Looking Outside Plant-Based Food: Marc Coloma, CEO Heura & Food Activist

In this episode, we’re taking a look outside the very familiar food industry and a closer look at the emerging sector of plant-based food, with food activist, entrepreneur, and CEO and Co-Founder of Heura, Marc Coloma.

Marc’s mission to transform the food industry starts with his own company, which acts as a symbol for what is possible; investing in food innovation to solve not just taste and nutrition challenges, but also ones related to social issues.

Social activism is something Marc has been passionate about since he was a ‘rebellious’ child. His life and career were shaped by a drive to ask 'why?' and a desire to transform anger at what is imperfect in the world into a vehicle for positive change. As a ‘good rebel’, Marc is determined to shape his work around things that matter to him personally.

In many ways, Marc’s ambition (and success) in this foray represents a modern shift in business; where people recognize a friction that exists between values and behaviors and work to close that gap. Marc calls it the 21st century way of doing business: companies already do make people’s lives better by providing solutions to existing problems, but now they can also make “multiplied impact in the value chain”.

While shifts to address environmental, social and nutritional challenges need to take place across many sectors, for Marc, the focus started with the food industry, where many of the issues arise from modern day lifestyles. We are good at scaling solutions quickly in the food industry, he says, but equally at scaling their consequences. This is part of the impetus for the plant-based movement towards alternative solutions, or as Marc and his team call them, ‘successors’ of the current food system.

Plant-based food are under a tremendous amount of scrutiny today, not just from the media but from frustrated customers and disappointed food retailers. Marc says a part of the declining performance is the fact that the industry was scaled too fast in a bid to tap into (warranted) enthusiasm to transform the food sector. But here speed came at the cost of a great customer experience, and most importantly, great taste. Marc says with transforming the food sector in sight, we forgot about the most critical target to win over – the customer.

Heura, the plant-based food company Marc co-founded in 2017 and leads today, is outperforming its European competitors on taste. Marc stresses this is pivotal in changing consumer behavior, while supporting the rituals that people love. Taste will always win, and you may get one shot to prove that to customers.

Marc believes plant-based food is only in the ‘early beginnings of potential’ and that we must expand frontiers of what we thought was possible. Planetary limitations are a reality of the future (put simply: many more people, consuming many more calories) and must be addressed in new ways.

Jo and Marc also discuss how, in the end, it’s easy to blame others for inertia in current food systems, but that blaming an entire industry, sector or category is not helpful, particularly when change starts with us – with individual actions. It’s also not helpful to reject or distrust a growing and emerging industry like the plant-based one, especially one that does not exist to destroy anything but to help maintain the traditions we hold close to our hearts.

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To look outside, Marc learns through others, hearing first hand testimonies from people that spark unique ideas and an interest to learn more deeply about something new. Meanwhile, time in nature, hiking and sports like boxing, and yoga help him stay grounded.

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Marc Coloma is a food activist and CEO at Heura. Born in Barcelona, Marc has been involved in social activism since he was 16 years old. In 2015 he decided to take part in an entrepreneurship program to create solutions to the problems in the current food system. In 2017, after extensive research, Heura was created and launched into the Spanish Market, with the mission to contribute to the construction of a net positive and healthier food system.

To date, Heura has positioned itself as the fastest growing plant-based meat company in Europe and the market leader in Spain. Heura also leads with consumers, being the brand with the highest penetration and repeat rate.

In the last seven years Heura has also stood out for being a technological leader, with 25% of its workforce (out of a total of 100) dedicated to R&D. This has led to the creation of the Good Rebel Tech technology platform and Heura's industry recognition, including being named one of the 100 Best Ideas of the Year by Actualidad Económica in 2019, SME of the year in 2023 and landing in the Top10 food tech 500 ranking.

Marc's contribution to the transformation of the food model has been recognized by several organizations, receiving in 2018 the CVC Young Innovator Award,  2019 he was recognised by Forbes as the best entrepreneur of the year by the magazine Emprendedores and AIJEC. In 2021 Marc and Bernat were on the “100 other fortunes” of Forbes for their positive impact on the world.

• Follow Marc and Heura on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Heura at heurafoods.com and on Instagram
• Read Marc's interviews in Food Heroes, 50 Next and EU Start Ups
• Watch Marc's TedX Talk at TEDxPoblenou

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Looking Outside is a podcast dedicated to exploring fresh perspectives of familiar business topics. The show is hosted by its creator, Joanna Lepore, consumer goods innovator and futurist at McDonald's. Find out more at looking-outside.com.

Connect with Jo and join the Looking Outside community on LinkedIn.

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