Facebook投资人盯上新型蛋黄酱市场

    蒂特里克是一位素食主义者，创办汉普顿河食品公司是因为他非常反感集约化畜牧业，因为它对待动物的方式，它产生的食品安全问题，以及这个系统的低效率。然而，他希望他的产品具有广泛的吸引力，而不仅仅限于具有环保意识的人群。他淡化了自己的食品政治信仰，一心一意地推动自己的产品进入主流市场【他已经与全食超市(Whole Foods)签订了一份分销合同】，同时确保它比其他替代品更加实惠。

    蒂特里克在去年10月份的一个宴会上碰到了帕托维。帕托维之所以对食品的社会问题产生兴趣是因为读了迈克尔•波伦的著作《杂食者的困境》(The Omnivore's Dilemma)。这本书让帕托维觉得，他的日常食物是生产商采用欺骗性手法推销给他的。他是Farmland LP公司的顾问之一，这只房地产基金致力于购买传统农田，同时将农作物转化为有机食品。

    “我开始寻找机会投资一种更好、而且更有盈利能力的食物生产方式，”他说。“这种方式不仅更有利于消费者和地球的健康，而且更便宜，更实惠，更有利可图。”

    他说，符合这些要求的公司堪称凤毛麟角，但一旦碰到（比如汉普顿河食品公司），那就是绝佳的投资机会。

    他还发现，Just Mayo并没有引发转基因食品通常遭遇的消极反应（出现这种反感心理的部分原因是，消费者觉得生产商在欺骗他们）。汉普顿河食品公司“使用豌豆蛋白，而不是鸡蛋，”他说。“就是这么单纯。”

    帕托维承认，有机农业和可持续农业界向来不信任转基因技术，但汉普顿河食品公司或许能够弥合这道鸿沟。“汉普顿河食品公司正在把这两个世界联系在一起，”帕托维说。“我在这家公司能够起到的一个重要作用就是，帮助这两个世界稍稍靠得更近一点。”（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    Tetrick is a vegan who was inspired to start Hampton Creek because he was disgusted by intensive animal agriculture -- its treatment of animals, its resulting food safety issues, and the general inefficiencies of the system. However, he wants his product to have widespread appeal, not only to the environmentally conscious. He downplays his own beliefs around food politics and instead focuses on making his product mainstream -- he has a distribution deal with Whole Foods (WFM) -- and more affordable than the alternatives.

    Partovi, who Tetrick met at a dinner party in October, first got interested in the social causes around food after reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, which made him feel like the food in his diet had been deceptively marketed to him. He is an adviser to Farmland LP, a real estate fund that buys conventional farmland and converts the crops to organic.

    "I started looking for opportunities where a better way of doing things would also be a more profitable way of doing things," he says, "situations where one thing is healthier for the consumer and healthier for the planet and would also be cheaper, more affordable, and more profitable."

    He said that formula rarely exists, but when it does -- as was the case with Hampton Creek -- it's a great investment opportunity.

    He also found that Just Mayo didn't evoke the negative reaction that can come with biotech foods, in part because consumers feel like they're being deceived. With Hampton Creek, "instead of eggs, there's pea protein," he says. "It's as simple and innocent as that."

    Partovi acknowledges that the organic and sustainable agriculture community has a historical distrust of biotech, but Hampton Creek may be able to bridge the divide. "Hampton Creek is bringing those two worlds together," Patrovi says, "and an important part of my role with the company will be to help those two worlds embrace each other a little bit."