GC Protein Pricing Review Year End 2023, March 2024
What is the cost of protein from various sources, animal, plant, or other? This topic has generated great discussion in recent years but remains murky and is also often the subject of biased attempts at persuasion by interest groups (rather than dispassionate analysis of the true comparable costs). Arriving at a fact-based understanding of these costs is more important than ever for both the food industry, and the human population more generally. Read More 
Non-Dairy Milk And Cheese Update, November 2020
The Fall of Dairy Milk: Many American consumers are aware that consumption of dairy milk has declined. What may surprise you is the degree of that decline. According to the USDA, consumption of milk in the United States declined over 27% between the 1970s and 2012 (1) on a per capita basis (from approximately 278.8 pounds/person/year to only 198.8). That rate of contraction has only increased in recent years as healthier and more sustainable products like nut-based milks have entered the market. Per capita consumption of dairy milk in the US is now around 150 pounds.(32) Statista, citing Nielsen data, have even purported that consumption had already dropped to 149 pounds of fluid dairy per capita per annum by 2017.(2) In other words, consumption of fluid dairy milk may be down nearly 50% in the United States since the 1970s, and that trend does not seem to be slowing. Read More
Protein…. Where’s The Beef?, May 2019 (as seen in Fodnavigator-usa.com)
These days, as I travel through the offices of natural products CEOs and investors, and grocery aisles, and trade show booths at Expos North, South, East and West, I find myself constantly informed of the protein content in food and beverage products. Do you also notice this trend accelerating? It’s getting to the point where I sometimes walk into industry events expecting to see nametags that read, “Mike Jones, CEO, Oat Milk Smoothie Co., 18,720 grams protein (but I’m working on it! Ha. LOL.)” This obsession with protein content in modern food marketing is giving me pause (and, oddly, no extra muscle mass as I contemplate it on my couch). Read More
What’s My Valuation? (as seen in Bevnet.com & Projectnosh.com, Nov/Dec 2017)
Part I: Evaluating Valuation.
As an investment banker in the Consumer space (focused on natural products) who often talks with the CEOs and owners of early-stage and growth-stage companies I am frequently asked, “What’s my valuation?” My short answer is: “Whatever the market will bear.” It rarely satisfies. Read More