VBT 159: Kati Ohens of Plantcraft on Exiting Her Digital Agency Career to Create Vegan Deli Meats

In this episode I interview Kati Ohens, co-founder of vegan deli meats company Plantcraft in New Zealand. After a 20-year marketing, advertising, and software executive career, Kati exited her agency to start working in the mission-based space. While working as a vegan transition coach, she noticed the gap in the alternative meat market, and the need for deli slices. Kati met commercial banking executive Csaba Hetenyi, a fellow Hungarian, during a work project as they were looking at commercializing a new food tech IP. As she learned about the technology, Kati discovered that it could be used to make groundbreaking, sustainable, plant-based meat alternatives, and in 2018 the pair founded Plantcraft. The company is just about to launch its first products into the US market. In this interview Kati discusses: • The challenges of running a services-based business to a product-based business and she’s handled them • The different roles she and co-founder Csaba’s have and how they complement each other • The two most important criteria for business success • How Covid impacted the business • Marketing strategies that are working we, including where buyers are now looking to find new products • Why ‘plant-based’ is on the packaging for the US market but may be different when the company launches in other markets • How she got investors on board, including one that had never invested in a plant-based brand and was so keen that they returned for a second raise • And more Visit the Plantcraft website RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn