuming fewer animal products. You don’t have to cut out animal products entirely, but consider topping your chicken sandwich with a plant-based piece of bacon next time. Those little decisions, when done by enough people, can make a big difference.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Eben Bayer Of MyForest Foods and Ecovative On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.