Culinology - December 2020 - 34

EXPERT voices

" As the plant-based food movement
continues to grow, I envision future
consumers not asking 'what dairy
cheese should I buy' and 'what vegan
cheese should I buy,' but instead just
asking 'what cheese should I buy.' "
Tim Brown, CEO, Upfield US, Inc.

Upfield acquired the
Violife plant-based cheese
alternative in January.

34 |

isn't an alternative per se. We're saying this
is butter in the same way Beyond says this is
hamburger, but it comes from plants and not
from an animal.
" We're building on the idea that we can
use science to innovate to meet emerging
desires of the flexitarians. All of these brands
are gaining momentum. They're not being
consumed by just vegans or vegetarians. It is
by the broad public. "
Mr. Brown sees consumer interest
in plant-based foods enduring and one
day being viewed equally with animalbased counterparts.
" As the plant-based food movement
continues to grow, I envision future
consumers not asking 'what dairy cheese
should I buy' and 'what vegan cheese should
I buy,' but instead just asking 'what cheese
should I buy,' " he said. " And, in retailers, I
envision a future of when plant-based foods
aren't separated from meat, dairy, cheese,
etc., but are merchandised together to show
consumers the wide variety of options that
are really available to them. "
Mr. Brown said management's vision
of looking outside the " base category of
yellow fats to cheese " led to the
January acquisition Arivia SA,
Thessaloniki, Greece, maker
of the Violife brand of plantbased cheese.
" It's disruptive, " he said of
Violife. " It has an identity in dairy
alternatives much like what I was
describing between plant butter
and Beyond Meat. When you
walk down the cheese aisle at
Whole Foods, Violife stands out. "
Country Crock is Upfield's

Culinology | DECEMBER 2020

largest brand in the United States, and
Mr. Brown said the focus has been
on modernization.
" We've worked on the formula to make sure
it's clean label and that people know about
it, " he said. " We want them to know the origin
of the ingredients. We're also contemporizing
the package and the label to be relatable to
the naturality of the brand. "
With the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
brand the focus is on health and usage, Mr.
Brown said. This past June the company
announced the brand is now certified by the
American Heart Association and packages
will soon sport the group's Heart-Check logo.
" We're working on the health and nutrition
to speak to the health benefits of the brand, "
Mr. Brown said.
In speaking about the overall spreads
market in the United States, Mr. Brown
emphasized 2020 is " distorted " because of
the coronavirus (COVID-19).
" We had two decades of essentially a
50/50 balance between in-home and awayfrom-home eating, and it affected the spreads
and butter categories, " he said. " It was kind
of a dormant behavior. But now people are
baking more, eating family dinners with side
dishes. We are all as a society spending more
time at home eating more as family. It has
been great for the category.
" I think after we get through all of this it
is going to stick. I think we are going to see
more of a priority around eating at home and
the family dinner. It's not going to snap back. "
Regarding future mergers and
acquisitions, Mr. Brown was vague but said
Upfield is " super pleased " with Violife and
" open to more expansion " in the plant-based
category. *
Culinology - December 2020

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