We recently connected with Rody Hawkins and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rody thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Plant-based proteins can be the solution to feeding the world and using our natural resources wisely at the same time. Estimates show that we will need to grow 60% more food by 2050 to feed an expected population of 10 billion people. However, expanding our existing model of agriculture will impact our planet’s ability to sustain us in the future. Our Commitment is to provide Better Protein for a Better Planet®.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a meat scientist and now I am making plant-based proteins, God does have a sense of humor. I started my career at Oscar Mayer in the 1980s where I created Lunchables. I came to North Carolina in the late 1980s to run Research & Development for Slim Jim and study the ability to make meat and other foods shelf-stable. Most of my career was involved in helping over 130 different food companies solve complex food manufacturing problems and create new food products and processes.

A concept of plant-based protein that had the texture of the meat was presented to me and my technical partners and we saw it as a mission to help feed 10 billion people by the year 2050. We were in the unique position to make this happen and we wanted it to happen in North Carolina. We were concerned that the technology would not make it to the market if we partnered with a large food company, so we decided to develop the manufacturing ourselves by forming Improved Nature in 2015.

We received our first round of funding to prove the technology and built the manufacturing facility in 2016. We spent over a year developing all the unique products that could be made with our technology. We began selling in 2018 and have seen continued growth since the launch to the point that we will outgrow our initial facility in 2022. We currently sell our products on three continents and in more than 26 countries in both foodservice and retail markets. We have a very flexible product.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Early in my career, I made a decision to understand all I could about shelf-stable foods. This knowledge has allowed me to solve many distributions and shelf-life issues related to providing convenient and quality food in all sorts of feeding systems. This led to the attention of the U.S. Military after the first Gulf War and since then I have been working the military on good tasting, shelf-stable sandwiches, pizza, wraps, pastries, and all sorts of rations.

The military supplies FEMA with food during an emergency situation and these products end up all over the world. Currently, the market for these sandwiches, etc. includes not only the US Military, but NATO, United Nations, and mobile population feeding as well. There are not many other people in the world that know as much about this particular market.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My faith has kept me on this pursuit of excellence in helping to feed the world. The pursuit of shelf-stable food technology did not have a lot of science or history to learn from, without the extremes of canning, dehydration, pickling, or salting. All these processes are extreme and do not always provide a satisfactory eating experience.

Understanding how these and other processes work together to preserve food, allowed me to push the boundaries of food preservation, product development, and creating solutions for how to feed people. When problems were too complex, God provided knowledge, people, and inspiration to help solve the problems. To me, many of the things I have accomplished are miracles or blessings from God.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.improvednature.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/improvednature/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImprovedNature/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/improvednature
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImprovedNature
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCChI0WFWx4lSY8XPlbZCaxw