Nicole Astra:
Welcome to Talking Plant Protein, I'm Nicole Astra. Customers are the key to success for any business and our final installment for our Q and A session with Tindle co-founder and CEO, Andre Menezes, we discussed the importance of the business customer relationship.

Nicole Astra:
There are a lot of questions that came in about knowing your customer. A marketing pro at Roquette even said, "Why do customers buy your product?" So you intimately know your customer, but what did you find in your research on why they like Tindle so much?

Andre Menezes:
Yeah, that's a great question. And I think it boils down to understanding consumer in depth really, right? So fundamentally not only understanding who they are, but how they think and what they're looking for. So category drivers, everyone knows that people are looking for... There are some trends or some drivers behind the train of plant based in general, like sustainability, health concerns, animal welfare. Those are macro drivers that we as part of the category enjoy, that's one. But we do understand as well that the primary drivers for people to actually eat meat, starting with animal meat or dairy, is actually that experience, it's always the center of the dish. It's always the main, it's what you really create for, is what, when you are a kid, your parents are telling you should eat more because that's healthy and some more protein, less carbs and stuff.

Andre Menezes:
So that understanding, meat and dairy, and then understanding how to connect our messaging to the consumers at the same level as another key element for us. So experiences, taste texture, but then with all the macro drivers from the category behind, for example, sustainability and oil or health concerns, and particularly for Tindle, why do they get extra excited? It's because honestly, the dishes that our chefs are making are incredible and they're exciting. And sometimes they do dishes that you cannot even do with chicken. And that's something that I think consumers are also looking for. And once they try, they keep repeating the purchase.

Nicole Astra:
And this is probably a circular answer, because once you were in the restaurants, you were gaining data of success there. But how did you locate exactly who that customer was? What methodologies used to figure out that it's a younger demographic, interested in sustainability, everything that you said. What did you put into practice in order to figure that out?

Andre Menezes:
We used a lot of data and we couldn't use a lot of like in presence research because none of it was allowed when we were starting the journey.

Nicole Astra:
Right.

Andre Menezes:
But we used a lot of data to understand, not only asking consumers questions because they would answer... I mean, the question that you ask in a way. But trying to design questions and researchers that would go one level down, understanding behaviors and attitudes and drivers. So I think that's the fundamental thing behind how we have used tools, basically that are available widely available out there. But the key fundamental thing that we've done is not try to stop. It's an innovative category. You cannot stop at the surface, right? If you ask people that never try a plant based chicken and what they like about plant based chicken, they won't know, right? So Steve Bobs, I think is the master of not really asking consumers exactly what they want, but being able to understand how they think and therefore what would be welcomed, right.

Nicole Astra:
There would never be anything next if we only gave consumers what they want, right?

Andre Menezes:
Exactly. Because it's innovation. One of the key things here is that for innovation, for true innovation, for doing something that no one has done, you cannot ask them about something that they already know, right. Because that's not what we're doing in the first place. So for us, what we've done is going down to the level of behaviors, of attitudes, of mindsets. And we use, as tools, we use research tools and data basically collected from consumers around the world.

Nicole Astra:
I have one final question for you, and it's really from my 10 year old at home. What's the connection between Tindle and Dele Alli?

Andre Menezes:
Oh, cool. Interesting question. We do see a lot of people, but in general, but in particular, investors or in this case, celebrities or athletes at the highest level, that they recognize that they do have a power of influence over population. And they reach a stage in which their material needs are addressed, their fame is there and they play at the highest level. And then I think when once your personal fulfillment level of whatever you had in mind and are met, I like to think that people start to think about, "Fine, how can I make the world a better place?" And I think that's the case for Dele Alli. He started looking for, how can I use my voice and my power of influence performing athletes, performing at the highest level, to do good for the world and support people who are putting their efforts and creating companies that are doing good for the world. So takes a bit of his capital and back to people like us to be able to drive that transformation.

Andre Menezes:
So the connection is basically he's an investor who really believes in the mission who has his power of influence and understands that very well. He has probably, I don't know, I cannot speak on his behalf, but he has probably fulfilled most of his personal ambitions operating at the highest levels. And it's now looking at creating impact. And that's how I think-

Nicole Astra:
What's so interesting to me too, is that he's not a vegan. But he understands the power of replacing some of that meat consumption with plant-based options. And so much of this industry is geared towards meat eaters. I wish they just understood that more. And what Tindle has done globally is given meat eaters that entry into the plant-based space. And you've done it phenomenally. Like I said, now that it's in the US, I cannot wait. We need to have dinner Andre. So, even bigger than that is that sustainability food security is a shared responsibility. You're proving that today by just being willing to share what you've learned with others who are coming up in this space. So thank you so much again for being on Talking Plant Protein.

Andre Menezes:
My pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for hosting.

Nicole Astra:
And I'm going to keep you to the dinner.

Andre Menezes:
Good. Yes, absolutely.

Nicole Astra:
Let's do it.

Andre Menezes:
[inaudible 00:06:32] dinner, actually.

Nicole Astra:
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. That wraps our three part series, but the Tindle wave doesn't stop there. Stay tuned to talkingplantprotein.com for more breaking news in 2022. Trust me, you don't want to miss these incredible and delicious conversations.