Saturday Interview: Targets high for Scots vegan food firm that is Daring to be different

ROSS Mackay admits he grew up as a “steak and eggs for breakfast kind of guy”.

Now he is a committed vegan and leader of a food company on a mission to convince more people to incorporate alternatives to meat into their diets.
Mr Mackay formed Glasgow-based Daring Foods with Eliott Kessas, a former corporate banker from Paris, after taking part in a challenge to go without eating meat for 10 days.
“What started as a dare has now become my absolute passion and business, which of course is Daring Foods,” said Mr Mackay, now the majority shareholder and public face of the business. “It not only stands for a dare at the time, but a dare to talk far more about the environment and health and other factors with that.
“It didn’t just happen like that, of course. Over the last year-and-a-half, two years, I have been working with Eliott to create the products which are on the market today.”
Daring Foods, whose products include a Moo-Free Burger and Cluck-Free Fried burger, began trading only in January. But it has bold ambitions to generate revenue of £7 million in its first year.
The company unveiled its maiden distribution deal with Lomond Foods in January, which should see its foods become available in around 300 locations by the end of this quarter. It is now supplying venues such as The Finnieston, Porter & Rye, Brel and Jacques in Glasgow, and is closing in on its first major supermarket supply contract. Further distribution deals expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.
Mr Mackay said a big motivation is to broaden the choice for vegans and vegetarians when they are dining out or shopping in the aisles.
“Food is about experience,” he said. “If you chose not to eat animal products [in the past] you were missing out. That has been the way. I couldn’t have gone to a burger restaurant with the likes of my dad and have a burger and a beer because it was chickpea and falafel burger. It wasn’t the same taste and texture. 
“That became my absolute passion – to create those experiences for customers who miss out. It is real product for real need. Two years ago there wasn’t such high demand. Now we sit at a time [when] it is the biggest food trend across the globe right now. Daring Foods are positioned right in amongst it – it is very exciting.”
The firm’s products are dairy and egg-free, and do not include any palm oil, genetically modified organisms, hormones or antibiotics. They are made with wheat and potato protein, which Mr Mackay said gives the products a “chewy” feel, alongside a variety of spices. 
The entrepreneur is keen to counter what he said has been the “negative publicity” surrounding some vegan products, which have been accused as being as unhealthy as fast foods. He declared Daring’s Foods are healthy not just because they are free from animal products, noting that its best-selling mince product has only one gram of fat and 24g of protein per 100g.
“We’ve got to stand for something, and we’ve made some quite [big] statements [about] trying to fix the food system,” he said. “We’re not just trying to sell a product. We genuinely believe it is a core value of our company – that we are here to do more. There is a crisis on the planet. There is going to be a lot of people to feed, so how do we do that?
“Instead of looking for another planet, let’s just fix this current one. I believe the easiest way to do that is to provide very tasty, sustainable food that does not use animal products.”
Yet the explosive growth of veganism is not without its detractors. Veganuary, a month-long campaign to encourage people to go vegan in January, had taken place shortly before we met. 
While it brought enormous publicity for the cause – with even high street baker Greggs getting in on the act with its vegan sausage roll – there are some meat eaters who did not take too kindly to what they perceived to be the sanctimonious tone of the campaign.
Asked to comment on the backlash, Mr Mackay said: “Although we still do believe [veganism] is the much better way, I know that if you are targeting the meat eaters of this world then no one wants to feel guilty for eating meat.”
He said the impact of Veganuary has been “phenomenal” but declared his mission is not to convince people to switch to veganism. Rather, it is to cater for the growing number of consumers who are trying to eat meat less.
“There’s huge demand and there is this massive movement towards eating less meat,” Mr Mackay said. “It’s simply [providing] really tasty food that doesn’t need animal products.
“You don’t need to be a vegan, you don’t need to be a flexitarian. We just provide those options.”
Noting that Daring’s main role is not to educate, he added: “There is a wider mission, but the easy way to do it is to just provide tasty food. It is not to march on the street or to do campaigns like that.”
Equally, the company is not restricting itself in terms of reach. Mr Mackay said it is strategically targeting burger and steak restaurants “where we believe we can have a big impact”.
Daring has already seen its products listed by the Wonder World soft play chain, and recently secured a distribution deal with Dunns Food & Drinks, taking it into a number of restaurant groups.
He believes the growth reflects increasing consumer demand for vegan foods. “The satisfaction isn’t quite there,” he said. “Right now restaurants are demanding it and asking their distributors for vegan options.
“We are definitely looking to expand the distribution and grow more and more.”
At present, the company’s food is produced at a site in Europe, but Mr Mackay revealed he is looking to relocate its manufacturing to Scotland, partly because of the threat posed to its supply chain by any disruption Brexit might bring. Indeed, the company has been stockpiling frozen product as part of its Brexit preparations. 
However, it will not be able to produce in Scotland until it finds a facility able to offer “100 per cent vegan manufacturing”.
Most of the food production facilities in Scotland are meat and dairy based.
Asked if the company would consider building its own plant, Mr Mackay replied: “Right now we can’t go and build a manufacturing facility because there is certain accreditation that is required and investment in manpower to facilitate that. In the long term that is the goal, that is the dream: to have Daring Foods crack manufacturing in-house, but the next stage for us would be to bring production [to Scotland].”
Mr Mackay added: “It’s going to become a very busy marketplace. [There is a] tremendous amount of new businesses and brands coming to market daily.
“It’s [a question of] how we do we build that wall and make Daring Foods the leading food brand in the UK, not just the leading plant-based food company in the UK.”
While growth has been rapid so far, Mr Mackay admitted that it can be hard for an entrepreneurial start-up to grow in Scotland.
He said there is insufficient support for start-ups, in particular those showing high-growth potential, be it help with networking and introductions, processing grant applications, and accessing finance. 
“There should be more collaboration between businesses like mine and the Scottish Government,” he said.
Daring Foods has been holding talks with private investors and venture capitalists over potential backing. But Mr Mackay said he will only sell a minority stake. And he insists there is no great hurry. “It doesn’t put a halt to our business,” he said. “Every day we are getting new restaurants and new distribution contracts. When the right partnership comes along it will be a large one, I’m sure, because we have a big mission and that requires quite an involvement in capital investment.”