NotCo, the Chilean plant-based food company, has a motto: “If we want our planet to survive, we have to change the way we make our food.” It has long had a presence in the Mexican market, but now the company inaugurated its modern kitchen space in its offices in Mexico City. “We are in a second phase, that of raising the quality of our products and filling the gaps that the current food industry has,” says Lucila Parera, marketing director of NotCo México. And what better way to do it than one bite at a time .
NotCo was born in Chile in 2015. After a D round of financing led by the firm Tiger Global, in June 2021 it became a unicorn with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Currently, among its investors there are celebrities such as Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon), tennis player Roger Federer and pilot Lewis Hamilton, as well as other renowned businessmen, such as Marcos Galperin, executive director of Mercado Libre.
Aspires to be more than just a startup of plant-based food: it tries to sneak into the diner’s life as “a change without the need to change.”
“Changing consumer habits is very difficult. That a person wants to consume a food plant-based completely different from what you are used to is complicated, requires a lot of education and time,” says Parera. According to its marketing leader, the objective is to “reinvent the flavor of the food we love, with the same texture, with the same profile nutritional, but plant-based.”
In Mexico, NotCo works in alliance with retail chains such as Sams, Walmart, etc. where it sells products such as plant milk, ice cream and cheese. At Chilli’s, Papa John’s, Toks and Starbucks restaurants you can eat their NotBurgers, NotMet and NotChicken, or a coffee with the NotMilk of your choice. Although its presence extends to countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, the United States and its native Chile.
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Human + artificial intelligence = potential
“It was a very nice little room, we did tests in a corner,” he comments.
Courtesy: Alondra Flores.
“You see us on the shelves, you see everything we do, but we want you to see what happens behind the scenes, what no one sees and everything we developers and chefs do,” says Tais V., R&D Team Leader at NotCo Mexico.
