Hampton Creek

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Hampton Creek Inc.
Formerly called
 Beyond Eggs, Inc.
Hampton Creek Foods, Inc.
Privately held company
Industry Food technology
Founded December 11, 2011 (2011-12-11)
Founder Joshua Tetrick, Josh Balk
Headquarters San Francisco, CA, U.S.
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Products Just Mayo, Just Cookies, Just Cookie Dough
Revenue Estimated US$30 million (2014)[1]
Website hamptoncreek.com

Hampton Creek, also known as Hampton Creek Foods,[2] is a food technology company headquartered in San Francisco focused on finding new ways of utilizing plants in food products.[3][4] Founded in December 2011 by Josh Balk and CEO Joshua Tetrick,[5][6] as of December 2014 the company had fundraised an accumulated $120 million[7] from investors such as Li Ka-shing,[8] Jerry Yang,[9] and Khosla Ventures.[10][11] With around 110 employees,[12] the company's products include mixes, dressings, cookies, mayos and cookie dough currently distributed through Target, Whole Foods, Safeway,[13] Costco,[14] the Dollar Store,[14] Walmart,[3] Compass Group,[3] and Kroger, among other companies.[15] Actively working to build "the world's largest database of plants" to aid in the selection of crop species, Hampton Creek is focused on making healthier more sustainable food.[16] In 2015 the World Economic Forum named Hampton Creek a "Technology Pioneer,"[17] and Hampton Creek saw 350% sales growth in 2015.[12]

History

Background and founding (2011)

The food technology company Hampton Creek was founded in the summer of 2011[18] by Josh Balk and Joshua Tetrick. Balk at the time was the senior director of food policy for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) farm animal division,[19] and prior to that had been known for his work at Compassion Over Killing (COK).[20] Tetrick was an American entrepreneur who had worked on social campaigns as a Fulbright Scholar.[18] Both founders had been friends since their teenage years,[21] and together they developed the concept of a plant-based food company stemming from problems both of them noticed in the global food system.[18] Explained Balk, "if there were a [cheaper] plant-based egg product that had the same taste and texture as normal eggs... that would meet a need consumers and food customers have that hasn’t been filled yet."[18]

The duo set about finding a technical partner who "understood the biochemical properties of food and how to manipulate ingredients to make them perform better, especially in processed foods." Johan Boot, the former R&D director at Unilever, was subsequently hired.[18] Later that summer the company initiated initial plans and meetings with Khosla Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California.[10] Some early research for the Canadian yellow pea protein formula was outsourced for its foaming, gelling, moisture retention[22] and Hampton Creek soon moved R&D in house,[23] and the patent for a "plant-based egg substitute and method of manufacture" was filed on November 2, 2011.[24] Tetrick stated to The New York Times in October 2013, that “while a chicken egg will never change, our idea is that we can have a product where we push updates into the system, just like Apple updates its iOS operating system. So our mayo is version 1.0, and the next version will be 2.0, which will be less expensive and last twice as long.”[6]

Relocation and new products (2012-2013)

The organization received $500,000 in seed funding in December 2011 from Khosla Ventures,[11] its first round of investments.[10] In June 2012, Hampton Creek relocated from Southern California to a facility in Northern California,[11] specifically the SOMA district of San Francisco.[18] Also in June after the relocation,[10] the company received a $1.5 million Series A round of funding from Khosla Ventures. The funds were used to expand the company's headquarters and add additional employees. One of the first new hires was chef Chris Jones, a former Top Chef contestant.[11] In February 2013, Hampton Creek launched its first product, Beyond Eggs, an eggs-free egg replacement using plant-based ingredients such as peas.[5] Their second product Just Mayo was released around seven months later.[25]

Hampton Creek continued to hire staff as it released new products. The New York Times stated in April 2013 that Hampton Creek had since its founding hired "a protein chemist, a food scientist," and a "sales executive from Heinz,"[10] and by later that summer the company had 25 employees. By July 2013, Hampton Creek had raised a total of $4.5m in funds.[18] By September 2013, the company continued to market its Just Mayo and Beyond Eggs for Cookies brands, and was also in production on "cookie dough called Eat the Dough and a product that scrambles like a real egg."[4] Just Mayo was introduced to several Whole Foods stores in Northern California in the middle of September 2013, spreading to Whole Foods stores in other states[4] in October.[6]

Growth of distribution (2014)

On February 17, 2014, Hampton Creek announced it had raised $23 million in Series B[8] round led by multi-billionaire Li Ka-shing[9][26][27][28] and Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang.[9] CEO Joshua Tetrick announced that Hampton Creek would use the funds to continue its growth in North America, establish a presence in Asia, build strategic partnerships, and grow its team.[8][27] Throughout the summer of 2014, Hampton Creek expanded its operations into a new 90,000 square-foot facility in San Francisco.[14] Hampton Creek hired Dan Zigmond, described by TechCrunch as "Google's main data guy," in June 2014 to build a database for the company's research into plants.[14] Zigmond, who had been working for eight years on YouTube and Google maps, stated his plan was to "build the world’s largest plant database."[14] Hampton Creek signed chef Ben Roche in July 2014.[3]

Hampton Creek launched its products into the Dollar Store in late June 2014,[14] and in Walmart on September 24, 2014.[3] By that point their products were also available in Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco,[14] as well as through the catering company Compass Group, which serves meals in educational and industrial settings in around fifty countries.[3] With around 62 employees by August,[3] by December 2014 Hampton Creek sold its products in 15,000 locations, including Kroger.[15] Also in December 2014 Hampton Creek raised $90 million, bringing total funding raised since the company's founding to $120 million.[7]

Recent developments (2015-2016)

On August 5, 2015, the World Economic Forum named Hampton Creek a "Technology Pioneer," shortlisting it with 48 other companies.[17] Through Compass Group, Hampton Creek products are served in 2,300 public school, around 400 universities, stadiums, and the U.S. Senate.[29] Revenues increased 350% in 2015,[12][30] and that year the number of employees grew from 60[30] to the current number of 127.[31] The company has projected that around 10% of their sales in 2016 will be international, primarily in Asia.[29]

On February 2016, the Unilever brand Hellmann's launched a new mayo product without eggs.[32] Despite the new market competition, Tetrick described the development as "an extraordinarily positive thing," explaining to the press that he and Balk "didn't start Hampton Creek to do anything but try and make the food system much closer to our values and there is no way just one company can do it." He stated further, "as other companies begin to embrace the things we are doing, I'd encourage them to focus on everyday people [as compared to the health-food demographic], as that is what is really going to change things."[30]

In the media

Since its founding in 2011, Hampton Creek has garnered significant coverage in publications such as the New York Times,[33] Fortune,[7] The Consumerist,[34] Forbes,[9][35] USA Today,[8] VentureBeat[36] Newsweek,[37] the Wallstreet Journal,[15] and Fast Company[4] among others.[3] Entrepreneur Magazine named Hampton Creek to its "100 Most Brilliant Companies" list,[3] and the company has also been featured in television and radio outlets such as CNBC,[38] NPR,[39] and the Travel Channel.[40] Hampton Creek was one of three companies featured in Bill Gates' March 2013 documentary[41] The Future of Food,[42] and the Hampton Creek factory appeared in season 5 of Bizarre Foods America, airing on December 23, 2013.[40] In June 2014, CNBC named Hampton Creek No. 36 on its annual Disruptor 50 list, which is describes as "private companies in 27 industries... whose innovations are revolutionizing the business landscape."[38]

A Freedom of Information request in late 2015[39] revealed that the government-controlled American Egg Board (AEB) had engaged in a paid advocacy campaign targeting Hampton Creek through online media, with the board's CEO dubbing Hampton Creek a "major threat" to the egg industry. As the United States Department of Agriculture prohibits advertising by its marketing boards "deemed disparaging to another commodity," the revelation met with a fair degree of controversy in the press,[43] resulting in AEG changing PR agencies and the resignation of the AEG president.[44]

In the spring of 2016 several agriculture associations including the American Mushroom Institute, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Christmas Tree Association, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Pork Producers Council, and United Egg Producers—wrote a letter to the heads of the House’s subcommittee to request the inclusion of language that would make the organizations exempt from FOIA requests.[45] These programs have long been controversial because they use government authority to collect money for private commercial goals, such as advertising campaigns and research on the nutritional quality of particular foods.[46] The National Farmers Union came out against the inclusion of the language in the bill as they believe FOIA is a central pillar of transparency in our democracy.

[47] Checkoff programs have come under increased scrutiny, rightly so, partly due to the exposé of the American Egg Board and their unethical activities regarding Hampton Creek[48]

Technology

Food production

Originally starting with a plant-based egg substitute, Hampton Creek aims to use technology to make healthier, cheaper food that has less impact on the environment.[16] The company's research and development process involves "weeding out billions of proteins from hundreds of thousands of plants to figure out what could form the basis of a vegan equivalent of an egg [or other ingredient]." The scientists then propose a given protein for testing, which chefs then cook with other ingredients for taste. Data scientists then analyze the results and "block out the protein involved with poor results and others related to it."[36] Hampton Creek argues that its "method for producing egg-like, plant-based foods is, in fact, 48% more cost-effective than traditional eggs."[3] Notable scientists working for the company have included former lead of the biochemistry team, Joshua Klein, PhD, who worked on HIV drug therapy research prior to working for Hampton Creek.[25] In July 2014, Hampton Creek announced that Dan Zigmond, formerly lead data scientist at Google Maps, had been appointed VP of data science.[14] He left the position in May 2015 and moved to a strategic advisory role on data, technology, and recruiting.[49]

Chefs

In June 2012, Hampton Creek hired former Top Chef contestant Chris Jones,[11] with the chef leaving his work in the restaurant industry in 2012[37] to become the company's director of culinary innovation.[39] Hampton Creek signed pastry chef Ben Roche in July 2014, with Roche taking part in a number of publicity events for the company over the next summer.[3] Ben Roche currently serves as the company's research and development chef.[39] As of January 2015, chefs beyond Jones and Roche included Trevor Niekowal, who along with Roche served as a research-and-development chef. All three chefs had previously worked with Moto, a Chicago molecular gastronomy restaurant often featured on the Discovery Channel show Future Food.[37] Other chefs formerly with Moto but now with Hampton Creek include Nate Park and Thomas Bowman.[50]

Plant database

In June 2014, Hampton Creek hired Dan Zigmond from Google to build a database for their research into plants.[14] Lee Chae, Hampton Creek’s head of research and development, states that the database applies "deep machine learning to plant biological data."[36] In July 2014, Celebrity Chef wrote that Hampton Creek's plant database "will allow Hampton Creek to interpret a wide array of plant information in order to inform farmers of new beneficial crops. This will aide in optimizing the food market by making more cost-effective healthier food choices."[51] Explained TechCrunch further in 2014, "Hampton Creek has this idea that creating a database will allow the company to tap into the vast amount of plant information around the world and use it to inform farmers about a new line of cash crops (not just soy and corn) that could be good for the planet. This in turn will help the farmers feed their families, create healthier food choices that are also cost-effective and push small farm communities forward."[14]

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"Hampton Creek indexes the world's plants, categorizing data about each species and its varietal. By categorizing a plant's molecular properties and using its predictive models, Hampton Creek can predict what a given specimen could be used for in the kitchen. Out of the thousands of plants it has classified, the startup has identified 13 that can be used to make world-changing foods, two of which it currently uses on the market: A varietal of Canadian Yellow Pea used in its Just Mayo eggless mayonnaise and a varietal or sorghum used in its Just Cookies edible cookie dough."

— Mashable (August 27, 2014)[3]

By August 2014, the company announced it had indexed 4,000 plants from 41 countries, ignoring 92% of the 400,000 known species, as "many plants don't fit the healthy and sustainable ethos of the company."[3] In the March 2016 issue of Wired UK the publication explored both criticism and praise for the company’s science and mission, including speculation surrounding the total size of Hampton Creek’s plant database.[52] Tetrick later defended the public numbers, stating to Inc. that "the Hampton Creek research databases contain botanical, molecular, and functional data across more than 100,000 plant species and varieties."[23]

Products

Just Mayo

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See also: Just Mayo

Hampton Creek's primary product is a mayonnaise substitute called Just Mayo.[33] It utilizes plant substances, with the original formula using Hampton Creek's egg replacement powder, which is primarily made out of a varietal of Canadian Yellow Pea.[3] As of 2016, Hampton Creek advertised several varieties of Just Mayo beyond original, including sriracha, garlic, and chipotle.[53] In early February 2016, Hampton Creek announced it was working on Just Mayo Light.[54]

Just Mayo was introduced to several Whole Foods in Northern California in the middle of September 2013, spreading to Whole Foods stores in other states soon after.[4] By 2015, the Just Mayo product was available in American stores such as Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, ShopRite, Kroger, Publix, H-E-B, and several Costco warehouses.[55] As of November 2015, Walmart was selling more Just Mayo than Whole Foods, with both franchises selling the brand at most of their stores.[56]

Just Cookies

The Just Cookies product line was launched in 2014, and was marketed as a more sustainable and healthy cookie because of its ingredients.[57] Flavors as of 2016 included chocolate chip, sugar, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter.[58] The cookie is made without butter or eggs, which makes it cholesterol free. Both Oprah Winfrey and Chef Andrew Zimmern publicly commented they were fans of the brand,[57] and by late 2014, the large catering company Compass Group had replaced its conventional chocolate chip cookies with Just Cookies.[16]

Just Cookie Dough

In 2014 Hampton Creek introduced Just Cookie Dough, an eggless chocolate chip cookie dough that can be baked or eaten out of the jar.[59] The cookies use sorghum as a primary ingredient, making them safe for consumption before cooking.[3] Initially marketed as Eat The Dough, the product was first featured by Katie Couric's talk show, Katie, on February 4, 2014.[60] Just Cookie Dough was being nationally distributed by 2015, and was introduced to Target in February 2016.[54]

Other products

In February 2013, Hampton Creek launched its first product, Beyond Eggs. The eggs-free egg replacement is made with plant-based ingredients such as peas, sunflower lecithin, canola, and natural gums, and was marketed as being free of animal products, gluten, and cholesterol.[5] The egg substitute was primarily marketed for the making of cookies.[25] Prior to the fall of 2014, the public distribution of Beyond Eggs was stopped, in order for Hampton Creek to work primarily with private companies such as the catering conglomerate Compass Group.[16]

After an influx of funding in late 2014, Hampton Creek announced it was working on recipes for biscuits, crackers, and pasta all based on plant protein. The company also stated that it was "developing a plant product that is comparable to sugar,"[15] and by October 2014 the company was developing noodles, ice cream, and dips.[16] Salad dressings such as Just Mustard, Just French, and Just Caesar were under development as of February 2016,[54] at which point the company had recently made dessert mixes and breakfast mixes available such as Just Muffins, Just Pancakes, Just Brownies, and Just Cake. Just Scramble is to be released in late 2016,[30] it is just one of about 500 new products Hampton Creek plans to unveil in the next several years, part of an ambitious five-year plan to become a major player on the ‘good’ food scene.[61] Generally, Hampton Creek has stated it hopes to replace "conventional food dye, sugar, trans fats, and MSG" with plant-based substitutes.[16]

Funding

Major funding rounds for Hampton Creek
Date
capped		 Type of
funding round		 Major investors Amount raised Notes
December 2011 Seed funding Khosla Ventures $500,000 Khosla Ventures was the company's original investor.[11]
June 2012 Series A Khosla Ventures, et al. $1.5 million Hampton Creek received this round the same month as a relocation to San Francisco.[10][11]
February 17, 2014 Series B Led by Li Ka-shing,[8][9][26][27][28] with other investors including Jerry Yang,[9] Google's Jessica Powell,[27] Ali and Hadi Partovi,[27] Scott Banister, Ash Patel,[28] Khosla Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Kat Taylor, and Tom Steyer’s Eagle Cliff.[28] $23 million This round brought the company's total funding at the time to $30 million.[27]
December 2014 Series C Led by repeat investors Horizons and Khosla Ventures.[7] $90 million This round brought the total accumulated funding to $120 million.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Brownstone, Sydney. "Why Silicon Valley wants to hack the food industry", The Observer, February 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ “Josh Balk”. The Humane Society of the United States. “Since starting with The HSUS in 2005, he has worked with many of the largest corporations in the world to improve animal welfare in their supply chains. Kraft, ConAgra, Wendy's, Kroger, Denny's, Kellogg, Sysco, and Heinz are among the many companies Balk helped to establish animal welfare policies. He also led successful legislative campaigns to criminalize factory farming abuses in Arizona, California, Maine, and other states”. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ WO Application 2013067453, Hampton Creek Foods et al, "Plant-based egg substitute and method of manufacture", published May 10, 2013 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

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