Matt Gibson (New Culture) - Creating Cheese Without the Cow

Our guest today is Matt Gibson, co-founder and CEO of New Culture. New Culture makes animal-free dairy products that stretch, melt, and taste like the real deal through fermentation. We’re going to discuss why he made animal free cheese, what makes cheese cheese, how it’s different to other cheese alternatives, and his go to market strategy, which I think is quite unique. Some of the questions I ask him: What inspired you to want to make animal-free cheese? You had a passion for food did you come from the food industry? What is Microbial fermentation? Did you decide to use a co-packer or vertically integrate? Why? What was your process for raising money? Why did you have to raise twice before launching? What have been some of the challenges in bringing New Culture to market? You’re set to launch in 2024? What’s your launch/distribution plan? Will you hit retail from the beginning? Will you only do ecommerce? How do you describe your ideal customer? What is the future of cheese? Within food tech, we’ve talked and debated on this show about better for you vs. better for the environment and how some of the animal meat-alternative products are better for the environment, but aren’t exactly better for you. How do you think about this at New Culture? What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie