Counting Beans: How Underconsumption in the US Could Mean Big Business for Entrepreneurs
Who can forget last March when most of us, trying to beat the curfew brought on by COVID-19, made a dash to our local grocery stores? Suddenly, items we never gave a second thought to, other than crossing off our shopping list, became hot commodities.
For me one such product was garbanzo beans. They flew off the shelves at each one of the stores I visited in my Chicago area neighborhoods. Desperate, I made a beeline for the dry goods aisle in hopes of scoring a bag. But I was late to that party as well, nothing but a few bags of rice hastily pushed aside to reveal a cavernous bottom shelf. And, that is when I panicked.
Beans, chickpeas and other legumes are staples in the Whole Foods Plant Based diet not only for their high protein content but also for packing a high nutrition punch full of B-vitamins, niacin, folic acid, thiamine, and riboflavin, as well as an array of minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous.
The sheer versatility of chickpeas and beans make them an indispensable easy-to-reach item in most pantries. Still, for the most part, Americans think of beans in the context of ethnic cuisine and while there’s nothing more delicious than refried beans paired with a veggie burrito or chickpeas for hummus and salads that’s like using potatoes only for French fries.
WHAT DOES THE WORLD KNOW THAT WE DON’T?
For starters, that beans are good! According to the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute legume consumption has traditionally been higher among Mexican, Indian (dhal and papadums), the Mediterranean, and the Middle East cultures, where most traditional dishes call for them regularly.
In 2019 a study among 195 countries identified the regions with optimal level of legume intake (defined as 50–70 g daily) in the Caribbean, tropical Latin America, South Asia, western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 1999–2000 shows American adults consumed an average of 0.1–0.3 servings (20–60 g) of legumes each day, one third or less of that recommended. This represents an opportunity to educate an under-consuming market on the benefits of making beans a part of a daily diet.
“We’ve under-marketed and under-served beans”
HOW A FOUNDER’S DREAM FILLED THOSE EMPTY SHELVES
It was relatively calm during the second half of 2019 when Maggie Sadowsky, a veteran of the natural, organic and plant-based foods industry hatched her plan for a startup.
The idea came to her while preparing a bowl of chili for her family. As she reached into her pantry for every ingredient it hit her, everything about a canned food is sustainable. The packaging is fully recyclable and due to being metal easy to retrieve magnetically from waste streams. The product itself is consumed in its entirety with no residual waste created. Lastly, transportation is relatively simple, no added steps such as refrigeration are required. As an added bonus, the product could be locally sourced and organically grown. Shouldn’t organic food come in sustainable packaging? After all, waste runs rampant in consumer-packaged goods with only 20% of packaging actually making it to the recycling plants. The rest ends up in landfills or waterways.
“I thought it was over, but it was just the beginning.”
8-Track Foods was launched in early 2020 and entered production in February. Then came the pandemic and “I thought it was over, but it was just the beginning,” said Maggie.
That trip to the store that had me scrambling for a can, any can of beans was replicated thousands, maybe millions of times in supermarkets across the US. A supply chain gap became the golden opportunity for this startup and a founder at the ready to meet the accelerated demand.
Whole Foods was one of the first retailers to distribute 8-Track Foods garbanzo, black and kidney beans. Then came more. Today the company’s canned goods are sold in over 50 Whole Foods Markets in the Midwest (IL, IN, IA, MN, MI, WI, NE). They are also available on Hivebrands.com and Marketwagon.com (IL, IN, and WI). While her success is reason to celebrate Maggie knows that getting people to be passionate about locally sourced cans of beans will be an up-hill battle. Still, her passion and commitment to breaking our addiction to plastic is motivation enough for what’s next. After all, when the Good Food Institute asked her what the next big thing was, she confidently responded “Beans”.
THE BUSINESS OF CONTENT AND EDUCATION: WHERE THE PRODUCT MEETS THE CONSUMER
Author and plant-based chef Ramses Bravo is no stranger to culinary experimentation. As host of his series RamsesPB.com he takes a self-imposed challenge before a group of foodies. Each episode kicks-off with the spin of the ingredients wheel, each slice of the wheel pie contains an ingredient the chef has at hand. After three spins he must create a recipe using the three random ingredients.
His most recent episode had him cooking with, yes, Garbanzo beans, Mustard and Poblano Chilies. Such is the versatility of the main ingredient (garbanzo beans) that on the spot he thought up two options: hummus and stuffed Poblano Peppers, he went with the latter. Watch the show to get both recipes.
While chef Ramses admits, he didn’t exactly set out to be a plant-based chef, in fact, his idea of vegan cooking was to serve a plate of rice and steaming vegetables. That changed when he got a job in a vegan restaurant. Two books (Bravo Express!, Bravo!) and an online cooking series later, his passion for plant-based cooking has expanded into teaching and evangelizing the plant-based diet. As head chef of the True North Institute Ramses puts a healthy touch to every meal. Check out his recipe for Indian Spiced Baked Beans.
Garbanzo beans are back to being stocked regularly at my local grocery stores and that’s a good thing because I can’t wait to try the stuffed poblano recipe this weekend!
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