By: Shriya Swaminathan
From a desire for self-sufficiency to a mission to sustain the planet, Co-Founders of No Evil Foods– Sadrah Schadel and Mike Woliansky, grew the company from an idea in their home kitchen to their own production facility in Asheville, North Carolina. Mike graciously sat down with VEGWORLD and recounts the inspiring story of how their tasty plant proteins have evolved into a consumer favorite in major retailers throughout the country.
VW: You’ve started from humble beginnings at local Farmers Markets and have grown to a company with your own facility! We’d love to know what planted the seed for No Evil Foods.
MW: The story of No Evil Foods started from a “relationship problem” that my co-founder Sadrah and I were having with consumerism. Living in the world that we do, and knowing the things we knew about the food system, we wanted to opt out of participating in purchasing food and consumer products that did not align with our ethos. We decided to move from Philadelphia to the dirt roads of upstate New York, grow our own food, and live as self-sustainably as we could. This is where our “DIY” concept comes in– we wanted to avoid making purchases and instead, make our own products like toothpaste and deodorants.
The recipes for No Evil Foods were created from Sadrah’s commitment to making things from scratch instead of having to buy ingredients. We wanted to create tasty products that make cooking in the kitchen enjoyable, while also incorporating minimally processed ingredients. When we moved to Asheville, we felt a calling to bring our contribution to solving issues we cared about– the environment, animals, and health– to the community rather than just for ourselves. For us, our products are a vehicle to help bring about the change we want to see in the world.
VW: How did you land on the name “No Evil Foods”?
MW: The inspiration for the name has to do with the Buddhist mantra of “See no, Speak no, Hear no Evil.” It’s an aspiration we resonated with– to show up in the world to do better for ourselves and those around us. Before moving to Asheville, we were actually traveling in Vietnam, where we saw a hand-carved stamp with the Three Monkeys symbol on it. Seeing that sparked the idea for a name that reflects how we want to be a part of that aspiration for positive change. And a cool thing that we learned along the way, is that there’s actually a fourth monkey– the “Do no Evil Monkey” named Shizaru. That additional piece added our inspiration to spread our message of not creating more harm in the world.
VW: There’s a fun fact for our readers! Moving on to getting your business up and running, what did you feel was missing in the plant protein market that you hoped to offer?
MW: Sadrah and I sought to offer a clean-label, simple ingredient product that does not compromise on taste and texture. Those are high-priority boxes to check off for consumers seeking a “meat eating” experience. As we all try to bring folks into the plant-powered way of life, the way to ensure that they stay in the space is to deliver a product that is inherently healthier, and tastier than conventional animal-based meat. I believe the scalable DIY approach we take to commercial products with a “home-cooked” feel sets us apart from others in the business.
VW: What have been the most notable challenges in establishing No Evil Foods and creating your products?
MW: I’d say creating the chicken was one of the more challenging tasks, in part because it’s a blank canvas in a way. Chicken is a product that a lot of people add flavor to and put into dishes. Developing a recipe with the right amount of flavor to also function as a blank canvas took a while to master.
Admittedly, there was also the aspect of figuring out how to scale up from a home kitchen into a larger scale. Any product we want to bring to the market requires strategizing how we can accomplish it in a way to make enough of it to actually reach the masses. Running a business certainly comes with its own set of challenges– some little, and some big.
VW: Of all your products on the shelves, which have been customer favorites, and which are your personal favorites?
MW: Our most popular products at the moment are the plant-based chicken– Comrade Cluck– and Italian sausage– The Stallion. My personal favorite is hard to choose! I enjoy them all and we eat them at home all the time. If I had to pick one, I’d probably go with our flavor-packed chorizo crumbles– El Capitáin.
VW: Which animal protein replacement are you gearing up to tackle next?
MW: We’ve got some exciting innovation coming out later this year! We will be making our entrance into the beef space. The specifics of the product are still under wraps so stay tuned for a pleasant surprise! There are plenty of great replacements for burgers and crumbles on store shelves, but it’s important to us that we participate in catering to consumer wants and needs in a creative way. We have identified a promising white space in this category and hope to fill that void soon!
VW: From where you are right now, would you consider merging with a non-vegan business to improve affordability and scalability? This tends to be a point of contention for smaller, vegan businesses.
MW: Scale is definitely important and something we think about a lot. We have our own facility here outside of Asheville, where we make our products. Thinking about scale is crucial when it comes to the price question. Bringing the prices more in line with animal protein is how we can bring in more customers. In fact, last year we were able to bring down the prices of our products on shelves at major retailers by 13% and hope to continue to do so this year.
However, you can’t really talk about pricing without addressing the subsidies that companies in animal agriculture are getting from the government, which keeps their prices artificially low. No one in the plant-based space, from meat to milk to cheese, is getting that handout from the government. So, we are at a competitive disadvantage, because we’re in a position where we have to charge a true price. This is one of the many reasons that Sadrah decided to serve on the Board of the Plant Based Foods Association, where we are fighting for a seat at the table for the entire industry. In plant-based meats, we are still only 2% of total meat sales in the US, and we have a lot of work to do on the policy front to create the kind of impact that we need to see.
That being said, we are seeking B Corp certification this year and will continue to build relationships throughout the chain that are focused on social and environmental impact, including nurturing new relationships with small, local farms, where feasible.
When it comes to a potential partnership with a larger corporation, for us, it can never come at the expense of quality. There was a point coming out of the early farmers market days when we realized we have created a business that delivers products that people love. We acknowledged the immense potential we had to bring our mission for the world to reality. Keeping that mission at our core as we continue to grow would mean we look for partners who will align with and amplify our vision.
VW: Do you partner with restaurants and food service companies to increase accessibility to your products?
MW: Yes, absolutely! We’ve always done restaurants, since the really early farmers market days. I think our first client was a hot dog cart in downtown Asheville. The vendor used our Italian sausage as the plant-based option. From that, we grew into local and regional restaurants.
Even in those early days, as we were figuring out how to expand, we started shipping products to restaurants like Champs Diner and Screamers Pizza in New York City. The brand quickly grew in the retail space, but this year we are putting more energy back into food service– hopefully as things improve from the pandemic. We are launching our food service products with DOT foods, a national foodservice distributor. So that’s going to change the game on access to our products. We have that set for May this year, and I feel it will open up a lot of doors. In fact, we get plenty of food service inquiries every month so it’s going to be exciting for people to get their hands on our products that way.
VW: Are there plans to offer products for those with food allergies and sensitivities to soy and wheat ingredients?
MW: It’s definitely a place that we want to do more innovation in. Perhaps as we grow, we can explore opportunities to deliver allergy-friendly products.
At the moment, it’s very important for us to hold on to and continue improvising around the existing ingredient profile of our products. Using wheat as the core protein and amplifying the nutrient density with chickpeas, nutritional yeast and other recognizable ingredients has allowed us to create a meat texture experience with very minimal processing. So, I think what’s important to us is to be able to carry that into other potential protein options and create different products. That being said, the possibility of experimenting with allergy-friendly ingredients is not off the table. It’s always been important to us to try to create an inclusive experience and bring more people in. In that respect, it’s definitely something we want to tackle.
VW: Speaking of innovation and product development, what’s the best thing about being a vegan business in North Carolina?
MP: Asheville has got a pretty amazing vegan and vegetarian scene. It’s one of the reasons why we moved out here! The community is very receptive to the growing vegan movement and you can find plant-based options in almost any restaurant in the city. It does get a little tricky as you move out into the rural areas of North Carolina though.
We are seeing a lot of cool innovations in the plant-based food space here as well. There’s the Food Innovation Lab in the Triangle Area, that is affiliated with several universities. I feel North Carolina is evolving into a hub for a variety of creative plant-based food technologies and bringing vegan products to the mainstream.
VW: Looks like there’s no shortage of potential and you’ve got plenty of fun innovations in the works. On that optimistic note, what does a vegan world look like to you?
MP: Sadrah and I are always trying to acknowledge that there are inequities that exist in the world and work at developing the best ways to improve the status quo of society. More often than not, these inequities are invariably tied back to human health and the well-being of our planet. Be it social justice, world hunger, animal rights, it always brings us back to a foundation of compassion. I believe in a core of kindness that exists around being vegan. How that emanates out into a more just, equitable, and inclusive world is how I connect veganism to thinking about a better future for us all.
Stay tuned for updates on all the creative ventures of the company on their Instagram page while inspiring your inner vegan chef!
